Alberta Oil wins Magazine of the Year at the KRW business mag awards

Alberta Oil magazine is the first winner of the newly instituted Magazine of the Year award at the Kenneth R. Wilson Awards (KRWs), given in recognition of Canada's best business press journalism. The award is given to the publication that displays overall excellence in content and design and that most consistently mirrors its mandate/mission and most effectively engages and serves the needs of its readers. Alberta Oil edged out the other two finalists, Precedent and Salon Magazine. The judges noted:

“A magazine appealing to the senior executives of the energy sector in Alberta and the rest of Canada, Alberta Oil combines high-quality photography, illustration and graphics, and in-depth coverage on ‘the business of energy.’ Its attention to detail makes for a strong visual and editorial statement, offering a look at every aspect of this vital industry".

Alberta Oil is a 17,000-circulation bi-monthly published by Venture Publishing Inc. of Edmonton, which also publishes Alberta Venture, the province-wide business magazine. 

The M-o-Y award and awards in 21 other categories were handed out on Tuesday night at at event co-produced by Canadian Business Press and Magazines Canada. A complete list of winners can be found at the KRW website.

Web publishing is, if anything, more advanced and important in the trade and b-to-b sector and the award for Website of the Year, reflects this. It is given for fulfilling the site's editorial mission, effectively serving its audience, maximizing use of the web and representing the highest journalistic standards. The gold winner was Advisor.ca and the silver winner was Salon Magazine (salon52.ca).

The most gold awards were won by CAmagazine, with 5; it also won 2 silver awards. Marketing magazine, which led in nominations, won 4 gold and 4 silver. Quebec-based Conseiller received 2 golds and Canadian Lawyer and Professionally Speaking 2 silver.

There were also several sweeps, where magazines and individuals received both gold and silver in a particular category: Marketing (Peter Zaver, art director, Ally Tripkovic, associate art director) for Best Cover; illustrator Gérard Dubois for his artwork in CAmagazine (“The Business of Climate Change,” and “Containing Financial Contagion”);and photographer Jeff Kirk for Best Photograph (subjects Steve Nash and Paul Lavoie, both featured in Marketing).

The Best Single Issue award went to CAmagazine (The Heat Is On; Christian Bellavance, editor-in-chief; Bernadette Gillen, art director); the silver award went to Precedent (Fall; Melissa Kluger, editor; Underline Studio).

Best Art Direction of a Complete Issue went to Precedent (Fall; Underline Studio); silver went to CAmagazine (The Heat Is On; Bernadette Gillen)

There were more than 600 individual entries to the awards this year, from 68 magazines from across the country. There were 77 volunteer judges.

The KRWs are named for Kenneth R. Wilson, one of Canada's top business writers, whose career was cut short in 1952 in a tragic airplane crash at the age of 47. 

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The KRW awards, are making available seals so magazines can promote their wins on the covers of their magazines. 

At left is the gold seal, there are also seals for silver winners and Magazine of the Year.