The 6th annual Digital Publishing Awards are now closed for submission, save for two special awards—the Digital Publishing Leadership Award and the Emerging Excellence Award.
The Digital Publishing Leadership Award recognizes and celebrates an individual who has made significant contributions to the industry. Writers, visual creators, designers, developers, publishers, and other digital publishing professionals are all eligible, as long as they have demonstrated leadership, inspiration, creativity, and achievement. Nominations should come from three or more colleagues (here are the full nomination requirements). Last year’s winner was Dmitry Beniaminov—check out his acceptance speech here. Prior to that, the award has gone to Kathy Vey, Brodie Fenlon, and Kenny Yum.
Young professionals working in the digital field, who have demonstrated exceptional craft and promise, can be put forth for the Emerging Excellence Award. Nominations for this award should come from one or more colleagues or mentors. Previous winners include Jane Lytvynenko, Sofia Misenheimer, Elizabeth Melito, and Nael Shiab.
Are you loving this year’s Digital Publishing Awards design? It’s all thanks to the talented Natalie Vineberg! Natalie was a 2019 Emerging Excellence nominee and was part of The Walrus team that won Gold for Best Digital Editorial Package in 2019. Currently, she works as a designer at The Walrus. Here’s what Natalie has to say about her #DPA21 design, the versatility of her work, and more.
Just a few years ago, you were part of the team which helped The Walrus win it’s first digital award. Now, in addition to being a designer for The Walrus, you’ve created this year’s DPA design. Were you excited to return to the DPA’s in this new role?
Yes! I’m very grateful for the dedication to valuing digital work at the DPAs, and I love seeing the work from other teams and getting to celebrate that.
Can you tell us about your inspiration for this year’s design?
Given that our whole world has basically gone digital, I wanted to keep some of the sparkle and fun of being at the DPAs in person. The awards are also a great opportunity to look back at everything you’ve accomplished that year, and that’s what I wanted to get at with those windows into people working.
There’s such a wide depth to your work. You’re an illustrator, photographer, art director, and designer. You film and create motion graphics for video. You create print and digital stories, web series, and podcast art. Do you believe it’s important for creators to have this versatility?
I think it’s valuable to find work you find interesting and challenging and that gets you excited. For me and my personality, that’s doing a lot of different things, but I also think digging really deep and becoming an expert in something is awesome.
What do you enjoy the most about being a designer?
I love that you can find design everywhere. It’s what our website and magazine look like but also how you use them. It’s how you navigate a city or make a house feel cozy. There’s always something new to be inspired by.
If you’ve created some amazing work of your own this year—a podcast, a digital design, or even a virtual event—consider entering it in the 2021 Digital Publishing Awards. The early bird rate is in effect until January 22, 2021, and the final submissions deadline is January 29, 2021 at 11:59 PM EST. The deadline to nominate an individual for the Emerging Excellence Award or the Digital Publishing Leadership Award is March 2, 2021. We look forward to receiving your best work from 2020!
As the month comes to a close, so does the Digital Publishing Awards’ call for entries: Friday, February 1st is your last chance to submit your work to the awards. Entries will be judged by three-member juries, made up of Canada’s top digital publishing talent. You can read more about the judging process here.
For categories, there are 23 to choose from: with this expansive lineup, Canadian writers, editors, art directors, graphic designers, web developers, photographers, illustrators, and videographers, are sure to find a good fit for their work. Best of all, Gold winners in individual categories will take home a $500 cash prize!
The entire submission process takes about ten minutes. Start by clicking here to access our online portal. There, you’ll enter the details of your submission(s) and pay the entry fees. Easy!
On Thursday June 1, the Digital Publishing Awards will be presenting the Emerging Excellence Award, an award honouring an individual whose early work in Canadian digital publishing shows the highest degree of craft and promise. This award may recognize a writer, visual creator, designer, developer, publisher or other young professional who has demonstrated excellence and potential in one or more areas of Canadian digital publishing.
This year’s jury has nominated three standout individuals, with the single winner being announced at the Digital Publishing Award Soirée on Thursday June 1.
Let us introduce you to this year’s three candidates:
Manisha Krishnan
Manisha Krishnan joined VICE Canada in 2015 after stints at the Toronto Star, Maclean’s, and the Edmonton Journal, where she honed her impressive skills as a writer and digital journalist. As senior writer for VICE, she has established herself as one of the strongest voices of the next generation of Canadian journalists. In the past year, she was VICE’s lead reporter on the Jian Ghomeshi trial, hosted a live VICE event on sexism in the music industry, and wrote several feature stories in addition to filing daily news hits.
“Manisha is the epitome of the modern journalist, able to work on multiple platforms and in multiple styles, whether that is a brilliantly reported news story, a controversial column on a subject of national interest, or a hilarious first-person essay.”
