Early bird deadline for KRW business press awards entry looms

The window is closing for the early-bird rate to enter the Kenneth R. Wilson (KRW) Awards for the best in business press from the year 2011. Submissions are now being accepted in 22 categories for gold and silver Awards, to be presented at the 58th annual KRW Awards on June 7, 2012 at the Carlu in Toronto.

The deadline for all submissions is February 3, 2012, but submissions by January 27 at 5pm get the early bird rate of $110 per entry. The regular fee (after January 27) is $135. Membership in a business-press association is not required for entry.

The KRW Awards program is open to all specialized business-to-business media written and produced in Canada in either English and/or French, regardless of association membership. Editorial staff, contributors, freelancers, designers and people engaged in co-operative efforts with the publication may enter. They do not need to be full-time employees of the publication/or web site. Please see Guideline.

New multiplatform media team named at TC Media

Jocelyne Morissette, who has been in charge of website development and management of flagship media and magazine-related brands such as Coupdepouce.com, ElleQuébec.com and Recettes.qc.ca and in the management of  women's portals, has been named to the new position of general manager, multiplatform media development at TC Media (formerly Transcontinental Media). At the same time, Pierre Tremblay was appointed general manager, multiplatform media production. Tremblay was the director of Quebecor’s Agence QMI. He was, in 2003, the first director of Argent, the financial and business information channel.

A release said the team's responsibility will be to establish synergies between the various divisions, to develop multiplatform projects based on electronic media, particularly television and webcasting, and to develop business relations with the various broadcasters who work with TC Media.

Michael Fox, acknowleged industry postal expert, retiring from Rogers Publishing

The Canadian magazine industry has long relied on Michael Fox as its primary expert when it came to understanding the vagaries and the economics of Canada Post. Fox, who has long worked in circulation  at Rogers Publishing and, before that, at Maclean Hunter, and is now senior vice-president, circulation, is retiring at the end of this month. He first joined Maclean Hunter in 1974 as an editor working for the old Financial Post, which he was later instrumental in taking it from a weekly to a daily after moving over into circulation.

He won't be leaving the magazine business, mind you: he will be moving permanently to his home in Niagara-on-the-Lake and continuing to work with his wife Beckie and his daughter Katherine on building the magazine Garden Making, which they launched in 2010. (It tells you a lot about Fox that his idea of a good time after finding and keeping audiences for Rogers magazines has been to do exactly the same thing in his spare time, only for his own magazine.) He is also to continue working for Rogers on a couple of projects. His retirement was announced in a memo to staff from president Ken Whyte, who said, in part:

Perhaps Michael’s most important contribution to Rogers Publishing in recent years has been his active involvement in government relations and the relationship he has built directly with Canada Post. He has been extremely influential in championing our interests day-to-day and in crisis situations.

Over the years, Fox has chaired and served on a great many industry committees at Magazines Canada and elsewhere. Magazines Canada named him volunteer of the year in 2005 and CMC Circulation Management Association made him Magazine Marketer of the Year in 2002. He is honorary lifetime member of the Canadian Direct Marketing Association and has been on the Magazine Directors Advisory Committee at the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Meredith Corporation doubles online reach by buying Reader's Digest's Allrecipes.com

As part of a spree of acquisition, particularly in the food and recipe area, Meredith Corporation has confirmed that it is buying Allrecipes.com from Reader's Digest Association (RDA). The resulting $175 million transaction means that the 13-year-old site, which reaches 100 million Americans and has sister sites in 22 countries, will double the Meredith Women's Network (Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Fitness, More etc.) to nearly 40 million unduplicated monthly visitors, according to a story on Folio:.
The deal will complement Meredith's October 2011 purchase of Every Day with Rachael Ray (also from RD) and Eating Well in July 2011.
Meredith's recently launched Recipe.com (in print and digital) will remain separate from Allrecipes for now.

RDA announced its plans to focus on its “master brands” in fall 2011, [said the Folio: story] which include Reader’s Digest, Taste of Home and The Family Handyman. Since the announcement, the publisher continues to par down its content portfolio along with its staff; the publisher cut 150 positions worldwide in December.

