Sponsorship is tight, but despite rumours, Magawards are a go

It may be a little leaner, but there will be a National Magazine Awards this year.

Rumours have been circulating that Brian Segal, the CEO of Rogers Publishing, the country's largest magazine publisher, sent a memo to the awards board, cc'd to a number of other CEOs, saying that he was not going to sponsor the event and urging that, because of the economic situation, the event be cancelled this year. (It's not known if any of those copied on the memo have endorsed its view.)

Patrick Walsh, the president of the awards, said the following in response to an inquiry we sent him:

The only question at this point is what kind of gala we’ll have; we’re considering various options based on an expected drop in sponsorship revenue. The board has been working on contingency plans for months now, and prudently so. We may have to shed a few bells and whistles, but it’s still going to be a great event for the industry, as always.

Yes, there has been some unfortunate speculation as to whether the show should go on. However, we believe the gala is important for the overall health of our industry, both from a marketing perspective and from the standpoint of celebrating and honouring our collective fine work.

The last message this medium needs to be sending now is that we’re rolling over and dying, if only because it’s simply not the case. The main point, as far as the NMAF is concerned, is that there will be a National Magazines Awards ceremony, no matter what. We have more magazines with entries this year over last, the judging is almost completed, the Montreal nominations party is in the works and we’re working on the gala.

It's understood that part of the board's contingency planning is to work to preserve the prize money, which goes to creators, and to ensure that the work carried out by more than 100 judges (all but completed) is not wasted.