– Chris Bilton, deputy editor, VICE Canada
Explore some of Manisha’s work from 2016:
Armed and Reasonable: How to Buy a Gun In Canada “We chose Manisha as a host of ‘Armed and Reasonable’ because of her insatiable curiosity and willingness to immerse herself in the world of Canadian firearm culture, even though she admittedly knew nothing about it. Her vulnerability, curiosity and willingness to learn were among the driving forces of the documentary story arc, allowing our audience to discover the world new to them, through her eyes.”
An investigative feature about the Hutterites, a reclusive Christian movement characterized by traditional beliefs whose LGBTQ members are struggling to break out of the closet.
An essay on the incongruity between cannabis policy and law enforcement.
Tom Cardoso
Tom began his career at The Globe and Mail’s summer program in 2014 and quickly distinguished himself as an innovator of digital tools to enhance editorial work, such as the in-house “Chart Tool,” an open-source app that allows any editor or reporter to create responsive charts for mobile, social and even print. Hired as a graphics editor after the summer program, he has been instrumental in developing digital “middleform” content—medium-sized reporting projects that are predominantly visual and can be turned around in a week or two.
“Tom Cardoso is a rare breed amongst journalists. He’s one-third designer, one-third visual producer, and one-half developer. The math there doesn’t add up because the sheer quantity and quality of Cardoso’s work has consistently exceeded expectations. I think of him as the Swiss Army knife our arsenal of tools.”
– Jason Chiu, deputy head of presentation, The Globe and Mail
“The impact of his work has reached audiences across the country, and caught the attention of digital entrepreneurs in newsrooms on both sides of the border. The Wall Street Journal and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch are both using ‘The Chart Tool.’”
– Jason Chiu, deputy head of presentation, The Globe and Mail
“Tom brought an analytical and imaginative approach to his sports projects, allowing us to move away from traditional reporting in order to offer something new. This was a methodical and detailed data story that offered a thorough and alternative assessment of a popular and ongoing debate in the baseball world, especially among Blue Jays fans.”
“By building narratives that seamlessly weave text, graphics and visualizations, Tom is able to tell stories in a way that feels native to readers on mobile and social media. His work, collegial attitude, and passion for journalism set an example for other young Canadian journalists.”
– Matt Frehner, head of presentation, The Globe and Mail
Naël Shiab
Recruited by CBC/Radio Canada in 2011, Naël Shiab travelled the country as a young journalist for three years before completing a Master’s degree in data journalism at the University of King’s College. Upon returning to Montreal, he worked for Journal Métro before joining the team at L’actualité. Since then, he has worked hard to push the boundaries of Canadian journalism, merging reporting with the most advanced algorithms to bring the reader the most personalized information possible. At 28, he has already been recognized in Quebec for his avant-garde work.
“In Naël’s mind lives a journalist and a coder, and the coder is the servant of the journalist. Watching him work is a balm for those like me who believe there is still a future for journalism and the search for truth.”
– Carole Beaulieu, editor-in-chief and publisher, L’actualité
Explore some of Naël’s work from 2016
Budget : voici comment Québec dépense vos impôts This provincial tax calculator allows you to enter your annual salary instantly find out the amount of your provincial income tax, the percentage of your contribution to total government spending, and how much will be spent on a particular service or sector.
Allocations familiales : combien allez-vous recevoir de plus? Faites le test! This tool that Naël created in just a few hours “proved more useful to Canadians than the one created by the government itself! In a few clicks, users could find out not only how much money they would receive under a new Liberal government, but also the old one!”
– Carole Beaulieu, editor-in-chief and publisher, L’actualité
L’Assemblée nationale est sexiste et en voici la preuve Using unpublished data with a personalized computer program that he himself coded, Naël analyzed more than 7 million words spoken by the deputies in Quebec to demonstrate the extent of sexism in the National Assembly.
“Thanks to Naël, for the first time a robot has written reports on our website. And on a very pertinent subject: the robotization of the jobs of our fellow citizens.”
– Carole Beaulieu, editor-in-chief and publisher, L’actualité
This feature story is also nominated in the Best Digital Initiative category and is among the finalists in the One of a Kind category at the National Magazine Awards.
Contrary to what the government claims, Canada exports military goods to countries where human rights are being violated. To give a more accurate picture of the situation, Naël proposed to reclassify Canadian exports according to the Human Freedom Index.
The single recipient of the Emerging Excellence Award will be announced at the Digital Publishing Awards Soirée on Thursday June 1, 2017 in Toronto. Tickets are now on sale for the annual event and can be purchased here.
Congratulations to all of this year’s nominees! Full list of nominees available here.
