The Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement
The NMAF’s most prestigious individual prize since
its inception in 1990 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, designers, production managers - in short, to everyone in the industry. It cannot be given
posthumously.
Nominations for this award are welcome from everyone in the industry. The nomination consists of a letter
from the nominator indicating the candidate’s name, title and career achievements, with supporting letters
from at least two (2) other individuals.
The Judging Committee of the National Magazine Awards Foundation
will consider the nominations, along with nominations from members of the Committee itself. The Board of the
National Magazine Awards Foundation will select the winner. No entry fee is required.
The deadline for submissions for the 2009 Foundation Award for
Outstanding Achievement is March 1, 2010.
Mail your applications to:
Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement
The National Magazine Awards Foundation
425 Adelaide St W, Suite 700, Toronto, ON, M5V 3C1
Or you may send applications by email - including PDFs of all
supporting letters - to staff[at]magazine-awards[dot]com.
2008 Winner
This year
the NMAF is honoured to name Cynthia Brouse as the recipient for her exceptional
contributions to the Canadian magazine community.
Cynthia Brouse was first published in a Canadian
magazine at the age of 15; she wrote a letter to the editor of Chatelaine’s feminism advice column
in 1973 inquiring about how she could get involved in the movement.
In so many ways, Brouse has been involved in our
industry ever since.
Several years later, in 1980, Brouse formally began
her Canadian magazine career as the assistant to the editor of Saturday Night.
|
 |
She went on to write, copy edit and fact check on
staff for Canadian Business, Maclean’s and Toronto Life, returning to Saturday
Night in 2002 as managing editor.
A published freelance writer for years, she
received her first two National Magazine Award nominations—and won Gold in the personal journalism
category—in 2000 for a Toronto Life profile of actor/director/writer Paul Gross’s fans. She reprised
her Gold success last year when she took the top award in the health and family service category for a
beautiful portrait of a single woman struggling with cancer, “ Lessons
from Adele” in Chatelaine.
Brouse has also taught and inspired students at
Ryerson University and George Brown College for more than twenty years, instilling in countless pupils the
principles of magazine journalism: be courageous, be honest and check the facts.
She should know—she wrote the definitive guidebook to
fact checking, After the Fact. In addition to being gospel on the desk of every would-be
writer and editor, the text implicitly celebrates and defends the virtues of Canadian magazine journalism.
(Editor’s note: Yes, we used After the Fact to fact check this bio.)
Brouse is also a former coordinator of the Magazine
Publishing Certificate Program at Ryerson’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education; she spearheaded
a revitalization of the program in the early 2000s.
More than a dozen industry members sent letters to
the NMAF to support the nomination of Cynthia Brouse, who now works as copy chief at Chatelaine.
“Cynthia does what other dedicated magazine professionals have done for decades,” said Stephen
Trumper, freelance editor and part-time Ryerson journalism instructor. “Maintain and set high
professional standards for our industry.”
For being an outstanding example to all who’ve worked with her—and
to the Canadian magazine industry—the NMAF proudly presents Cynthia Brouse with the Foundation Award for
Outstanding Achievement.
What they've said about Cynthia
Brouse:
“The tricks and techniques [Brouse] taught and her
passion for the unsung art of checking are valuable tools I’ve kept with me to this day.” – Allan
Britnell, freelance writer
“[Brouse] has been a tireless advocate…for truth and
verification, for accuracy and detail, for getting it right. But she never loses sight of the fact that what
we all love so dearly are great stories told well. Journalists such as Cynthia—great editors as well as
quality writers—are rare.” – Bill Reynolds, magazine stream director, Ryerson School of
Journalism
“Throughout two semesters, Cynthia became not only an
exceptional mentor to classmates and me, but also an admirable, kind and generous person to be around.” –
Christal Gardiola, head of research, Ryerson Review of Journalism: Spring
2009
“I can’t think of a more deserving person for this
award because [Cynthia] is so wise, talented and generous.” – Tim Falconer, author of
Drive: A Road Trip Through Our Complicated Affair with the Automobile and That Good Night:
Ethicists, Euthanasia and End-of-Life Care
“Apart from her editing skills, Cynthia is a talented
writer. Showing a deft hand with the personal memoir/journalism format, Cynthia has written moving accounts
of growing up in a small town in northern Ontario, being a single woman in the 21st century and
struggling with breast cancer….Cynthia is a highly skilled stylist, and her stories are full of warmth and
humour.” – Bruce Gillespie, freelance writer and editor
“From knowing Cynthia for many years and reading her
work, I know that of all the hats she wears in this industry—and she deeply cares about each of these
areas—writing is her greatest passion….Cynthia is a fine, insightful reporter and observer of the world
around her….Even when Cynthia writes a simple service article, she infuses it with classic Brousian
character.” – David Hayes, freelance journalist
“Classes on grammar, usage and style are the stuff of
many students’ nightmares, but Cynthia’s love affair with copy editing made them a joy.” – Carley
Fortune, assistant editor, TorontoLife.com & Marco Ursi, editor,
MastheadOnline
“While some turn expertise to tyranny, Cynthia
remains reasonable and calm, even in the panic of production. If every magazine had a Cynthia, they would be
truer, better written and more coherent.” – Megan Griffith-Greene, head of research,
Chatelaine
“[Brouse has] been, over the years, an indispensable
figure in the magazines of this era, a performer who richly deserves honouring for her diverse professional
achievements.” – Robert Fulford, Toronto author, journalist, broadcaster and
editor
“Not only is Cynthia one of those archetypal
magaziners who populate the business and who are so absolutely imperative for its survival…, she is a genuine
original: opinionated, funny and so unbelievably frank—like the best magazines.” – Matthew
Church, director of marketing and communications, Evergreen
“Cynthia loves her students, and they love her. So do
I. She’s the epitome of excellence in her field.” – Lynn Cunningham, assistant professor,
Ryerson University School of Journalism
“At Toronto Life from 1996 to 1999 as chief
of copy editing and research, [Brouse] helped establish and manage an internship program whose alumni can now
be found running many of the country’s most successful magazines. For this alone, she deserves our
recognition.” – John Macfarlane, editor and co-publisher, The Walrus
Previous Winners of the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement
2007 Charles Oberdorf
2006 Neville Gilfoy
2005 John Macfarlane
2004 Paul Jones
2003 Stephen Osborne
2002 Sally Armstrong
2001 Al Zikovitz
2000 Ken Rodmell
1999 Peter C. Newman
1998 Lynn Cunningham
1997 Robert Fulford
1996 James Ireland
1995 Catherine Keachie
1994 Jean Paré
1993 Don Obe
1992 Barbara Moon
1991 Lloyd Hodgkinson
1990 Michael de Pencier
1989 Prue Hemelrijk
