Archive for May 2012

2012 NMAs: Humour

No piece of writing has made me laugh more than the Scholastic Books adaption of Spaceballs. I remember reading it on a family camping trip and doing my best to muffle my snorts and snickers as everyone was sleeping in our small tent trailer. Ultimately, I’m told, I did a bad job of muffling.
For my [...]

2012 NMAs: Arts and Entertainment

You have to be kidding me. Cottage Life drops a Canadiana bomb with “A Happy Makeshift Vision” [.pdf of story], in which famous Canadian poet George Bowering writes about famous Canadian poet Al Purdy and his old A-frame abode in Prince Edward County. The story has the vibe of a Purdy poem. Give it the award.
OK. [...]

2012 NMAs: Profiles

This category should really be called the “Gerald Hannon gets an award” category. Now let’s see…Yup. There’s his story on James Loney, who was held captive in Baghdad for 118 days. Well, there you have it. Sorry, all the other nominees.

2012 NMAs: How-To

I must come clean: I am  the managing editor of Canadian Home Workshop magazine. It says “Canada’s do-it-yourself magazine” right on the cover of each issue that goes out. Do-it-yourself magazine, people! The magazine tells you how to do things. It should effin’ pwn this freakin’ category but—
Pardon me. I’m sorry for that outburst. You [...]

2012 NMAs: Sports

Before I look at the nominees for the sports category, I must discuss a recent event that may or may not be influencing my judgement. I am writing this not long after Ryder Hesjedal, the Canadian pro cyclist, made history by becoming the first Canuck to win the Giro d’Italia…hell, the first Canadian to win [...]

2012 NMAs: Words and Pictures

Before that upstart World Wide Web came along with its clickable slide shows or the iPad arrived with its two-finger zooming, magazines were the best place to tell stories with both words and pictures. Despite the advances made by those Young Turks of media, the ink-and-paper medium still excels when mixing text and image. In [...]

An Incomplete Guide to the 2012 National Magazine Awards

On June 7, many editors, art directors, writers, illustrators, photographers and a bunch of other magazine types will dress up really nicely and head to The Carlu for what I like to call the Oscars of Canadian magazines. Like the Oscars, the National Magazine Awards cover many categories: art direction for a single magazine article [...]