Deadlines loom for magazine awards programs:

'tis the season for awards, most of which culminate during Magazines Week and the annual MagNet conference in Toronto in June. But before the awards comes the nominating process and there are several with looming deadlines:

Members and non-members alike of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) may enter the 2013 PWAC awards. Anyone, including non-PWAC member, is eligible for the features and short articles writing awards, entries for which are due by February 28. Only PWAC members are eligible for the Barbara Novak Writing Award for Excellence in Humour/Personal Essay Writing, with nominations also due by Feb 28.  Deadline for nominations for the Lawrence Jackson, Regional Volunteer and Editor of the Year Awards: is Thursday, March 22.  Note that mailed submissions must be received at the PWAC office, not postmarked, by each award's respective deadline. Winners will be announced at MagNet. 

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Each year, the National Magazine Awards include the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement. It's a signal honour (I know because I got it two years ago), a recognition from the entire industry.The award is open to circulation experts, editors, marketing, sales and promotion professionals, publishers, creators, designers, production managers - in short, to everyone in the industry - and nominations are welcome from everyone in the industry. Nominations for this year's award are being received now and are due by March 1. http://www.magazine-awards.com/index.cfm/ci_id/1322/la_id/1

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There is just a week left for submitting entries to the Kenneth R. Wilson Awards, recognizing excellence in trade and business-to-business publishing. Deadline is February 15. The awards are 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. For more information, go to the website

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March 8 is the deadline for submisions to the 2013 Editors' Choice Awards of the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors (CSME). These honour the contribution of editors within the Canadian magazine industry. There are winners in each of the Small (under 50,000), Medium (50,000 to 149,999) and Large (150,000+) circulation categories, as well as the trade and custom magazine categories, each earn the right to use the Editors’ Choice Award logo on their cover for a year. There are also awards for Best Front of Book, the Jim Cormier Award for Display Writing, Best Website, Best Editorial Blog and, of course, the coveted Editor of the Year.