TIME cover does it again

The latest in a series of excellent illustrated covers. 

Maclean's covers provocatively highlight the pay gap between men and women

If the mark of excellent editing is to involve readers, then the current newsstand issue of Maclean's achieves both. The magazine has two different gender-specific covers intended to provoke conversation about the roughly 26% pay gap between men and women. One cover price is $8.81 for men; the other $6.99 for women. Readers can pay whatever cover price they want 

"After years of stasis, pay equity is having its moment as the next beat in the cadence of the #MeToo movement. Our hope is that these dual covers stir the kind of urgent conversation here that is already happening elsewhere around the world."

The initiative is a real credit to the editors and the art directors and we look forward to the reader response. 

"Really cool" art is featured on June cover of OWL magazine

Eleven year old Abigail DiBiase of Wasaga Beach, Ontario  has her artwork featured on the cover of OWL magazine's June issue, in celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary. She won a contest that allowed kids 8 to 14 from across the country to submit artwork that defined what is "cool" about Canada.  

As the grand prize winner, DiBiase will receive an Acer tablet, an Owlkids prize pack and the issue with her artwork will be on newsstands across Canada on June 5.

"We were overwhelmed by the response from our readers. We received over 400 entries and the quality of the artwork was incredible," says Kendra Brown, Editor, OWL Magazine, [in a release.]  "Kids were excited to share with us, through their art, what they loved about Canada, and I was so impressed by both the creativity and thoughtfulness of their submissions. The idea of inclusion, openness and acceptance was a common element expressed through the art of many OWL readers.  Now, more than ever, it is especially reassuring to see such a hopeful and positive message being shared by this younger generation."

 DiBiase herself said

"I love the magazine and had a lot of fun working on my cover. My artwork shows that Canada is full of so many different people and I think it's really cool that we all live together in a happy way."

Vote for best magazine cover of the year must be cast by May 18

The People's Choice for best cover of the year, selecting from 10 finalists, is open for voting through May 18 and the winners will be announced on May 19 on Twitter @MagAwards. 
Vote here

Showing some leg on a cover provokes a storm of protest

Flashing some leg has provoked some readers of the bridal annual Jodi. Model Thanuska Subramaniam is wearing a traditional bridal saree, arranged so that her legs are visible.

“Every bride has their own sense of individuality,” says creative director Thadsiga Jayaseleen, who worked on the concept with photographer Vipoositha Gnanenthra of Ovyian Photography. “And this issue was a celebration of whatever way they can drape their saree or wear their jewellery.”

However, according to a story in NOW magazine, comments on the Facebook page for the Jodi Bridal Show and in the publication TamilCulture.com  called it a " “mockery,” “shameful,” “an insult” and yet another way to kill Tamil culture. They declare outright that it is in no way representative of a Tamil Hindu bride.

TIME covers catalogue the meltdown of Donald Trump

Media Post reports that TIME magazine has followed up it striking Aug 22 cover with the Oct 24 issue, on newsstands soon, which riffs on the theme of the collapse of Donald Trump's campaign for the presidency of the United States. Both images are by artist Edel Rodriguez. 

Today's Parent gives a whole new meaning to "cover model"

Today's Parent magazine's back-to-school issue cover was made using an appropriate medium, modelling clay. It took Toronto set designer Caitlin Doherty 82 hours and 314 cans of Play-Doh to fashion the scene. A video was made of the process.

https://www.facebook.com/TodaysParent/videos/10154447721084993/

Canadian Cover Awards finalists named; winners to be announced March 22

The finalists have been named for the Canadian Cover Awards, the winners of which will be announced March 22 at 6 p.m. at the Courtyard Toronto Downtown. The annual competition is run by the Circulation Management Association of Canada and Magazines Canada. The winner of the prestigious Newsstand Marketer of the Year will be announced at the same event. The finalists for the best covers of 2015 are:

General Interest, Arts, Lifestyle & Regional
BC Magazine, Fall 2015
Canadian Geographic, December 2014
Canadian Geographic, January/February 2015
Toronto Life, January 2015
Toronto Life, July 2015
Home & Decor
Canadian House & Home, January 2015
Chez soi, juillet 2015
Les idées de ma maison, avril 2015
Style At Home, May 2015
Style At Home, July 2015
Men's Service
Ignition, Winter 2014
Ignition, Spring 2015
Ignition, Buyer's Guide 2015
Sharp, Fall/Winter 2014
Sharp, April 2015
News, Business, Celebrity
7 jours, septembre 2015
L'actualité, février 2015
Canadian Business, Winter 2014
Maclean's, November 17, 2014
Zoomer, June 2015
SIPS & New Magazines
Canadian Living Specials, Summer BBQ Book
Legion, November 2014
PAS Mag, Japan Special Edition
Style At Home, Cottage Style Special Issue
Tellement bon, décembre 2014
Small Magazines
Canada's History, December 2014/January 2015
Canada's History, August/September 2015
Mariage Québec, Fall/Winter 2014
Rotman Management, Spring 2015
Vallum: Contemporary Poetry, March 2015
Sports & Leisure
Canadian Aviator, November/December 2014
Canadian Traveller, Winter 2014
Fly Fusion, Winter 2015
The Hockey News, March 2015
Pacific Yachting, July 2015
Women's Service
Canadian Living, November 2014
Coup de Pouce, décembre 2014
Elle Canada, September 2015
Elle Québec, juillet 2015
S/ Style & Fashion, Winter 2014

Shades of Iran

Here's a smashing cover from The Economist (which sets a high standard) that speaks for itself. This week's cover story looks at the Iran nuclear non-proliferation deal with the U.S.-led coalition from  the perspectives of those who hate the deal (Israel, Republicans) and those who like it, or at least accept that it's the best that could be achieved under the circumstances. 

Updating Eustace Tilley for The New Yorker's 10th decade

To mark its 90th anniversary, The New Yorker commissioned nine different covers that key off  the iconic, monocled and top-hatted figure of Eustace Tilley which appeared in the very first issue of February 1925 (the one above was reprinted in 1995), drawn by art editor Rea Irvin. Among the contributors to the Feb. 23-March 2 2015 issue is Toronto-based artist Anita Kunz.

Don Cherry is The Hockey News's cover guy

The Hockey News's issue Money & Power, on newsstands now, has a particularly strong cover...even if it is Don Cherry.  

Other Top 100 people of power and influence in the game include Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, chief NHL disciplinarian Stephane Quintal, Russian hockey legend cum movie star Slava Fetisov, Senators GM Bryan Murray, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy and the ever-controversial Mike Milbury.

Canadian Lawyer magazine apologizes for and withdraws controversial cover

Canadian Lawyer magazine is attempting to mend fences -- and its reputation -- over the illustration on its September 2014 cover, which purported to show the lack of diversity on the Canadian bench.  The monthly, published by Thomson Reuters Canada, issued an apology Friday and said it has withdrawn the cover from the website (see below*). 

The U.S.-based website Above the Law reported that, among others, a student group from McGill University took the lead in protesting the use of the illustration. In a letter to the editors, the students said:

"While we appreciate the attention called to the need to increase the proportion of women and visible minorities on the bench, we question why the stylized cover portrays an apparently incarcerated black man glaring at a white woman. This cover is troublesome as it reinforces existing negative stereotypes about visible minorities, women and criminality, and thereby affects how the important issue of diversity on the bench is framed and discussed."

Canadian Lawyer responded with what is usually called a "non-apology apology", although it said it sincerely regretted that the image was seen as reinforcing negative stereotypes and that it was never the magazine's intention.

"The intent of the cover was to illustrate a woman waiting and having to bide her time trying to figure out the password or key to get through a locked door, consistent with the theme of the article. The figure behind the door with a speakeasy-type slider is in the shadows, representing the gatekeeper of the establishment/old order looking askew at this person trying to break the code and get into the private club (ie: the bench)."

The students responded, in part:

"Such a response demonstrates to us a troubling lack of regard for a significant portion of your readership that took the time and effort to bring this issue to your attention. It also demonstrates a lack of concern for the issue of diversifying the judiciary with respect to visible minorities who make up an even less significant portion of judges than women. Regardless of your intent, your actions have left us with a troubling caricature of a black man as a symbol of the “old boys” network that acts to keep women off the bench – a symbol that is in contradiction to reality since black men make up a very small percentage of judges in Canada. Both the troubling and factually incorrect aspects of the image leaves us wondering about the extent of your magazine’s commitment to diversify the bench in regards to visible minorities and women."

