It all began when...
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. MacFarlane sent an introductory letter proposing a “national magazine award” to John S. Crosbie, president of the Magazine Association of Canada. Crosbie replied on November 26, 1976:
“Our silence since your last letter can be attributed in part to the fact that we have been thinking. Certainly we must – if ever we doubted – think in terms of two awards; French and English. However, I wonder whether both should be termed ‘Canada’s Magazine Writer of the Year.’ Perhaps the current interest in French autonomy opens the way to avoid the implicit dishonesty in having two ‘Canada’s Best’ writers…”
From the idea to divide a single award into English and French counterparts, MacFarlane eventually stumbled upon the 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, photographers and art directors.
Together, MacFarlane and Crosbie 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 August 27, 1977 Elsa and Stephen Franklin were contracted as national organizers to translate the ideas and concepts into tangible reality; seek out sponsors to raise funds, draft the rules and entry forms, engage translators, find acceptable judges, plan and mount an awards presentation dinner, pick the menu, the dance band and master of ceremonies, sell the tickets, and with the volunteer help of art directors Ken Rodmell, Jon Eby and Ron Butler, prepare and print brochures, prospectuses, entry forms, scrolls and programs plus a mounted display of finalist entries.
Andrew MacFarlane later wrote in a summary of the first National Magazine Awards, “We would at this point to warn the directors that it will not be easy to top [this year’s awards] next year and to refrain from considering that it will be a snap. It won’t.”
On November 14, 1977, National Magazine Awards Foundation finally received its charter of non-profit foundation status from the Province of Ontario. Sponsors started to line up for each of the 11 (later expanded to 14) original categories, and a call was put out to the Canadian magazine industry to submit entries — at $5-$10 a pop, down from the originally proposed $25 — by February 18, 1978.
Andrew MacFarlane originally envisioned the National Magazine Awards as a luncheon, to be held on Friday, May 12 1978. As he wrote in an NMAF Operations Report, January 5, 1978:
“An Awards Luncheon is recommended over an Awards Dinner because it is (a) cheaper (b) less bullshit (c) probably easier to arrange TV coverage (d) all other awards ceremonies are in the evening and most of them are elongated bores or disasters.”
The Board, however, eventually decided upon an evening affair, to be held on Thursday, May 11, 1978. And, after 62 judges had poured over more than 1300 entries from across the country, and after nearly two years of scheming and planning had come to pass, the Hotel Toronto opened its doors to the inaugural National Magazine Awards.
Pierre Berton, whose “possibly brutal humour [ensured] that the awards presentation did not drag on,” emceed the event, while 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, Berton 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.
Writing in the Ottawa Citizen after the awards, Richard Labonté called it “an enthusiastic event – just the sort of affair magazine writers and editors and their friends have been waiting for… The tuxedos, of course, outnumbered the jeans, but it was a relaxed affair all around.” Sylvia Train commented in the Toronto Sun that “the dancing and drinking continued on and when I left, the party was still going strong – a smashing evening.”
Andrew MacFarlane called it simply “a success.” We couldn’t agree more.
– Richard A. Johnson, National Magazine Awards Foundation
