Don’t wait to purchase your tickets for the 42nd annual National Magazine Awards Gala on May 31, 2019 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto!
Early-bird tickets are available until May 15! Get yours here.
Show-only tickets include the reception, awards ceremony and after party. Dinner and show tickets offer the added option of dinner during the awards ceremony.
Join your colleagues and gala host Omar Mouallem for a night celebrating the best in Canadian magazine publishing!
The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is delighted to unveil the finalists for the 42nd Annual National Magazine Awards! The annual gala, held on May 31, 2019, will be hosted by author, filmmaker, and two-time NMA winner Omar Mouallem.
NOMINATIONS LIST (PDF)
GALA INFO & TICKETS
PRESS RELEASE
VERSION FRANÇAISE
For this year’s competition, 187 Canadian magazines from coast to coast to coast—English and French, print and digital—submitted the work of more than 2,000 writers, editors, photographers, illustrators, art directors, and other creators. The NMAF’s 125 volunteer judges have selected a total of 201 submissions from 70 different Canadian publications for awards in 28 written, visual, editorial, and best magazine categories.
BEST MAGAZINE AWARDS
Three publications have been shortlisted in each of the four Best Magazine divisions. The outstanding nominees are:
Best Magazine: News, Business, General Interest
Best Magazine: Service & Lifestyle
Best Magazine: Art, Literary & Culture
Best Magazine: Special Interest
MAGAZINE GRAND PRIXThe Magazine Grand Prix award—the highest honour bestowed to a publication—will be presented to one publication among the four winners of the Best Magazine awards, revealed at the gala on May 31st.
BEST NEW MAGAZINE WRITER
The jury selected four nominees for Best New Magazine Writer. This award is given to the individual whose early work in magazines shows the highest degree of craft and promise. This year’s emerging writers are:
Jennifer Thornhill Verma for “Letters From Pop,” published in Maisonneuve
Max Binks-Collier for “Distant Relatives,” published in Maisonneuve
Mugoli Samba for “Wilbur Howard and the White Church,” published in the United Church Observer
Anais Granofsky for “Between Two Worlds,” published in Toronto Life
EDITOR GRAND PRIX
The three editors shortlisted for the prestigious Editor Grand Prix title are Aaron Kylie (Canadian Geographic), Alison Uncles (Maclean’s), and, for the second year, Nicolas Langelier (Nouveau Projet).
PUBLISHER GRAND PRIX
New this year, this award honours the publisher whose brand best delivers on their editorial mandate through numerous platforms. The finalists are Gilles Gagnier (Canadian Geographic), Alysa Procida (Inuit Art Quarterly), and Ken Hunt (Toronto Life).
ISSUE GRAND PRIX
Also new to the 2019 lineup, the Issue Grand Prix award honours quality and originality of the content of an entire issue as well as its relevance to the intended readers. The magazine finalists are:
Alberta Views, BESIDE, Canadian Art, Inuit Art Quarterly, LSTW, Nouveau Projet, The Walrus, The Site Magazine, Prairie Fire & Contemporary Verse 2, and University of Toronto Magazine.
NOMINATION HIGHLIGHTS
· Photographer Mathieu Lachapelle of Dînette Magazine is a four-time nominee across three visual categories: Lifestyle Photography, Portrait Photography, and Photo Essay & Photojournalism.
· Writer Anthony Oliveira garnered three nominations in as many categories for his story “Death in the Village” published in Hazlitt.
· L’actualité’s Amélie Chamberland (art director) and Charles Grandmont (editor) received three nominations in the editorial category Cover Grand Prix.
· The jury shortlisted two of Edmonton-based photographer Amber Bracken’s photographs for Portrait Photography: “Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service,” featured in Maclean’s magazine, and “Life After Coal,” published in The Narwhal.
· Best New Magazine Writer nominee Anais Granofsky is also a finalist in the category of Long-Form Feature Writing for her piece “Between Two Worlds” published in Toronto Life.
· Vancouver-based writer Bruce Grierson earned two nominations, first for an essay published in Eighteen Bridges (“Have You Heard?”) and second for a long-form story featured in Hakai Magazine (“The Cavernous World under the Woods”).
