The National Magazine Awards Foundation is deeply saddened by the loss of Neville Gilfoy, founder and publisher of Progress Magazine in Nova Scotia, who passed away yesterday from complications of lymphoma.
As an innovator and entrepreneur who built Progress Media Group into Atlantic Canada’s most trusted and important sources of business information, Neville was a strident proponent of economic development and entrepreneurial spirit in the region he dearly loved.
Neville often volunteered to serve on the jury for the National Magazine Awards, regularly offering his time and expertise in service to the industry and promoting excellence in Canadian magazines. Guests who met him at the annual National Magazine Awards gala were charmed and invigorated by his enthusiasm for the potential of magazine publishing and for business and innovation in Atlantic Canada.
For being an outstanding example to all who worked with him—and to the Canadian magazine industry—the NMAF in 2006 awarded Neville the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement.
“Neville ached to see Atlantic Canada prosper and believed an entrepreneurial revolution was required to make it happen.”
— Greg Keilty, publisher of Sky News
Neville spent more than 40 years in magazine publishing. He was been behind the launch of several magazines, including Atlantic Insight (50,000 paid subscriptions within eight months), Eastern Woods and Waters, and Atlantic Progress (later Progress; he also created a French-language counterpart, Progrès), and successfully built one of the most capable, committed and determined publishing teams in Canada.
He served as a CPPA/CMPA board member from 1979 to 1987, as president of the Atlantic Provinces Chamber of Commerce, and as chair of the board of the Greater Halifax Partnership. For 15 years he taught at the Banff Publishing Workshop. He presented at hundreds of seminars and conferences, from CMPA and Magazines University to economic development groups and high-school classes. In 1999 he launched Face to Face, one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial conferences produced by any magazine in North America. In 2006 he was appointed honorary consul of France in Nova Scotia.
At the core of Gilfoy’s success was his talent and determination for making those around him share his “uncommon delight” for the magazine industry. “He eats, sleeps and dreams the business of magazine publishing,” Dirk van Loon, editor and publisher of DvL Publishing Inc., told the NMAF in 2006 when nominating Neville for the Outstanding Achievement Award. “He gladly shares what he knows with anyone else crazy enough to get into the racket.”
“Publishing a magazine that has had such a positive impact on the Atlantic region is an accomplishment that I am very proud of. Progress has a purpose and a mission and its audience is impacted by that. The company wouldn’t enjoy the level of success it does without the team of professionals with whom I work. The people who produce our magazines, our events and our online product are the absolute best and are wonderfully committed to the success of our company and the region. It’s an amazing thing to be part of.” –Neville Gilfoy
[This post has been updated to note that the Western Magazine Awards have extended their submissions deadline until May 29.]
This Thursday, May 1, the National Magazine Awards Foundation will announce the nominees for the 37th annual National Magazine Awards, to be held in Toronto on June 6. The list of nominees along with gala and ticket information will be posted right here on this blog, as well as on the NMAF website. Rounding up the awards season in Canadian magazines: The Atlantic Journalism Awards have announced the finalists for awards to be presented on May 10 at the Halifax Harbourfront Marriott. There are three categories for magazines (Best Cover, Best Atlantic Magazine Article, Best Magazine Profile). Herald Magazine, Atlantic Salmon Journal, Progress and East Coast Living are among the leading nominees. The Western Magazine Awards are accepting submissions until April 30May 29 for their awards program to be held September 26 at the Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside. The early-bird rate applies to all submissions entered by April 30 May 29.
The Association québecoise des éditeurs de magazine (AQEM) has not yet made an announcement about this year’s Quebec Magazine Awards (Grand Prix de Magazines du Québec). Last year’s were cancelled due to an urgent need to focus on the recycling issue.
The Manitoba Magazine Awards (the “Maggies”) will be held on October 2. Details about submissions will be posted soon on the website of the Manitoba Magazine Publishers’ Association. The Alberta Magazine Awards were held on March 20 at the Carriage House Inn in Calgary. UPPERCASE won Alberta Magazine of the Year. Glass Buffalo won Best New Magazine. Janine Vangool (UPPERCASE) won for best achievement in editing. Tom Tait (Galleries West) won for best achievement in publishing. Eighteen Bridges, Swerve, Alberta Venture, Freefall and AlbertaViews were among the winners in individual categories. The 60th anniversary Kenneth R. Wilson Awards for B2B magazine publishing will announce the finalists for this year’s awards on May 5. The KRW gala will be held in Toronto on Tuesday, June 3, at Hotel One King West. Nominees, ticket information and other details will be posted on the KRW website next week. The KRWs are also currently accepting submissions for the Harvey Southam Award for Career Achievement – deadline May 2. Keep it here for more info about magazine awards, especially the National Magazine Awards nominees, to be announced on Thursday May 1.
They publish much of Canada’s best poetry and prose. The writers whose creative work appears in their pages range from established icons of Canadian literary arts–such as Alice Munro, Margaret Atwood and Lynn Coady, to name just a few–to new writers published for the first time.
They are Canada’s literary magazines, and they are not only a source of reading pleasure, but also a critical part of our country’s culture and a forum for literary artists across the land.
The following list, an A-to-Z guide to Canadian literary periodicals and their submissions guidelines, compiled by the National Media Awards Foundation, focuses on those magazines that currently publish short fiction, poetry and/or creative (aka literary) non-fiction. Many also accept submissions for essays, literary criticism, reviews, interviews, graphic narratives and visual art. And many have won National Magazine Awards. If we missed any, tell us via Twitter @MagAwards or contact us by email.
