2010

Gold

Best Single Issue: October 2009
Essays: “The Age of Breathing Underwater” by Chris Turner
Humour: “A Film For Would-Be Immigrants” by Pasha Malla
Investigative Reporting: “Fly At Your Own Risk” by Carol Shaben
Personal Journalism: “Cause and Effect” by Lynn Cunningham
Politics and Public Interest: “An Inconvenient Talk” by Chris Turner
Society: “The Most Hated Name in News” by Deborah Campbell
Spot Illustration: “An Arboreal History According to the Guild of St. Luke” by Lauchie Reid
Travel: “Walking the Way” by Timothy Taylor

Silver

Health and Medicine: “Cause and Effect” by Lynn Cunningham
Illustration: “Are We Safe Yet?” by Leif Parsons
Politics and Public Interest: “Fly At Your Own Risk” by Carol Shaben

Honourable Mention

Art Direction for a Single Magazine Article: “Alice in Borderland” by Charles Foran
Arts and Entertainment: “That Old Flame” by Don Gillmor
Arts and Entertainment: “The Secret” by Brett Grainger
Best New Magazine Writer: Carol Shaben (“Fly At Your Own Risk”)
Business: “Turning the Page” by Noah Richler
Essays: “A Sorry State” by Mitch Miyagawa
Health and Medicine: “Global Impositioning Systems” by Alex Hutchinson
Health and Medicine: “Zero Sum” by Mary Rogan
Humour: “Stephen Harper: A Short Biography” by Andrew Clark
Humour: “The Obstecritic” by Pasha Malla
Illustration: “The True Sorrows of Calamity Jane” by Selena Wong
Magazine Covers: Please Forgive Us (December 2009)
Personal Journalism: “Walking the Way” by Timothy Taylor
Politics and Public Interest: “Off the Rails” by Monte Paulsen
Politics and Public Interest: “The Future Has Begun” by Nora Underwood
Science, Technology, and the Environment: “An Inconvenient Talk” by Chris Turner
Science, Technology, and the Environment: “Global Impositioning Systems” by Alex Hutchinson
Science, Technology, and the Environment: “The Age of Breathing Underwater” by Chris Turner
Spot Illustration: “Extraordinary Canadians” by Graham Roumieu
Spot Illustration: “Schematic Diagrams for Proposed Objects” by Marc Bell
Spot Illustration: “Spiritual Citizenship” by Jason Logan

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2009

Gold

art direction for a single magazine article: “Part One: A Legend is Born” by Antonio De Luca, Bree Seeley, and Miles Collyer
Humour: “A Liar’s Life” by Bruce McCall
Society: “Not So Down” by Peter Valing
Words and Pictures: “Our Faces, Our Selves” by Matthew McKinnon, Daniel Baird, Bree Seeley, Antonio De Luca, Giles Revell, and Matt Willey

Silver

Essays: “Geared Up” by Bill Reynolds

Twenty honourable mentions

The Walrus has won the 2009 Utne Independent Press Award for Best Writing. The awards, presented by the Utne Reader, were given on the evening of May 18, 2009, at the Independent Magazine Conference in Boulder, Colorado. “The goal is to honor independently minded publications that don’t shy away from tough stories and innovative ideas,” the magazine explained.

The editors said:

“It is, once again, the year of The Walrus. Since launching in 2003, the Canadian general interest magazine ‘with an international outlook’ has nabbed three Utne Independent Press Award nominations, taking the prize in 2004 for best new publication. Five years later and counting, it’s been consistently delightful to read — and last year the magazine outdid itself, its sparkling articles and fluid essays orbiting high above the rest of us earthbound publications.

“As a digest charged with reprinting ‘the best of the alternative press,’ we were exceptionally grateful to have it at our disposal. We culled Moira Farr’s exquisite ‘Minor Keys’ about the emotional power of music and Charles Montgomery’s droll and heartwarming ‘Me Want More Square Footage.’ All year long, the magazine’s Field Notes bulged with unpredictable global vignettes, from a visit to Somaliland’s only mental hospital to the history of Paraguay’s 100-year-old colony of Germans.

