Mag awards finalists announced: Leading the pack L’actualité, The Walrus and Report on Business

The finalists for this year's National Magazine Awards have been announced by the National Media Awards Foundation. 197 Canadian magazine, in English and French, print and digital, submitted the work of more than 2,000 writers, editors, photographers, iullustrators, art directors and other creators. The winners will be announced at the Magawards gala on June 1 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto.

Joyce Byrne

Joyce Byrne is this year's recipient of the Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement, recognizing her career excellence and leadership in Canadian magazines. She is the current president of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and recent president of the National Media Awards Foundation. She is group publisher at Red Point Media and publisher of Avenue Calgary.  To read Joyce’s complete bio, visit magazine-awards.com/oa. 

Nominated by 150 volunteer judges were a total of 208 submissions from 81 different Canadian magazines for awards in 29 written and visual, editorial and best magazine categories. 

This year, for the first time, awards for best magazines will be presented to publications in six divisions and from the category winners will be selected "best in show" to receive the Magazine Grand Prix.

General Interest Magazines 

• L’actualité 
• Nouveau Projet 
• Report on Business

Service Magazines 

• Best Health 
• Rotman Magazine 
• Today’s Parent 

Lifestyle Magazines

• Chatelaine 
• Explore 
• Ricardo 

Fashion & Beauty Magazines 

• ELLE Canada 
• FASHION Magazine 
• S/magazine 

Art & Literary Magazines 

• Brick
• Inuit Art Quarterly 
• The Site Magazine 

Special Interest Magazines 

• Azure
• Hayo 
• Planète F

The best new magazine writer award will be selected from among five nominees:

• Julian Brave NoiseCat, “The Tribal Canoe Journey” (Canadian Geographic) 
• Justin Dallaire, “Fall from Grace” (United Church Observer) 
• Christopher Elliott, “Way, Way Off the Rails in Mauritania” (Outpost Magazine) 
• Hadiya Roderique, “Dating While Black” (The Walrus) 
• Jessica Rose, “Lost and Found” (Toronto Life)

Nomination highlights

• Report on Business art director Domenic Macri is nominated four times, including for the coveted Art Direction Grand Prix award. 
• Best New Magazine Writer nominee Hadiya Roderique garnered three nominations for her story “Dating While Black” published in The Walrus. 
• Quebec-based freelance writer Guillaume Roy garnered three nominations in as many categories for stories published in Québec Science, Opérations forestières and Quatre-Temps.

• Several creators garnered two nominations, including: 
• Writer Charles Wilkins is nominated twice in the Long-Form Feature Writing category for articles published in Canadian Geographic and Report on Business. 
• Maclean’s writer Nancy McDonald is nominated two times in the written categories of LongForm Feature and Short Feature. 
• Writer Sydney Loney received two nominations in Service Journalism for articles published in Best Health. 
• Photographer Mathieu Lachapelle of Dînette Magazine is nominated twice for Lifestyle Photography. 
• L’actualité’s journalist Noémi Mercier is a finalist for Columns and Long-Form Feature Writing. 
• Edmonton writer Omar Mouallem is nominated both for Personal Journalism and Long-Form Feature Writing for stories published in Eighteen Bridges. 
• Writer Daniel Punch is nominated twice in the Best Professional Article category for stories written for the Registered Nurse Journal. 
• Data journalist Naël Shiab of L’actualité is a finalist in two categories: Investigative Reporting and One-of-a-Kind Storytelling. 

First-time nominees

Magazines nominated for their first National Magazine Award include: Foodism, Hayo, Kootenay Mountain Culture Magazine, L’inconvénient, LSTW, Mountain Life Annual, Opérations forestières, Planète F, Strategy, The Deep, The Site Magazine and U of T Med. 

Top stories of 2017

Some of the topics most frequently addressed:

• Missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls 
• #MeToo and sexual misconduct in the workplace 
• Cultural appropriation and Indigenous identity 
• The Syrian civil war and refugees in Canada 
• Environmental degradation and wildlife habitat conservation 
• Criminal justice reform and police policy 
• Concussions 
• Doctor-assisted dying with dignity
• The business of Tim Hortons 
• New leadership for the federal Conservatives and NDP
• Legalization of cannabis
• Immigration, Islam, racism, and the rise of the “alt-right” in Canada
• Canada 150 and identity politics
• Crypto-currency and artificial intelligence 
• Social media, bullying and teen mental health 
• The social economics of Canada’s housing market

Full list of nominees