· Emily Landau is nominated for two articles published in Toronto Life (“The Greatest Showman”) and Toronto Life Stylebook (“I, Tanya”) in addition to being credited as the handling editor for four other stories.
· Also a double nominee this year is writer Simon Lewsen, for his profile “The Freeland World”
penned for The Walrus, and short feature article “A New Leaf,” published in BESIDE.
· L’actualité’s journalist Noémi Mercier is once again a finalist this year for Columns (“Des gars, des filles”) and Long-Form Feature Writing (“Mourir seul”).
· Maritime-based writer Chelsea Murray is finalist for Personal Journalism (“The Agony of Intimacy,” published in Hazlitt) as well as for Long-Form Feature Writing (“Joe and the Whale,” published in The Deep).
· Quebec journalist Sabrina Myre garnered two nominations for articles published in ELLE Québec magazine: Feature Writing (“Le grand sacrifice des nounous philippines”) and Short Feature Writing (“Révolution féministe en Éthiopie, l’intrigant cas d’Awra Amba”).
· Writer Katrina Onstad is nominated for two stories: in Essays for “Class Divide”, published in The Walrus, as well as in Profiles, for “Mr. Robot”, written for Toronto Life.
TOP NOMINATED MAGAZINES
Among the 70 publications shortlisted, Toronto Life leads with 19 nominations. The Walrus follows with 13 nominations, while L’actualité, Maclean’s, and Nouveau Projet share the third place with 9 nominations each. Other top nominated titles include:
| MAGAZINE | NOMINATIONS |
| Toronto Life | 19 |
| The Walrus | 13 |
| L’actualité | 9 |
| Maclean’s | 9 |
| Nouveau Projet | 9 |
| Hazlitt | 8 |
| Report on Business | 7 |
| Maisonneuve | 6 |
| Canadian Geographic | 5 |
| Cottage Life | 5 |
| Dînette Magazine | 5 |
| FASHION Magazine | 5 |
| The Fiddlehead | 5 |
| The New Quarterly | 5 |
| The Site Magazine | 5 |
Publications with 4 nominations each: The Narwhal, University of Toronto Magazine
Publications with 3 nominations each: BESIDE, Canadian Art, ELLE Québec, The Deep, Today’s Parent, Reader’s Digest
Publications with 2 nominations each: Air Canada enRoute, Arc Poetry, Alberta Views, BuzzFeed Canada, Chatelaine, Eighteen Bridges, Geist, Hakai Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, Prairie Fire, Prairie Fire & Contemporary Verse, Québec Science, U of T Medicine
EDITORIAL AWARDS
Best Editorial Package
Cover Grand Prix
Art Direction of a Single Article
Art Direction Grand Prix
WRITING & VISUAL AWARDS
Photojournalism & Photo Essay
Portrait Photography
Lifestyle Photography
Illustration
Long-Form Feature Writing
Feature Writing
Profiles
Personal Journalism
Service Journalism
Short Feature Writing
Fiction
Poetry
Investigative Reporting
Columns
Essays
One of a Kind Storytelling
FIRST-TIME NOMINEES
Magazines nominated for their first National Magazine Award are: Canadian Cycling, Fête Chinoise, Le Trente, The Maritime Edit, The Narwhal, and Title Magazine.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
On April 30, the NMAF was delighted to name Linda Spalding, an acclaimed Canadian writer and a longtime editor of Brick magazine, the recipient of the 2019 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement, recognizing her career excellence and leadership in Canadian magazines.
Congratulations to the nominees of the 42nd National Magazine Awards!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The NMAF gratefully acknowledges the support of the Government of Canada, the Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Creates, Reader’s Digest Foundation, and KCK Global. We are also thankful for the support of CCR Solutions, Cision, Magazines Canada, PUSH Media, TC Transcontinental Printing, The Arcadian Court, University of Alberta, Very Good Studios, and Vividata.
ABOUT THE 42nd NMAs
The National Media Awards Foundation will welcome Canada’s top writers, artists, editors, art directors, publishers, and other creators to the 42nd National Magazine Awards gala, hosted by Omar Mouallem. Gold, Silver, and Honourable Mention awards will be presented at the Arcadian Court in Toronto on May 31, at the annual gala. Tickets are on sale at magazine-awards.com.