Ultimately, Canadian Lawyer issued a full apology* dated October 3, including removing the image from its website. Editor Gail Cohen, who is editor of both Canadian Lawyer and Law Times, signed the statement which said, in part:

Canadian Lawyer team would like to apologize for the image on our September 2014 cover. The image was intended to reinforce the subject of the cover article — the lack of transparency in the judicial appointments process and the resulting limited diversity on the bench — but as we have heard from a number of readers, it conveyed a very different message and undermined this important discussion. 

Elle Québec cover shows a sense of perfect timing

Talk about perfect timing; days after she wowed Wimbledon. Eugenie Bouchard on the just-released August cover of Elle Québec.

What's the lure of autographed magazine covers?

A collector from Appleton, Wisconsin sent copies of Time magazine covers for a decade in the '60s and early '70s to the people featured in them and asked for them to be autographed. According to an AP story, more than 250 people responded to Jerry Gottleib's request and his family have shared them with the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton for an exhibit called "Moments in TIME", which will be on display until June 29. 

According to the museum, Gottleib’s greatest challenges were securing signatures for covers featuring more than one person. Some of his successes included all four of the Beatles as well as the Apollo 11 astronauts. 

The exhibit also features the Robert Kennedy cover designed by Roy Lichtenstein and dated two weeks before Kennedy’s assassination.

Gottleib was not the only person who had this peculiar hobby. A man called Roger Brink from El Dorado Hills, California , collected covers for some 39 years -- 2,000 or them in five huge binders.

He has received signatures from the likes of Henry Kissinger and Jay Leno. The holdouts? The Vatican and the British royal family. Brink hopes that Will and Kate, the modern royals that they are, will break that tradition. After all, Ronald Reagan signed covers five times. He once got Katharine Hepburn on the phone while trying to get her signature. Muammar Gaddafi signed a cover for him, though not in English.

 A man from New Jersey, Scott Smith, decided to make it his quest to get every Sports Illustrated cover autographed. He told the LA Times that he had multiple autographs from much-covered subjects such as Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Mickey Mantle. There are 4,413 sports stars on 2,913 covers of SI, but an unnamed woman on the cover of the October 17, 1960 issue, holding a kite, eluded him. She died at the age of 81 on the same day as he talked to the LA Times. A cosmic joke. 

Maclean's cover story features tough-guy Putin and impotent West

Maclean's magazine is pulling out the tab type for its cover story by Michael Petrou and commentary by columnist Paul Wells about the evolving situation in Ukraine. 

Winners of Canadian Cover Awards announced

The winners of the Canadian Cover Awards were announced on Tuesday night in Toronto, with the following results:

Zoomer wins 2 gold and silver

Vero wins gold for launch issue

General Interest, Arts, Lifestyle and Regional
• L'actualité July 2013 BRONZE
• Reader's Digest January 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Vancouver Magazine October 2012 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Zoomer December 2012/January 2013  GOLD
• Zoomer April 2013 SILVER

Home and Decor
• Chez Soi May 2013 SILVER
• Decormag October 2012 GOLD
• House and Home March 2013 BRONZE
• House and Home September 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Style at Home May 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION

News, Business & Celebrity
• 7 Jours February 1, 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Hello! August 12, 2013 GOLD
• Sharp Winter 2013 BRONZE
• Zoomer December 2012/January 2013 SILVER
• Zoomer April 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION

SIPS and new magazines
• Canadian Living Holiday issue HONOURABLE MENTION• Hockey News Draft Preview HONOURABLE MENTION
• Maclean’s Alberta Flood SILVER
• Style at Home 100+ Easy Renos and Makeovers BRONZE
• Vero V01 #1 GOLD

Small Magazines
• Canada's History December 2012/January 2013 SILVER
• Canada's History August/September 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Ottawa Magazine Summer 2013 GOLD
• This Magazine September/October 2012 BRONZE
• Your Workplace September 2012 HONOURABLE MENTION