“Walrus writers have a knack for telling personal stories and infusing them with contemporary meaning, giving its global news a beating, human heart. In ‘The First Little Mosque on the Prairie,’ for example, a family saga gives way to the history of Islam in Canada. ‘Fat of the Land’ whisks readers along on a trip to Borneo, unraveling the human and environmental consequences of the trans fat ban. Pick up the Walrus and you will read about things you never knew existed; you will be delighted, challenged, and, above all, sated.”

Other magazines nominated in the Best Writing category included the Columbia Journalism Review, the New Republic, the Texas Observer, and the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Read more at the Utne Press website.

Silver

Art direction for a single magazine article: “Our Faces, Our Selves” by Antonio De Luca, Bree Seeley, and Chris Lee (photographs by Giles Revell and Matt Willey)

Two merit awards

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2008

Gold

Arts and Entertainment: “The Mindful Museum” by Adam Gopnik
Best New Magazine Writer: “Red Rush” by Patrick White
Fiction: “The Dead Are More Visible” by Steven Heighton
Illustration: “God’s Slow Death” by Sam Weber
Politics and Public Interest: “Once Upon a Country” by Don Gillmor
Portrait Photography: “Miss Canadiana” by Robyn Cumming
Spot Illustration: “Tank Talk” by Leif Parsons

Silver

Magazine Covers: “Lightness of Being (The Queen)” by Antonio De Luca
Personal Journalism: “The Autobiography of an Idea” by Rick Salutin
Photojournalism and Photo Essay: “The Chinese Dust Bowl” by Benoit Aquin
Still-Life Photography: “Digby Neck” by Russell Monk

Twenty-seven honourable mentions

The Prix Pictet is given to photography projects that highlight sustainability issues. The inaugural winner was Walrus contributor Benoit Aquin, for his photo gallery “The Chinese Dust Bowl,” about the desertification of farmland in China.

In presenting the award to Aquin, Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, said, “It is my hope that the Prix Pictet will help to deepen understanding of the changes taking place in our world and raise public awareness about the urgency of taking preventative action.”

Silver

Art direction for a single magazine page or spread: “The Counterpart” by Antonio De Luca, Chris Lee, Paul Kim, and Bree Seeley (illustration by Petra Mrzyk & Jean-François Moriceau)
Illustration: “Parallel Universe” by Graham Roumieu
Illustration: “Tunneling Through Time” by Chris Lee
Magazine cover: “Lightness of Being (The Queen)” by Antonio De Luca, Chris Lee, Paul Kim, and Bree Seeley (photograph by Chris Levine)

“Devoted to insightful, informed discussion of Canadian current affairs, The Walrus magazine has quickly established itself as one of the best periodicals in Canada, and the only one of its type. The jury notes that:

‘For nearly five years now, The Walrus has been serving up compelling and thought-provoking ideas in an eclectic mix of enticingly-written articles, essays, and reviews. It has established itself as a periodical that digs deep, with a critical eye, into issues both mundane and arcane, from a perspective both Canadian and global. We all know how extraordinarily challenging the magazine industry in Canada can be. Nevertheless, reader by reader, The Walrus has been expanding its reach. It is now clearly tapping the shoulders of key thinkers and decision-makers in this country.’”

— Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs

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2007

Magazine of the year

Gold

Art direction for a single article: “The Teenage Brain” by Antonio De Luca
Essays: “My Life With Tolstoy” by David Gilmour
Humour: “Married With Husbands” by Wendy Dennis
Personal journalism: “My Life With Tolstoy” by David Gilmour
Science, technology, and the environment: “Far From Home” by Monte Paulsen
Society: “Iran’s Quiet Revolution” by Deborah Campbell

Silver

Art direction for an entire issue: “Bird Flu Fever” by Antonio De Luca
Business: “Domestic Terroir” by Don Gillmor
Essays: “Iran’s Quiet Revolution” by Deborah Campbell
Fiction: “The Smell of Smoke” by Peter Behrens
Health and medicine: “Waiting for the Pandemic” by Gwynne Dyer
Illustration: “Hijacking History” by Graham Roumieu
Magazine cover: “The Alberta Cash Cow” by Antonio De Luca (illustration by Brian Rea)
Politics and public interest: “Fake Left, Go Right” by James Laxer
Service: Health and Family: “The Teenage Brain” by Nora Underwood
Society: “Identity Crisis” by Allan Gregg

