About the Awards
For nearly 35 years, the National Magazine Awards Foundation (NMAF) has
supported quality Canadian magazine content, in both official languages, by recognizing, celebrating and
promoting literary excellence through an annual program of awards. As a bilingual institution committed to
nationally honouring the quality of written and visual communication, the Foundation strives to promote
Canadian literary artists and encourage the development of literature through a national writing competition,
a mass media publicity campaign and at the industry’s largest and most celebrated promotional networking
event.
Each year, the NMAF receives nearly 2,000 submissions from over 200 different Canadian magazines featuring
thousands of literary artists. Approximately 56% of all entries are from Ontario; 18% are from western
Canada; 20% are from Quebec; the Atlantic provinces represent 1% and northern Canada 1%. Nearly 15% of all
submissions are French-language entries.
In adjudicating the submissions, the NMAF’s 250 volunteer judges award nominations to 350 notable entries,
which represent 50 different magazines and more than 500 Canadian artists.
Surrounding the Awards and throughout the year, the Foundation actively promotes the winning literary artists
through a targeted mass media publicity effort and through its website, which hosts an extensive collection
of award-winning articles.
A fifteen-member volunteer board of directors drawn from all regions and facets
of the Canadian magazine industry governs the NMAF. The current president of the board of directors of the
NMAF is Arjun Basu, Editorial Director of Spafax Canada.
History
In 1976 Andrew MacFarlane, Dean of Journalism at the University of Western
Ontario (UWO), was trying to revive the university’s recently defunct President’s Medal for Canadian Magazine
Journalism. His original idea was to create a new award divided into English and French counterparts. But
MacFarlane eventually developed a proposal for a series of magazine awards, whose salient features were that
the program would be bilingual — and therefore truly national — and would recognize individual excellence in
the many aspects of the magazine industry — writers, illustrators, editors, photographers and art
directors.
MacFarlane together with John S. Crosbie, president of the Magazine Association
of Canada, secured the participation of the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association (CPPA), representing
193 Canadian magazines, and CPPA’s former president Michael de Pencier. MacFarlane reached out to his
counterpart at Université Laval, Roger de la Garde, Alan Edmunds, head of the Periodical Writers Association
of Canada (PWAC), and veteran newsman Pierre Berton, among others. As the collective effort began to take
shape across the country, by the spring of 1977 the National Magazine Awards had developed a clear
mandate.
On November 14, 1977, National Magazine Awards Foundation received its charter
of non-profit foundation status from the Province of Ontario.
The first awards
There were more than 1300 entries to the first National Magazine Awards for the
year 1977. 62 judges evaluated the entries and awarded winners in 14 categories. The first National Magazine
Awards gala was held on Thursday, May 11, 1978 at the Hotel Toronto.
Pierre Berton emceed
the event, where the 660 guests dined and danced to Jack Collins and his five-piece band. Before presenting
the awards, Berton proclaimed to the audience, “In a bold departure from tradition, there are to be no thank
you speeches. We can do that because we are giving money, not some cheap statuette.” True to his word, if any
winner started to talk on stage, Berton reportedly waved a large hook in the speaker’s direction.
Awards were handed down in 14 categories (with separate French- and
English-language winners for the President’s Award for General Magazine Articles). 11 different magazines won
awards. The NMAF also honoured outstanding achievement by a magazine: L’Actualité (French) and Harrowsmith (English) took the awards.
Major winners of the National Magazine Awards
The now-defunct magazine Saturday Night is the
all-time leader in awards, with 129 gold awards. Toronto Life magazine leads all current publications with 93 gold awards. Writer Robert Fulford is the all-time individual leader with 13
gold awards.
Magazine of the Year
Each year the National Magazine Awards concludes with the naming of Canada’s
Magazine of the Year. Previous winners are:
2009: Up Here
2008: AlbertaViews
2007: Toronto Life
2006: The Walrus
2005: Maclean's
2004: Maisonneuve
2003: Border Crossings
2002: Outpost
2001: Canadian Geographic
2000: Azure
1999: Chatelaine
1998: Adbusters
1997: Vancouver Magazine
1996: Canadian Living
1995: Canadian House & Home
1994: Canadian Art
1993: Owl & Chickadee
1992: Cottage Life
1991: Idler
1990: West
1989: Toronto Life
1988: Applied Arts Quarterly
1987: Report on Business
1986: Quill & Quire
1985: Toronto Life
1984: Saturday Night
1983: Vancouver Magazine
1982: Equinox
Other Information
The National Magazine Awards has a total of 43 awards categories: 23 written, 4
integrated, 10 visual, 2 digital and 4 special awards (Outstanding Achievement, Best New
Creative Talent , Magazine of the Year - Print,
and Magazine of the Year - Digital).
The submissions
process for the National Magazine Awards is generally open from December until the second week of
January. Nominations are announced in April, and the awards gala is held on the first or second Friday in
June.
The funding for the Awards is largely drawn from the supportive magazine
community itself, through direct donations, ticket sales and submission entry fees. The Awards also rely on
the generous support of recurring and new corporate sponsors through financial contributions, endorsements of
the Foundation and its integral role in the Canadian magazine industry and through a wide variety
of invaluable in-kind contributions.
As a non-profit organization, the Foundation strives to make the most efficient
use possible of limited resources. It has a 15 member volunteer Board drawn from the magazine community,
which together with a paid Managing Director, Communications Manager and part-time staff do the work of the
Foundation.
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