Sports and Leisure
• The Hockey News January 28, 2013 BRONZE
• Outdoor Canada Winter 2012/2013 SILVER
• PASMAG August 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• PRN Ignition Summer 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Sportsnet April 1, 2013 GOLD

Women's Service
• Canadian Living May 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Canadian Living September 2013 BRONZE
• Chatelaine June 2013 GOLD
• Châtelaine August 2013 HONOURABLE MENTION
• Coup de Pouce December 2012 SILVER

For the first time, the Newsstand Marketer of the Year was declared a tie, with Bernie Menchise of TC Media and Craig Sweetman of CRS Media Consulting sharing the honour. 

The awards were co-produced by Magazines Canada and the Circulation Management Association of Canada. The awards reception was sponsored by the Alliance for Audited Media and other sponsors were media sponsor Masthead; marketing sponsor Covers Sell; design sponsor K9 Design Co.; promotional retail sponsor Gateway Newsstands.

Best Canadian magazine newsstand covers to be announced today

The Canadian Cover Awards/Grands prix canadiens-Meilleures couvetures are to be presented Tuesday at the Courtyard Toronto at 6 p.m. Along with the various category winners, this year's Newsstand Marketer of the Year will be named, an individual who demonstrates true innovation in a successful newsstand marketing project. The awards are a joint production of Magazines Canada and the Circulation Management Association of Canada. Sponsors are reception sponsor Alliance for Audited Media, promotional retail sponsor Gateway Newsstands, marketing sponsor Covers Sell and design sponsor K9 Design Co.

Finalists for the awards are after the jump:
Read more »

Working to deadline? Friday 31st last day to enter cover awards or nominate marketer of the year

Friday Jan 31 is the last day to submit entries for the Canadian Cover Awards as well as to submit a nomination for the Newsstand Marketer of the Year. More information on award categories and how to submit an entry can be found at http://coverawards.ca/. 

Alberta Venture celebrates top 250 companies issue with homage to iconic Fortune cover image

The homage

In a bold and complicated homage to an iconic magazine cover image, Alberta Venture is unveiling its September issue with its annual list of Alberta's 250 biggest companies. The windows of Calgary's Bow building are photographed lit up at dusk to spell out the number 250. It was, said a blog post from the magazine, "a symbol of Alberta’s rise to prominence on the national and international scenes and a poignant reminder of the spirit that allowed this province to recover quickly (for the most part) from the devastating June floods." In this it is giving full credit to the July 1964 cover of Fortune magazine which arranged to light up the windows of New York's Time & Life building (where the magazine was headquartered), a tour-de-force which has been long remembered by magazine mavens everywhere. The idea of the homage came from associate publisher Joyce Byrne and art director Kim Larson.

Unlike the art directors then, today's art directors have Photoshop and could have merely spliced the whole thing together on the desktop, whereas their inspiration had to be achieved by having the huge Time & Life building all dark then arrange to have only those offices lit which spelled out the number 500. In AV's case, the whole building was to be lit up, then windows would be darkened using the software to leave only those lit which spelled out 250. 

The inspiration

Read more »

People shares royal baby cover coup with Maclean's and Hello! Canada

Media maven Keith Kelly of the New York Post claims that only People magazine, among weekly titles, has the picture of the royal George on its cover, completely ignoring the fact that Hello! Canada (see earlier post) and Maclean's do (see right). Had he said only American title, of course, he'd have been correct.

People Managing Editor Larry Hackett gambled that his man on the street in London, Simon Perry, was correct in that the royal baby would be presented to the public on Tuesday — allowing him to hold up publication just long enough to include the photo on the cover. 

Rival celebrity weeklies, including Us Weekly, Star, In Touch and Life & Style, will acknowledge the baby’s birth with small “chips” of the happy couple on the cover, but no photo of the newborn prince.

“The timing was perfect,” said Hackett, who held up the magazine’s print run by a couple of hours to get the photos of daddy William, mom Kate and their 8 lb., 6 oz. bundle of joy on the cover. Inside are 19 pages of royal baby coverage.