Quote, unquote: On the virtue of diligence in magazine publishing

“There’s nothing wrong with the magazine form that constant diligence won’t fix."

-- Esquire magazine editor in chief David Granger, quoted in a New York Times story by its media columnist David Carr, about how the magazine survived the recession and in 2011 was up 13.5% in ad pages.

Mitch Dent, who brought Today's Parent into Rogers, now responsible for all Rogers TV sales

Mitch Dent, who was instrumental bringing the Today's Parent Group into the fold at Rogers Publishing in 1999 is now to head up the entire Rogers television sales force. Previously, as executive vice-president of sales, Rogers TV, he was responsible for Citytv and OMNI television; now he has added responsibility for Sportsnet and Specialty Television sales. 
Dent has been with Rogers Media for 13 years and after integrating TPG into the company, moved over to be senior vice-president consumer publications, where he was responsible for sales at Maclean's, Chatelaine, Flare and Canadian Business.He then made the move to Rogers TV.

Reuters digital tries out a print magazine

Reuters considers getting into the magazine business after its success with a one-off for next week's World Economic Forum in Davos. They produced 11,000 copies of a hurry-up, 64-page test issue -- 5,000 for Davos, 6,000 for clients and others, according to a story on Poynter.org.

“I would be very surprised if there wasn’t a print product in our future,” said Jim Impoco, executive editor of Thomson Reuters Digital. “We’re having pretty extensive conversations about it right now....We feel there is an opening for a magazine along these lines, a sophisticated, well-designed magazine that doesn’t dumb down” its financial, business and foreign policy coverage, he said.

He hastened to add that, because Reuters is principally in the digital, electronic news business, they can afford the luxury of doing a print magazine. 

King's College in Halifax considering masters program in creative non-fiction

The King's School of Journalism in Halifax is surveying the market to see what appetite there is for a Master's in Creative Nonfiction program beginning in the summer of 2013. (It seems to be pitched at books, but could also be interesting to magazine writers interested in long-form journalism.)

According to a posting on the Toronto Freelance Editors and Writers listserv by Stephen Kimber, Rogers Communications Chair in Journalism at King's and a columnist for the Halifax Metro, it would be a two-year limited residency program, with two, two-week summer residencies in Halifax and two one-week winter "publishing" residencies, one in New York and one in Toronto.

Students will work one-to-one and in small groups—face to face and online—with the country's best nonfiction writers and teachers, and graduate with a complete book proposal and a substantial portion of a finished book manuscript.

Magazine world view: Paper problems; SOPA and mags; Playboy moves; Self-pubs stay that way

• Under Siege: The outlook for print media is even worse than we thought, expert says -- but publishers may prosper (Dead Tree Edition) 
• SOPA and Magazine Media (Folio:) 
• Playboy to close Chicago headquarters(Folio:) 
• Magazine publisher turns job-hunting into a TV contest (Guardian) 
• Nine ways scientists demonstrate they don't understand journalism (Guardian) 
• Future sells New York music division for $3m (Press Gazette) 
• Revamped Company magazine goes on sale (Press Gazette) 
• Self-published authors still rarely make the jump to publishing houses (MediaShift) 
• Goodbye books, hello 'flat' content. Make once, use anywhere (paidContent) 
• Hearst title Elle [UK] in online revamp(Media Week)

Quote, unquote: Coverage on approval

“We’re respectful when it comes to our celebrity coverage....We want to take our readers inside the lives of celebrities and you have to be respectful if you want to do that.”

-- Rogers Publishing spokesperson Suneel Khanna, quoted on behalf of Hello! Canada in the Toronto Star. He was responding to a story from the Leveson inquiry in London (sparked by the phone hacking scandal) in which the editor of Hello! in Britain said that 70% of what she publishes is pre-approved by the celebrities they write about.

Three leaders to say how The Page is Changing at State of Mag Nation March 1

Chambers

Stoneham

Mullen

Three women leading in magazines' evolution beyond the printed page will be speaking at this year's State of the Magazine Nation event, The Page is Changing, presented by Magazines Canada.

"The event will focus on how magazine brands are extending great content beyond the printed page to multiple platforms, giving consumers what they want, when they want it and where they want it," said a Magazines Canada release.

