Up Here named magazine of the year at National Magazine Awards

Up Here magazine, published out of Yellowknife, NWT, won the coveted Magazine of the Year award at the 33rd annual National Magazine Awards on Friday. The judging panel cited the magazines this way:

"Solid and accomplished, Up Here has real personality and shows a strong editorial hand. The degree of difficulty in finding the human and other resources to publish, print and distribute from the north only adds to the measure of the accomplishment here. It is distinctive, fresh and unpredictable with engaging and accessible content that crosses both disciplinary and geographical boundaries. Its commitment and passion are very evident-and contagious."

In accepting the award, publisher Marion LaVigne said that she had told her staff she wouldn't retire until they won magazine of the year. "I lied," she quipped as she left the stage. 

(It is ironic that the airline Canadian North had severed its inflight relationship with Up Here a day before nominations came out and just a few weeks before this well-deserved award was won.) 

Since most of you will have read newspaper accounts and tweets and live blogging about the event, this posting won't be an exhaustive review. Rather, we'll let you link to the National Magazine Awards Foundation's press release about the event.

It should be noted that this year, for the first time, the awards gave out prizes for online publications, given out at a special pre-ceremony reception. The website of the year went to DogsinCanada.com, the web companion to the thick and popular magazine. The best visual design award for online was a tie; both lametropole.com and Urbania.ca winning gold.

The master of ceremonies, Scott Feschuk, ran a lively, entertaining and somewhat scatological, show, highlighted by a visual prank in which various magazines were made over in the right-wing image of Ken Whyte, the uber-publisher of Rogers titles.

Since it is announced in advance, the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement was not a surprise. But it was welcome nonetheless since it went to one of this country's more tireless champions of the form and substance of magazines, Terry Sellwood, the general manager of Quarto Communications and the current chair of Magazines Canada (and past chair of the awards foundation). 

Among the winners of the most awards on the night were The Walrus, Toronto Life, explore, Report on Business and Swerve. (We aren't the first to point out that, though it had 27 nominations, Maclean's magazine received only 1 silver award.) See list below.

In the special awards categories, Danielle Groen was named Best New Magazine Writer for her article "This Is Your Brain on Love" in Chatelaine, and Byron Eggenschwiler, named Best New Visual Creator, for his illustration of "Tales from Riverheights Terrace," which appeared in Swerve magazine.

Gold Silver  HM Total The Walrus 9 3 21 33 Toronto Life 4 3 19 26 explore 3 3 13 19 Report on Business 2 3 16 21 Swerve 2 3 8 13 Canadian Geographic 2 1 5 8 L'actualité  1 3 16 20 enRoute 1 1 8 10 maisonneuve 1 1 8 10 Cottage Life 1 1 7 9 Canadian Business 1 0 8 9 Maclean's  0 1 26 27