For sponsorship inquiries please contact NMAF Managing Director Barbara Gould at staff@magazine-awards.com.
Credit Changes: The deadline to make any changes to nominations credit is Monday, May 6. Email staff@magazine-awards.com to make any credit changes to your nominations.
I
The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is pleased to present the 2019 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement to Linda Spalding, an acclaimed writer and a longtime editor of the literary journal Brick.
Originally from Topeka, Kansas, Linda moved to Toronto, Ontario (after stints in Hawaii and Mexico) in 1982. In 1985, the “story goes Linda took on the role of publisher of Brick on a dare,” says Laurie D. Graham, the current publisher of Brick. That dare lasted a remarkable 33 years, as Linda oversaw 75 issues of Brick. Linda was the “editor and sometimes publisher” says Kim Jernigan (Special Projects Editor, The New Quarterly), and now she “continues as the one of the magazine’s owners (a.k.a. Fairy-godparents).”
Throughout Linda’s 75 issue tenure at Brick, the magazine “underwent an unbelievable transformation… a complete editorial and design overhaul, really turning the magazine into something completely new—a transformation that would by any standards be thought of as a very risky undertaking, were it not so successful,” says Laurie.
With Linda at the helm, “Brick dared to be international,” Kim reminds us, despite existing in a time of literary nationalism, with funding dependent on publishing Canadian content. Pushing at the boundaries of Brick allowed the magazine to flourish within Canada and gain recognition globally. Linda’s transformation of Brick included publishing a multiplicity of content (photographs, drawings, handwritten letters, manuscript pages, meditations, field reports, essay length reviews, memoirs, and more) and voices.
Canadian novelist Michael Helm writes that, “until I found Brick, as a writer I’d been low on hope, and as a reader, starved for local amazements.” Kim echoes this sentiment, in that “it was Brick that allowed [her] to imagine there might be a place for a new writer.”
While growing Brick, Linda published an astonishing seven books, her novel “The Purchase” winning the 2012 Governor general’s Literary Award. Earlier, in 2003, Linda received the Harbourfront Festival Prize recognizing her contributions to the Canadian literary community.
Kim is careful to point out that Linda “paid attention to the bottom line, working to keep Brick solvent but not at the expense of its contributors.” Michael gives us a glimpse into Brick’s editorial meetings, in which Linda “was forever trying to find ways to give contributors more of the magazine’s meager funds.” It seems that throughout Brick’s transformation, Linda’s dedication to both established and emerging voices remained constant.
Constant, too, are the words by which Linda’s colleagues describe her: Kim speaks of her “editorial acumen and fierce determination,” reading submissions with “clarity, tact, and trenchancy.” Michael Redhill—in a letter to Linda, published in Brick—writes that he has been “lucky to encounter such ferocity, which is a sign of authenticity, because behind it is a person whose love can never be doubted and whose passion is so deep it’s a style.” This fierce love for Brick and its surrounding community makes the fairy godparent comparison all the more true. Linda Spalding spent 33 years working magic, turning the magazine into “more than the sum of its parts,” says Kim.
“To be part of Brick is to know that Linda is now in your corner, and that’s perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned from her: that you can show care for the people who are making this magazine with you, that it is required of you to show care,” says Laurie.
For the transformative role Linda has played in the Canadian magazine publishing field and in the lives of Canada’s creators, the NMAF is incredibly proud to present Linda with this year’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.
NOMINEES – 2019 NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS
Finalists for the 42nd National Magazine Awards will be announced tomorrow, May 1, 2019 at 10am ET on www.magazine-awards.com,on Facebook and Twitter at @MagAwards. The 42nd National Magazine Awards gala is set for May 31, 2019 at the Arcadian Court. Join us to Celebrate Canadian Creators. Tickets will be on sale on Wednesday, May 1.