Artery, The Published in: Ontario (Lakehead University) Founded: 2008 Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Plays Issues per Year: 1-2 National Magazine Awards: None Submission Guidelines
GUTS: Canadian Feminist Magazine Published in: Ontario (Toronto) Founded: 2012 Genres: Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Essays, New Media Issues per Year: Biannual, plus regular online content National Magazine Awards Nominations: None Submission Guidelines
Impressment Gang, The Published in: Nova Scotia (Halifax) Founded: 2014 Genres: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews Issues per Year: 3 National Magazine Award Nominations: None Submissions Guidelines
In/Words Published in: Ontario (Carleton University, Ottawa) Founded: 2001 Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Non-fiction, Visual Art Issues per Year: 2-3 National Magazine Awards Nominations: None Submission Guidelines
Mackinac, The Published in: Online Founded: 2013 Genres: Poetry Issues per Year: 3-4 National Magazine Awards: None Submission guidelines
MacroMicroCosm Published in: British Columbia Founded: 2015 Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Essays, Visual Art Issues per Year: 4 (online) National Magazine Awards: None Submission guidelines
NōD Published In: Alberta (U. of Calgary) Founded: 2014 Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Creative Non-fiction, Reviews, Visual Arts Issues per Year: 2 National Magazine Awards: None Submission Guidelines
Northern Appeal, The Published In: Ontario (Simcoe County and Muskoka) Founded: 2016 Genres: Poetry, Short Stories, Photography, and Visual Art Issues per Year: 2 National Magazine Awards: None Submission Guidelines
Poetry is Dead Published in: British Columbia (Burnaby) Founded: 2009 Genres: Poetry Issues per Year: 2 National Magazine Award Nominations: None Submissions Guidelines
Polymath Published in: British Columbia Founded: 2015 Genres: Fiction, Poetry, Reviews, Visual Art Issues per Year: 4 (online) National Magazine Awards: None Submission guidelines
Prairie Journal Published in: Alberta (Calgary) Founded: 1983 Genres: Poetry, Short Fiction, Drama, Literary Criticism Issues per Year: 2 National Magazine Award Nominations: 2 Submissions Guidelines
Pulp Literature Published in: British Columbia Founded: 2014 Genres: Short Stories, Novellas, Novel Excerpts and Graphic Novel Shorts Issues per Year: 4 National Magazine Award Nominations: None Submissions Guidelines
Rhubarb Published in: Manitoba (Winnipeg) Founded: 1970 Genres: Creative Non-fiction, Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Visual Art, with a focus on Canada’s Mennonite communities Issues per Year: 2-3 National Magazine Award Nominations: None Submission Guidelines
Read all about this year’s National Magazine Award winners, which included medals by literary magazines Arc Poetry Magazine, Event, Hazlitt, Little Brother, Prairie Fire, PRISM International, sub-Terrain, The Feathertale Review, The New Quarterly, Vallum and Maisonneuve, which won Magazine of the Year.
This weekend in 5 cities across Canada, it’s the annual book and magazine festival, Word on the Street, a smorgasbord of workshops, author readings, presentations and a marketplace for great deals on books and magazine subscriptions.
It’s an especially great opportunity to acquaint yourself with many of Canada’s wonderful independent and literary magazines.
In Toronto, for example, you’ll want to check out the booths of great (and National Magazine Award-nominated or -winning) titles such as Canadian Dimension, Canadian Art, The Feathertale Review, Maisonneuve, The New Quarterly, Shameless, Spacing, Taddle Creek, THIS Magazine, Toronto Review of Books, The Walrus, Worn Fashion Journal and more.
And the impressive list of authors on hand includes National Magazine Award-winners Anne Dowsett Johnson, Don Gillmor, David Macfarlane, Shawn Micallef, Katrina Onstad and others.
Last night in Halifax the Atlantic Journalism Awards were announced. In the categories exclusive to magazines, Saltscapes took the prize for Best Cover for “Million Dollar Legs” (Jan/Feb 2012).
The award for Best Profile Article went to Herald Magazine (“Graham Day,” by John DeMont).
And the award for Best Atlantic Magazine Article went to Progress Magazine (“To the Manor Born,” by Marjorie Simmins).
In the general print categories, Atlantic Business Magazine won for Arts & Entertainment (“Six Men, Two Dories and the North Atlantic,” by Stephen Kimber).
In addition to the awards open to all print, broadcast and online media in Atlantic Canada, the AJAs also bestowed a number of student awards:
PROVINCE OF NOVA SCOTIA SCHOLARSHIP Georgena Holley, Nova Scotia Community College, Dartmouth
BELLALIANT PRIX D’EXCELLENCE EN JOURNALISME Danielle Bilodeau, Université de Moncton
ATLANTIC LOTTERY CORPORATION ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Khairunnisa Intiar, St. Thomas University
EMERA ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Natascia Lypny, University of King’s College
NALCOR ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Flavio Nienow, College of the North Atlantic
AJAs STUDENT PRIZE OF EXCELLENCE Geordie Carragher, Holland College
CNW GROUP PRIZE OF EXCELLENCE Blair Barrington, Nova Scotia Community College
AJAs STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Brad Perry, New Brunswick Community College
The 
The 
The 
The 60th anniversary 
Published in: Canada
Broken Pencil
Canadian Literature
Canadian Poetry
Carte Blanche
Eighteen Bridges
ELQ: Exile, the Literary Quarterly
Freefall
Geez
Glass Buffalo
GUTS: Canadian Feminist Magazine
Hamilton Arts & Letters
Hart House Review
Hazlitt
Humber Literary Review, The
Impressment Gang, The
In/Words
Little Brother
MacroMicroCosm
Maisonneuve
Nashwaak Review, The
Northword
Nouveau Projet
One Throne
Open Minds Quarterly
Poetry is Dead
Prairie Journal
Pulp Literature
Quilliad, The
QWERTY
Rampike
Rhubarb
Scarborough Fair
THIS Magazine
untethered