Panelists will be

• Lynn Chambers, Group Publisher, TC Media;
• Jeanniey Mullen, Global EVP and CMO, Zinio; and 
• Shelagh Stoneham, VP Brand and Marketing Communications, Rogers.

The March 1 event will be hosted in Toronto at the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library, 2nd Floor, 789 Yonge Street (one street north of Bloor). Registration and continental breakfast begins at 8:00 a.m. with presentations running from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. There is no cost to attend. To register online.

Are magazine cover subjects becoming more racially diverse?

It would be interesting to hear if readers are noting a trend among Canadian magazines to put more diverse faces on their covers. I'm asking because of an article in the Guardian's women's blog noting that, in Britain, a lot of attention is being paid because of cover choices being made by mainstream magazines. For instance, British-born Indian actress Archie Panjabi on Psychologies (above, left) and Freda Pinto on InStyle.

Despite the current vogue for magazines using more racially diverse stars, Asian faces on the newsstand are still a rarity. "We've seen in the past how publishers were reluctant to feature ethnic faces on their magazine covers because they felt it might affect sales," says Anjana Gosai, an expert on Asian beauty. "It's encouraging to see more black and Asian women on mainstream magazines. However, we have a long way to go before this becomes the norm."

The article's author, Anita Chaudhuri, wonders whether such changes matter.

But why does the ethnicity of the faces that greet us on the newsstand matter anyway? Because if, like me and like countless others, you grew up avidly consuming magazines but rarely seeing anyone of the same race or colour, it has a corrosive effect. The pleasure of magazines has always been about a certain deluded aspiration – the "you, but better" philosophy. If we are finally moving away from "you, but white..", that really will give women cause for celebration.

Chantal Hébert at Massey College January 25th

Chantal Hébert, the national affairs columnist for The Toronto Star will submit herself to a conversational Q & A with John Fraser, the Master of Massey College in Toronto on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:30 p.m. 

It's one of the occasional press club nights at Massey, with no RSVP and no fee required; just show up. There's coffee, tea and a cash bar afterwards.

In addition to her Star column and feature writing, Hébert is well known as one of the CBC National "At Issue" panelists.

Buy a vowel, or a consonant, to support literacy in ABC campaign

ABC Life Literacy Canada has found a creative way to fundraise by selling the letters of the alphabet to corporate sponsors in its Letters for Literacy campaign. Now in its 3rd year, it is an opportunity for magazine/media companies to step up in promoting literacy.

“With numerous non-profits and fundraisers trying to be heard, we wanted to be creative and step outside of the traditional box,” says Margaret Eaton, president, ABC Life Literacy Canada. “With the support of corporate sponsors, ABC can continue to provide programming and learning resources to adults, their families and the literacy community.  ” 

By purchasing "exclusive" rights to an individual letter, sponsors make a commitment to support ABC's literacy campaigns and resources. Funding goes to such things as Family Literacy Day, LEARN awareness campaign, and the development and production of free literacy resources to non-profit literacy organizations, schools and libraries. 

Some letters are already spoken for; among those sponsors already signed on are De Beers Canada  (the letter D), Homewood Suites by Hilton (T), Ernst & Young (E) and Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (G).  Also spoken for are H, N, P, R, S and U. The deadline to purchase one of the 16 letters that remain is March 16. 

The Magazine for teens and pre-teens has been sold to Kairos Transmedia

The Magazine, a magazine and custom publisher focussed on the teen and pre-teen audience, has been purchased by Kairos Transmedia. No price or terms were revealed in a release.

Established in 2000, The Magazine publishes 8 regular issues a year.

"We are very excited with this acquisition," said Becky Brown, The Magazine's newly appointed executive vice president. "We're looking forward to establishing a solid presence in the United States as well as continuing to pursue our on-line properties in working closely with Kairos' other media interests. Our specialty publication sector is one of the fastest growing and most progressive spaces and thanks to Kairos' acute understanding and demonstrated expertise regarding growing businesses - our future has never been brighter."

Toronto-based Kairos is involved in publishing, custom and online publishing and television and film development through its Spillwall Productions division. It also offers media literacy classes for children through thedirectorscut.ca.

