The National Media Awards Foundation (NMAF) is thrilled to be presenting the second annual mentorship program to equip early- and mid-career BIPOC publishing professionals across Canada with the skills and support they need to succeed in industry-specific leadership positions, by pairing them with a senior publishing professional. The goal of the program is to assist Canadian BIPOC publishing professionals in advancing the next stage of their career.
Mentees will learn directly from a senior publishing leader through collaborative one-on-one meetings on the specific subject area of their choice. Mentors will be Canadian senior industry leaders with at least 10+ years of experience, and will be NMAF award-winning creators or have award-winning publication experience. They will assist in developing the mentee’s leadership skills and identifying career goals and opportunities, while also sharing personalized guidance, publishing best practices and professional development opportunities.
Program Details
This year, we will be introducing mentorships in two waves. The first wave will take place between January and March 2023. Exact start dates will be jointly determined and agreed upon by the mentor and mentee, and the mentorship must be completed by March 31, 2023.
The second wave will take place between April and June 2023 with mentorships wrapping up by June 30, 2023.
There is a ten- to twelve-hour commitment to the mentorship for both mentors and mentees. Six to eight of these hours will be spent together in one-on-one meeting(s), and the remaining hours may be spent as both the mentor and mentee see fit.
In an effort to provide as much flexibility as possible for both the mentor and the mentee, the structure of the mentorship can be determined by the mentor based on the specified needs of the mentee, or as a collaborative process between the mentor and mentee. For example, participants can jointly decide on a single, full-day session or multiple sessions. Mentorship meetings can take place in-person, by telephone, or virtually to accommodate geographic differences or possible COVID-19 restrictions.
On completion of the mentorship, both the mentor and mentee will be required to complete a brief individual survey to provide the NMAF with feedback about their experience and to help improve the program going forward.
There are up to 16 mentorships planned for the 2023 program, 8 in the first wave and 8 in the second. Due to this, not all applicants will be accepted into the program this year.
Who is Eligible to Apply for a Mentorship?
The NMAF Mentorship Program is open to early- or mid-career publishing professionals who demonstrate a high degree of craft and promise within the magazine and digital publishing industry. Applicants must be based in Canada and identify as Black, Indigenous and/or people of colour. Applicants must also be 21 or older by January 3, 2023.
Participating mentees will also receive a free one-year LinkedIn Learning license, courtesy of the NMAF Mentorship Program. LinkedIn Learning is an online learning platform with over 16,000 video courses taught by experts in the field. The NMAF has partnered with LinkedIn Learning to make their courses available to mentees as part of the 2023 program.
How to Apply
Applications will be closing on March 31, 2023, at midnight ET.
You will be asked to:
- Provide a brief outline of your experience and/or career to date
- Briefly tell us:
- About your career goals for the next year, and how a mentorship would help you reach those goals.
- What you hope to gain from the mentorship.
- The main topic(s) and area(s) of publishing management in which you seek mentorship, and what you’d like your mentor to focus on. Areas of interest include (but are not limited to) operations and management, content development, and marketing and sales.
Mentorship applications will be reviewed by the NMAF with input from our Indigenous Community Consultant. Upon approval of a mentorship application, the mentee will be matched with a senior mentor who can help with the topic and goals they have identified.
Participating Mentors for Wave 2
More mentors will be announced shortly.
Shireen Ahmed is a multiplatform sports journalist, and her work has been recognized all over the world. She teaches Sports Journalism and Sport Media at TMU.
What you’ll learn: How to navigate a system when it can be racist and sexist, how to believe in yourself when no one else will, the importance of community, networking and developing contacts, pitching story ideas, creative processes and how to catalogue your ideas for later.
Jaclyn Law is a writer and editor in Toronto. After starting her magazine career at Chatelaine and Abilities in the early 2000s, she freelanced full-time for 15 years, working with corporate, institutional, non-profit, agency and media clients on print and digital projects. In January 2022, Jaclyn became the managing editor of MoneySense, where she handles sponsored and editorial content. She is a member of the Canadian Freelance Guild and a past-president of the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC), Toronto Chapter. She has spoken about freelancing and editing at events for Editors Canada, Culture Days, BookCamp TO, Toronto Metropolitan University and others.
What you’ll learn: We could talk about magazines, service journalism, editing, copy editing, fact checking, style guides, writers’ guidelines, sponsored content, working with writers, freelancing, contracts, professional networks, volunteering, teamwork/collaboration.
Richard Van Camp (he/him) is a proud Tlicho Dene from Fort Smith, NWT. He is the bestselling author of 27 books these past 27 years and his novel, The Lesser Blessed, is now a feature film with First Generation Films. You can watch it on CBC Gem. Richard is an internationally renowned storyteller whose passion is helping others reclaim their family medicines. You can visit with Richard on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, YouTube and at his official site: www.richardvancamp.com.
Photo by William Au.
What you’ll learn: Working on longer fiction or a short story collection (or both)? Richard is here to read it, copy edit, provide praise and suggestions, and then work with you to develop your work.
