Thank you to everyone who entered the 2009 Editors' Choice Awards! We received a good turnout of entries in all categories. CSME's annual Editors' Choice Awards are judged by your editing peers. Magazine of the Year is awarded in small (0 to 49,000), medium (50,000 to 149,000) and large (150,000+) circulation categories, as well as a trade category. There are also awards for best front of book, editor of the year, the Jim Cormier award for display writing, and NEW this year, best magazine website! The award winners will be announced at a Gala event at MagNet on Wednesday, June 3rd. Good luck to all who entered! Special rate for 2009 As many magazines are experiencing tight budgets this year, CSME has decided to absorb some costs and reduce our rates so more of you can participate in the Awards. Entry into the Editors' Choice Awards is FREE with a membership; our membership rates have been reduced. Click here for membership information. To enter, download the form here and follow the instructions. Entries are due at 5 p.m. on March 25. Interested in being a judge? Please contact csmeadmin@canadianeditors.com.

CSME's first mixer of 2009 lived up to its name: "How to Find the Funny." Guest speakers Pat Lynch (Globe and Mail) and David Eddie (freelance columnist), had the crowd laughing over the ethics, opportunities and strategies around tickling the funny bones of audiences of a range of publications.

According to MagNet, they'll have 80 sessions to choose from on June 2 to 5, including 30+ sessions for editors and writers.

Here are a few of their offerings:
• Service Centre: How to tune up your magazine. Anthony Licata of Field and Stream magazine on fresh ways to present service articles
• The 2010 Editorial Department. Adam Proteau of The Hockey News on multi-platform editorial management
• 21 Ways to Create Great Online Content. Jennifer Melo of Homemakers.com and Natalie Bahadur of CanadianLiving.com on creating punchy web copy that will get noticed
• Organizing a Refresh. Gary Ross on the Vancouver magazine makeover
• “8 Simple Rules.” Gary Ross’s step-by-step guide to good editing
• Protect and Profit from your Copyrighted Content. Access Copyright and copyright lawyers on rights and rules
• Creating a Successful Magazine Site. Kim Pittaway and Kat Tancock on what print writers and editors need to know
Not to mention salons with noted editors John Macfarlane and Stephen Osborne

Don't miss CSME's Editors' Choice Awards during MagNet, and Paul Rossi, Publisher of The Economist, who will kick off MagNet at 7:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 2 with his keynote address, "Building a Media Brand for the Future."

For more MagNet details, click here.

The BC Association of Magazine Publishers put on a great three-day event again this year. Camp BCAMP, held on Vancouver Island, kicked off with thinktank sessions and a keynote by Walrus editor John Macfarlane, who spoke about why Canada doesn't have a New Yorker. The following days' sessions on punctuation, digital literacy, finding your magazine's place online, financial management and others proved very interesting and universal to magazine publishing in Canada.

Writers need to rise up the food chain in publishers' books, says Canadian Writers' Group founder Derek Finkle. He noted that while writers' work is fundamental to the success of magazines, they are last in line when it's time to get paid or get a pay increase. "Just because your magazine is a charitable foundation or a labour of love doesn't mean your writers need to look at it that way," he said, speaking at the November 12 CSME "Rights and Rates" panel alongside writer, editor and industry consultant Kim Pittaway, and editor and co-publisher of the Walrus John Macfarlane.

Finkle cited over a dozen examples of writers who have left the Canadian magazine industry for more lucrative options. "Many have stopped writing or are cutting back," he says. Finkle painted a picture of an industry supplied by an evaporating talent pool because, he says, there is no career arc for freelance writers in Canada.

Pittaway reinforced Finkle's examples, citing low word rates and rights-grabbing contracts. She said that while she loves Canadian magazines, "This industry isn't worth it if I need to [write for Canadian magazines] as a hobby." After reviewing her expected income for 2008, she noted that, "In 20-plus years working in magazines, I never questioned my decision to work in Canadian magazines. Until this year."

Macfarlane said he applauds Finkle's initiative and that he hopes the agency thrives. "Agents make editors' jobs easier," he said. "You don't have to worry about hurting the writer's feelings. It improves relationships considerably." But Macfarlane pointed out that the Canadian magazine industry is a "marginal business" and stated, "There is no more money."

The Canadian Writers' Group will negotiate with magazine staff based on hourly, daily or weekly rates rather than word rates, Finkle says. He will officially launch his agency on Feb. 1, 2009.

For more information, read the Masthead article or the J-Source article.



If you have any comments on this event, or you have ideas for future events, please contact by e-mailing CSMEadmin@canadianeditors.com.