Gary Campbell, web creative director for St. Joe's, leaving to pursue personal projects

Gary Campbell, the executive producer of St. Joseph Media (Torontolife.com etc.) and a key individual in its digital publishing operation is leaving the company to pursue upspecified "personal projects". 

"I plan to spend the next few months pursuing personal projects that leverage my digital design talents as a maker of innovative things," Campbell says. "I also plan to continue developing my Aggregation magazine project*. Indeed, issue #7 is in the works now."

Campbell has been with SJM for eight years, first as art director and web evangelist at Quill & Quire magazine and since then as a member of the separate digital team at St. Joe's responsible for all design and creative direction for the websites of Toronto Life, FASHION, Quill & Quire, Where, and Ottawa Magazine.

In announcing Campbell's departure in an internal memo to staff Andrew Crane, the vice-president of operations, said:

In addition to increasing the audience of Torontolife.com two and half time over and setting the site on the course it enjoys today, Gary has had many achievements in his tenure with us. Most recently, he has spent his time reworking Fashionmagazine.com which recorded some of its strongest audience days ever in the fall and was judged to be Best Web Site in the P&G Beauty Awards last October....

We see Gary’s collaborative work and passion for online excellence evidenced in the awards arena as projects that he has been involved with have won over 20 gold, silver or finalist placings in National Magazine Awards, Canadian Online Publishing Awards and KRW Awards programs to name a few.

*In addition to his work for SJM, Campbell is the founder and creative director of online magazine called Aggregation, which he describes (and I'm paraphrasing) as a laboratory for the digital magazine of the future. Each of its (so far 6) issues publish five individuals who provide, in context, five links to a miscellany of stories found on the internet, sometimes discovering in the process the unexpected.

Magazines Canada renames ad-edit guide a "Code of Reader & Advertiser Engagement"

Magazines Canada has changed its longstanding advertising-editorial guidelines, adding a new preamble and renaming them the Canadian Magazine Industry Code of Reader and Advertiser Engagement. 

The guidelines have been changed and developed at least three times over more than a decade and were most recently updated in 2010 by a broadly based industry task force [disclosure: I sat on the task force]. The substitution of a new preamble, which was a decision made by the association's board of directors (and not by the task force), was announced in the Magazines Canada newsletter:

These guidelines were developed in 2010 by a Magazines Canada national task force and have been incorporated into the association's membership criteria as they serve to guide members about best practices for positioning advertising and editorial content.

The purpose of the guidelines has always been to ensure quality products for readers by preserving the integrity of both advertising and editorial in magazines. In that spirit, the Advertising-Editorial Guidelines have been repositioned as the Code of Reader & Advertiser Engagement. While the content has not changed from the task force's original 2010 document, the new title and preamble is intended to recognize that publishers and advertisers must work together in a transparent way to foster and preserve reader engagement and trust.
Reader studies consistently indicate that editorial and advertising are equally important parts of the reader experience and that a clear distinction between the two, free from ambiguity, is vital.

Besides the rebranding, the biggest change is in the preamble. Here was the original 2010 preamble:

Magazine readers value both editorial content and advertising as sources of information. The integrity and long-term viability of magazines depends, however, on a clear distinction between the two -- without it, both editorial and advertising lose credibility with the reader.

The following guidelines are intended to help editors, publishers and advertisers maintain an industry-wide standard for preserving this crucial distinction. The guidelines have been designed so that both editors and advertising sales teams clearly understand them, and are able to confidently communicate them to customers.

The editor and editor's designate should have the opportunity to monitor compliance with these guidelines, complete with ample time to recommend necessary changes prior to pubication. The ultimate responsibility to follow the guidelines rests with the publisher.

Here is the new preamble:

Reader studies consistently indicate that editorial and advertising are equally important parts of the reader experience and that a clear distinction between the two, free from ambiguity, is vital.

Readers expect that magazine content will educate, entertain and inspire confidence in products and services wherever and however they engage with their favourite magazine brands.

