The National Media Awards Foundation is delighted to announce that Curtis Gillespie is the recipient of the 2026 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.
Curtis Gillespie is one of Canada’s most accomplished magazine writers and editors, with a career spanning more than three decades. He has written hundreds of pieces across arts, science, politics, sports, and culture for publications including The Walrus, Toronto Life, Saturday Night, the Literary Review of Canada, and The Paris Review, among many others. He has received 22 National Magazine Award nominations and seven wins, including a record-tying four wins in a single year.
In 2010, Gillespie co-founded Eighteen Bridges, an ambitious narrative journalism magazine that earned 13 National Magazine Awards from 45 nominations over its nine-year run. As editor, he was recognized as Editor of the Year in 2016 by the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association. Beyond the page, he has taught narrative nonfiction and magazine journalism at institutions including the Banff Centre, where he founded an environmental journalism program and mentored emerging writers. He has served on the boards of the National Media Awards Foundation, Magazines Canada, LitFest: the Nonfiction Festival, and the Canadian Literature Centre. Gillespie has also written five books, including the memoir Playing Through and the novel Crown Shyness.
A tireless advocate for writers, regional storytelling, and the health of Canada’s magazine ecosystem, Gillespie has shaped the careers of countless writers and editors — particularly in Western Canada — through his generosity, mentorship, and example.