ABOUT THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The NMAF’s most prestigious individual prize is the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement, an award that recognizes an individual’s innovation and creativity through contributions to the magazine industry. The award is open to circulation experts, editors, marketing, sales and promotion professionals, publishers, creators, designers, production managers – in short, to everyone in the industry. It cannot be given posthumously. For more information and previous winners, visit magazine-awards.com/oa.
The National Media Awards Foundation is excited to announce that this year’s Master of Ceremonies for the NMA Gala will be award-winning writer and journalist Omar Mouallem.
“I’m so excited to emcee this tribute to so many publishers and artists I admire. For as long as I’ve been in the business, the National Magazine Awards have been important to me. Not long after my landing my first internship, in 2008, I learned about it as an institution setting a standard of excellence in our field by honouring its best creators. Every year, I waited for the nominations list, not just to understand what truly great editorial looked like but to use as a barometer for my own work. As any creator will tell you, to win an NMA is truly special, but to one day emcee the gala is an honour I never imagined.”
An eight-time National Magazine Award nominee, Omar Mouallem‘s narrative journalism and personal essays have have appeared in dozens of magazines published across Canada and the United States. He is a best-selling author, documentary filmmaker, the founding editor of two magazines, and a guest host of the media criticism podcast Canadaland. His forthcoming book, Praying to the West, is a travel memoir about Muslims in the Americas published by Simon & Schuster Canada. He lives in Edmonton and tweets at @omar_aok.
This year’s National Magazine Awards gala will be held on May 31 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. Tickets go on sale on May 1, when the nominations are announced.
The 42nd annual National Magazine Awards gala will take place May 31st at the Arcadian Court in Toronto. This year, we are honoured that Marcey Andrews and Wenting Li partnered to create the visuals that will help define our celebration of Canadian magazines.
We recently spoke with Marcey and Wenting about the stunning cover they created for the gala program, and how this year’s art direction compares to that of previous years.
NMAF: As the winner of several National Magazine Awards, including more recently for Cover Grand Prix, and a member of the 2018 Jury, how does it feel to be taking over art direction for this year’s NMAs?
Marcey Andrews: Intimidating, to say the least! But also a great honour. Between my experience with the 2018 Jury and the art direction of this year’s NMAs, I’ve really come to appreciate the enormity of this event and just how much dedication it takes to make it happen. Émilie, Barbara and all the volunteers and sponsors that make this possible, they are all a source of inspiration.
NMAF: Could you tell us about the direction you’re taking? How does it stand apart from—or perhaps complement—that of other years?
Marcey Andrews: When Wenting and I partnered up, our goal was simply to carry the torch high and create a look that honoured the significance of these achievements! Stories, and those in magazines in particular, have always been a source of cinematic wonder for me — a byproduct of my active imagination — and so we wanted to give the artwork that same larger-than-life feeling. We know how much effort and passion goes into every piece and so we wanted the nominees to be able to take a moment and appreciate the grandeur of their accomplishments.
Marcey Andrews is the art director of New Trail, the University of Alberta’s alumni magazine. She is also the Senior Graphic Designer in Marketing and Communications in University Relations. She has won five National Magazine Awards.
NMAF: Your illustration for this year’s NMA program is beautiful. Does it have a title?
Wenting Li: Thanks so much! It’s called Awards Night.
NMAF: What was your inspiration for creating this piece?
Wenting Li: I was hoping to show the glitter and solemnity of a celebration, but also make it a bit unusual. So, boats taking creators toward a party inside a giant magazine!
NMAF: Your work has appeared in such Canadian publications as The Walrus, Canadian Living, Quill & Quire, Reader’s Digest Canada and The Globe and Mail. What do you enjoy about creating illustrations for stories and magazines?
Wenting Li: Whenever I’m paging through a publication I can’t help but look first at all the images. Getting to think of drawings that might make others flipping through stop on a particular page is kind of thrilling. I also love being transported by a story, and then getting to share this feeling visually.
Wenting Li is a Toronto-based illustrator. Her work is preoccupied with colour and shape, and the subtleties of complementing story with picture. Learn more about Wenting and her work by visiting her website.
Tickets to the 42nd Annual NMA Gala will go on sale on May 1, 2019, when the nominations are announced. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Twitter & Facebook!