Participating Mentors for Wave 1
Kelly Boutsalis is a Mohawk journalist from the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve. Currently living in Toronto, she devotes the bulk of her work to highlighting Indigenous stories. Her byline has appeared in the New York Times, Toronto Star, Toronto Life, and the Walrus. In 2020, she was the Narwhal‘s first Indigenous Journalism Fellow, and last year she was The Local‘s Guest Editor. She led the CBC Six Nations pop-up bureau earlier this year.
What you’ll learn: How to pitch, how to identify story angles, how to gain confidence in your point-of-view, how to identify stories and pair them with the right publication.
Alicia Cox Thomson has been working in the media industry for 20 years as a digital editor, writer and content producer for some of Canada’s biggest lifestyle brands, including Chatelaine, Flare and HGTV Canada. Today, you can find her writing about culture, diversity, romance and the arts for Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Today’s Parent, Canadian Business and more, as well as speaking at industry panels and literary festivals.
What you’ll learn: How to pitch lifestyle journalism, how to create your writing voice and sustain it, how to write short and snappy display and social media copy, service journalism 101, social media strategy for lifestyle brands.
Matthew DiMera (they/he) is an award-winning editor and journalist based in Toronto. They are the founder and publisher of The Resolve, a new independent media outlet in Canada centring, elevating and celebrating Indigenous, Black, and people of colour voices and stories.
Previously they were the managing editor at Xtra, and the acting editor-in-chief at rabble.ca. They are a long-time advocate for the importance and power of social justice and community journalism.
What you’ll learn: How to make it as a BIPOC journalist, whether in legacy or independent media, or in carving out your own path.
Deanne Gage is a reporter for Globe Advisor at the Globe and Mail. She has covered the financial advisor market and specialized in personal finance issues for more than two decades.
She is the former editor of FORUM and Advisor’s Edge magazines, and was a money columnist for the Toronto Star.
Deanne has been the recipient of several National Magazine B2B Awards and other industry awards. Her work has also appeared in Chatelaine, MoneySense, Today’s Parent, Morningstar.ca, and other leading business magazines.
What you’ll learn: How to run a freelance business: everything from pitching story ideas to editors, coming up with fresh angles to the same old stories, taxes, bookkeeping, ensuring you get paid. As well as managing a small editorial team and career transitions.
Samia Madwar is a senior editor at The Walrus. She was previously the managing editor at The Walrus and, prior to that, worked at Up Here and Canadian Geographic magazines. She serves on the board of Magazines Canada, volunteers as a judge for the National Magazine and Digital Publishing awards, and regularly mentors emerging BIPOC journalists. She enjoys travelling and learning nerdy facts about mushrooms.
What you’ll learn: Magazine/longform writing and editing, magazine print production, fact checking.
Sandra E. Martin is Head of Newsroom Development at The Globe and Mail.
Previously, Sandra served as Editor-in-Chief of MoneySense where, under her leadership, audience for the online personal finance magazine grew to 1 million monthly visitors from 450,000 upon her arrival, and was recognized with awards for its content. As a contract lecturer, Sandra has taught magazine editing, branding, feature writing and other courses at TMU’s School of Journalism.
A former Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Living, Sandra also is a two-time National Magazine Awards finalist, a repeat NMA judge, and a two-time NMA host. She sits on the board of directors of Canada’s History Society and SABEW Canada.
What you’ll learn: A broad range of connections, how to put oneself forward for desired opportunities in the best light possible, ways to monetize your work and personal followings.
Dr. Hadiya Roderique wears a lot of hats – Professor, lawyer, researcher, podcast host, journalist, broadcast commentator, consultant and speaker. Her first piece of writing, Dating While Black, published as a cover story in The Walrus, was nominated for four National Magazine Awards, including Best New Magazine Writer. She was the Gold medal winner at the 2020 National Magazine Awards for her short feature, Black in the Ivory. She is most well known for her Globe and Mail piece “Black on Bay Street” which outlined her experiences as a young Black woman working in a Bay Street firm, and won the Digital Publishing award for Best Personal Essay in 2018.
What you’ll learn: How to freelancer, pitching tips, negotiation skills, feedback on pieces, how to survive being a Black journalist.
Melissa Shin is the Editorial Director of Advisor’s Edge and Investment Executive, Canada’s leading publications for financial advisors. She is an award-winning journalist whose reporting has been cited in university syllabi, in textbooks and to national regulators. She is also an experienced moderator and speaker. Melissa started at Advisor’s Edge in 2011. Prior to that, she was managing editor of Corporate Knights, a North American magazine focused on clean capitalism. Since 2021, Melissa has been secretary of the board of Fashion Takes Action. She is a graduate of the Schulich School of Business at York University.
What you’ll learn: More experienced mentees often know the direction they should take with a difficult issue and just need to talk out the process or receive validation. For that kind of mentee, I’ll ask probing questions, draw parallels to past experiences I’ve had and provide suggestions if asked. Such mentees often benefit from setting the agenda for discussions. For more junior mentees, I hope to provide them with a framework for problem solving and decision-making, and I’ll take more initiative in setting up an agenda for discussions based on their needs. In both cases, I hope to connect mentees with resources and people who can help them as they grow in their career.
Questions?
If you have any questions or require more information, please contact staff@magazine-awards.com.
This program is made possible with the support of Ontario Creates and the Department of Canadian Heritage.
