Geez wins Magazine of the Year in Western Magazine Awards

The iconoclastic Winnipeg religious magazine Geez, edited by Will Braun and Aiden Enns, was named

• Magazine of the Year for Western Canada
• Best New Magazine and
  
• Magazine of the Year - Manitoba

in the Western Magazine Awards, announced Friday evening in Vancouver. (It should be noted that Geez is on a roll, having won 7 awards from the Canadian Church Press in 2007.)

Jim Sutherland, who is now freelancing after a distinguished run editing Western Living, was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Multiple winners were:

• Blackflash magazine, for Magazine of the Year -- Saskatchewan, as well as for a feature by Danny Bradbury called "Epicentre", which won the Gold Award for Best Article -- Saskatchewan. In addition it won two awards -- the Science, Technology and Medicine category and Arts, Culture and Entertainment -- for "The Seven Pillars of Winnipeg" by Matthew Rankin.
  
• Western Living won Gold Award Best Article -- Manitoba for "Water in the Basement" by Jake MacDonald and two awards for "The Beach" by Andrew Struthers: the Gold Award for Best Article, BC/Yukon and the award for Business.
  
• Vancouver magazine won for Profile, with "The Healer" by Sylvia Fraser, and for "Meth & Kin" by Colleen Friesen in the Human Experience category
• Swerve magazine for Service, with "The Wonderfully Compromised Wedding" by Jacquie Moore and Gold Award Best Article -- Alberta/NWT, for "The Macleod Trail Expedition" by Harryt Vandervlist.
• Color magazine, Best Illustration or Illustration Feature for "A Tour Story" by Ben Tour and Best Art Direction -- Cover, for "Said and Done, Issue 4.4", by Sandra Grison
  

Other written winners were:

• Vancouver Review, in Travel and Leisure, for "Sporting Life", by John Moore.
• Northword, in Regular Column or Department, for "North of Unreal" by Betsy Trumpener.
• Prairie Fire, in Fiction, for "Jumper" by Stephen Gauer.
• Alberta Views in Public Issues for "Big Oil on Trial", by Jeremy Klaszus.
  

Other visual category winners were:

• The Block, in Best Photograph -- Architectural, Landscape or Still Life for "Knobs" by Alastair Bird.
• Ion, Best Photographic Feature or Series for "Dead Ringer" by Kate Szatmari.
• Alberta Views, Best Photograph -- People and Portraiture, for "The Lion-Hearted" by James May
• Avenue - Calgary for Best Art Direction -- Article, for "Minds for Design" by Anders Knudsen.
  

Trade magazine of the Year went to Enterprise, Roberta Staley, editor.

Magazine of the Year - Alberta/NWT went to Orange Life, Daniel Gibbons and Susie Hutchinson, editors.

Magazine of the Year - BC/Yukon went to BC Business, Tracy Tjaden, editor. Winners in the four Gold categories receive $1,000 each. This year for the first time, all written and visual category winners will receive $750, up from $500 in recent years.

For a complete list of all the finalists in all categories, please go the awards website.