Canadian magazines: Buy 2 Get 1 Free

From now until March 15, 2009, buy two Canadian Magazines, and get one free.

Some of your favourite Alberta magazines are included in the mix, like: Alberta Venture, dandelion, FreeFall, Homeschooler's Guide, Other Voices, Prairie Journal, Prairies North, unlimited, Western Living, Windspeaker.

Yes, you might be watching your budget, but as magazine subscriptions are already fantastic economic bang for your buck, you really can't go wrong.

Alberta Editor of the Year Award - deadline February 9, 2009

Editor of the Year Award 2009

Think you or your fellow editor has what it takes to be the 2009 Editor of the Year? Don't delay, start nominatin'!

The deadline for entries is February 9, 2009. No exceptions!

View the guidelines and entry form.

Anyone from an Alberta magazine is eligible to enter so long as their magazine follows the national Magazine Ad-Edit guidelines.

The Award

This annual award is given out to honour excellence by an editor of an Alberta magazine. The award recognizes an individual who has excelled as a magazine editor, as reflected by the editorial quality of the editor’s published works. It also takes into account the demonstration of qualities important to the profession, such as community involvement, resourcefulness, creativity, vision and leadership.

The winner will be announced at the reception night of the Alberta Magazines Conference on March 19, 2009.

The winner will not only have bragging rights, but will be recognized with a plaque and the title of Editor of the Year. The winner will also receive a complimentary pass to the 2010 Alberta Magazines Conference, a seat on the judges panel for the 2010 Editor of the Year Award and a weekend getaway to one mountain resort (Fairmont Jasper Lake Lodge, Fairmont Banff Springs or Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise), courtesy of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts—Alberta Region.

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In 2008, Alberta Venture's Michael McCullough won the award. Personally, I'm curious to see who will win this year. There's stiff competition to be had--the judges have their work cut out!

-Anh

2009 Alberta Magazines Conference: Speakers confirmed

I apologize for the dearth of blogs as of late, but the AMPA office was closed for the holidays. We're back in the office now and hard at work on a few things. The 2009 Alberta Magazines Conference on March 19 and 20, is set to be a doozy.

Noted speakers include: Al Zikovitz with Cottage Life magazine, Rick Boychuk of Canadian Geographic, Stephen Osborne with Geist magazine, Matt Blackett with Spacing magazine, Lisa Manfield of The Tyee, Rebecca Legge of Canada Wide Media, and Donna Braggins, former art director of Maclean’s and Canadian Business will all be there to share their pearls of wisdom. Make sure you’re there too! Mark your calendars.

Masthead Digital Archive Project

Happy New Year everyone! Here is a bit of good news for the magazine industry to kick off 2009.

As we posted in late 2008, our beloved magazine industry publication, Masthead, stopped publishing its print magazine as of December 2008. Luckily, the the website version mastheadonline.com lives on, and continues to provide valuable information and industry-specific news to all of us in the magazine world.

Now, in addition to the website, Texterity is sponsoring a digital archive of Masthead Magazine. Beginning on February 1st 2009, readers will have unlimited, free access to an archive of all of the 2007 and 2008 print editions of Masthead through their website www.mastheadonline.com.

Rejoice!

Happy Holidays from AMPA!

Stay warm out there everyone... now is the perfect time to curl up with your favourite Alberta magazine and a mug of hot chocolate.

We hope you have a happy, safe, and warm holiday season!

National Magazine Awards - Call for Entries

The National Magazine Awards Foundation (NMAF) is searching for Canada’s best in magazine journalism, photography, illustration and design from 2008.

Beginning December 1 the NMAF will be accepting submissions in 40 Categories for Gold ($1000) and Silver ($500) awards, to be presented at the 32nd annual National Magazine Awards – June 5, 2009 in Toronto.

The National Magazine Awards program is open to Canadian magazines and staff as well as Canadian freelance writers, illustrators, photographers and designers.

Please see the Rules & Eligibility for more information. The submissions process opens December 1, 2008 at www.magazine-awards.com. The deadline for entries is January 9, 2008. The fee for most entries is $85.

Hooray - Masthead lives on online

When I heard that Masthead, the magazine about magazine publishing, was going to stop publishing as of Jan/Feb 2009, I was pretty choked.

Luckily for all of us, it's online entity, mastheadonline.com, will continue. It's chock full of news, jobs, announcements, and all you could need to know about industry shufflings and trends. The website will still be managed by North Island publishing, and consummate snooper Marco Ursi will remain at its helm as editor.

Said Ursi, "I have some wicked new ideas for the site and look forward to serving the industry with more news, features, service and opinions. I also get to keep sticking my nose into other people's business without having to make an excuse for it."

So I urge you to visit and support the website--it's an invaluable resource for anyone in the industry.

-Anh