Thirty-four honourable mentions

Gold

Illustration: “God’s Slow Death” by Sam Weber
Magazine cover: “Too Wired To Think” by Antonio De Luca (illustration by Ludimar Hermann)
Photojournalism: “The Last Lumberjacks” by Rita Leistner

Silver

Art direction for a single magazine article: “The Teenage Brain” by Antonio De Luca, Paul Kim, and Frank Weidenfelder
Art direction for a single magazine spread: “Red Rush” by Antonio De Luca and Chris Lee (photograph by Eamon Mac Mahon)
Conceptual photography: “A House Half Built” by Liz Cowie
Conceptual photography: “Brighter Lights, Bigger Cities” by Eamon Mac Mahon
Illustration: “Snail Males” by Zoe Barcza
Illustration: “Kissers (Cherry Blossoms)” by Marcos Chin
Illustration: “Her Dog” by Jillian Tamaki
Photojournalism: “Separate and Unequal” by Eamon Mac Mahon
Portrait photography: “Miss Canadiana” by Robyn Cummings

Eight merit awards

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2006

Gold

Art Direction for a Single Magazine Article: “Totally Genius” by Antonio De Luca
Arts and Entertainment: “Artful Crimes” by Joshua Knelman
Essays: “Is Africa’s Pain Black America’s Burden?” by Lawrence Hill
Health and Medicine: “Chasing the Crab” by Bill Cameron
Humour: “My Living Media Will” by Marni Jackson
Illustration: “Dangerous Liaisons” by Jillian Tamaki
Personal Journalism: “Chasing the Crab” by Bill Cameron
Politics and Public Interest: “Melting Point” by Chris Wood
Portrait Photography: “Jew Funk” by Davida Nemeroff
Science, Technology, and the Environment: “Melting Point” by Chris Wood
Service: Health and Family: “Why Psychoanalysis Matters” by Wendy Dennis
Spot Illustration: “Revenge of the Small” by Marco Cibola
Words and Pictures: “Al Rashad” by Rita Leistner, Antonio De Luca, and Joshua Knelman

Silver

Poetry: “Hand Luggage: Calgary, Montreal, Brazil” by P.K. Page
Politics and Public Interest: “The Peace Wager” by Kathy Cook
Sports and Recreation: “Foreign Billionaires Bring English Football to World, Agony & Ecstasy to Fans” by Timothy Taylor

Alexander Ross Award for Best New Writer

“Danger Signs” by Larry Frolick

Thirty-four honourable mentions

Gold

Art Direction for an Entire Magazine Issue: “Bird Flu Fever” by Antonio De Luca
Art Direction for a Single Magazine Article: “Waiting for the Pandemic” by Antonio De Luca
Illustration: “Tank Talk” by Leif Parsons

Silver

Magazine Cover: “The Last Days of Suburbia” by Antonio De Luca (illustration by Seymour Chwast)

Nine merits

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2005

Gold

Art Direction for a Single Article: “Why Bush Will Win/Why Kerry Will Win” by Antonio De Luca
Politics and Public Interest: “The Man Behind Stephen Harper” by Marci McDonald
Spot Illustration: “How to Save Democracy” by Leif Parsons
Words and Pictures: “Inside a Different Kabul” by Ahmet Sel

Silver

Humour: “Samson and Delilah” by Jonathan Goldstein
Society: “The Mystery of Marriage” by Wendy Dennis

Seventeen honourable mentions

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2004

Gold

Arts and Entertainment: “The Genius of Django” by Deborah Kirshner
Investigative Reporting: “Blind Trust” by Marci McDonald
Science and Technology: “Is the West Rearming Russia?” by Paul Webster

Eight honourable mentions

The Walrus has won the 2004 Utne Independent Press Award for Best New Title: “To call The Walrus Toronto’s answer to Harper’s is to put it in fine company, but doesn’t quite convey what makes it so good in its own right. Smart, literary, and quintessentially Canadian, this quasi-monthly is a flash of brilliance from the city with the hottest magazine scene in the hemisphere.”

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