Canada’s magazine media are committed to delivering the best possible reading and advertising experience and believes that:

• Magazine readers are entitled to unbiased, accurate reporting and information
• Magazine advertisers are entitled to a trusting and engaged audience
• The separation of editorial content and advertising messages must be transparent to the reader
• Editorial integrity must be free of compromise or external influence

The following guidelines were developed by a Magazines Canada national task force as a tool for editors and advertising sales teams to achieve business activity goals while retaining reader confidence and commitment. 

Two years and out: Sandbox mag of Winnipeg publishes final issue

Sandbox, a Winnipeg-based online and print magazine about local art, fashion and lifestyle, will publish its final issue January 30. The magazine only last summer was named best new magazine of the year at the Western Magazine Awards.

"In just two years, Sandbox has become more than just a magazine," said editor Jeffrey Vallis in a Facebook post. "It’s become a community of talented and creative local artists that will live on far beyond the final issue. Sandbox has given us all an outlet to foster the sentiment that lead us to launch the magazine in the first place: Winnipeg is truly amazing. Thank you to our most faithful readers and fans, and to our incredible, tireless team of contributors."

The final issue will be available exclusively at McNally Robinson Booksellers in the Grant Park Shopping Centre and a farewell party is being held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery January 28. 

According to a post on the blog ChrisD Sandbox was launched in 2010 by Vallis and Braden Alexander and funded by newsstand sales, ads and proceeds from magazine release parties. To celebrate its first anniversary last December, the publishers put out a mammoth 108-page special print issue (shown). Sandbox appeared four times a year in print and 8 times online.

“Our dream was to see the magazine in print –– just once –– even if it meant maxing out our student loans to do it,” [said Vallis] “But when that day finally came, we weren’t ready to stop at just one and, thankfully, neither were our readers. Considering we did it all with no money, minimal time and a makeshift office in our parents’ basements, we couldn’t be more proud.”

Some Harrowsmith subs being fulfilled by Garden Making

Some 2,000 customers who were stiffed last year by the sudden closure of  Harrowsmith Country Life and who bought their subs through the Rogers subscription service are being sent Garden Making magazine for the balance of their term, according to a story in Mastheadonline.

"Garden Making is a relatively new but already award-winning quarterly magazine directed at Canadian gardeners. The magazine is published by Inspiring Media in Niagara-on-the-Lake, with Michael Fox, a senior vice president at Rogers Publishing, listed as publisher. However, Garden Making is independent and not affiliated with Rogers.

"The letter states subscribers will receive Garden Making for the duration of the Harrowsmith subscription they have already paid for. Following that, subscribers have the option to continue receiving Garden Making for $19.95 a year."

Magazine world view: White faces; Food Network booms; steamed about yoga; blue books

• Ethnic minorities "largely" absent from British media [according to New Statesman stats] (Press Gazette) 
• Hearst’s Food Network magazine sees 7th ratebase increase in 3 years (Audience Development) 
• Some of the best performing newsstand covers of 2011 (Audience Development) 
• The 10 best responses to New York Times Magazine’s yoga article (New York Observer) 
• Haymarket's Marketing mag unveils New Year redesign (Press Gazette) 
• Study: Book publishers' 'optimism waning' as digital transition continues (paidContent) 
• Immediate Media acquires Hearst titles (Media Week)

Former BCBusiness editor Matt O'Grady named executive editor of Canadian Business

Matt O’Grady has been appointed executive editor of Canadian Business magazine. He had for three years been the editor-in-chief of BCBusiness magazine in Vancouver until he resigned last May over the spiking of a major story by publisher Peter Legge. In the interim, he has been working as editor-at-large at Report on Business magazine.

A memo to staff from CB editor Duncan Hood said that O'Grady will edit the Performance section, research and write features and work with the other editors "to develop the overall personality, look and feel of the magazine".

He has worked as an associate editor at both Vancouver and Western Living magazines after completing a master of publishing degree from Simon Fraser University. Before that he had worked as an intern at Harper’s magazine.

Looking good the Fotoshop way

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Further fun sending up airbrushing a besetting sin that most fashion magazines can't resist committing. Filmmaker Jesse Rosten (jesserosten.com) lampoons the software that slims, trims, lengthens and buffs the cover girls while making readers feel totally inadequate.  [There's also a short "the making of" video.]
[H/T Wayne Leek]