Alberta Magazine > Alberta Bits: The Voice of the Alberta Equestrian Federation
Alberta Bits is the Voice of Equine Alberta and a membership-based magazine of the Alberta Equestrian Federation (AEF). The magazine, published since 2009, is provided free of charge to their 13,000 members and published quarterly Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. The magazine has a high ratio of editorial content to advertising. The focus is on AEF members and their horses or activities. The AEF covers activities such as sport, recreation, breeds and industry, youth, health, welfare and safety. Demographics are broad-based. The magazine addresses its various sectors and updates AEF activities through feature articles and columns. Read more 
Edmonton Photographer Darren Greenwood Launches GarageShots Magazine
GarageShots is a new Edmonton-based quarterly magazine dedicated to the art and style of hot rods and custom cars. Published by professional photographer Darren Greenwood, written and edited by Jeff Day, designed by Hot Nik Creative and printed by McCallum Printing, the 72 page premiere issue features three cars: a 1931 Ford Model A coupe, a 540-cubic-inch 1970 Chevrolet El Camino, and a 2008 GMC Sierra pickup with a Cadillac Escalade front end. Ten pages of the magazine’s first issue are devoted to the art of hood ornaments. Future issues promise to include race cars, motorcycles and trucks. Check out the digital version of the premiere issue. Read more
Alberta Magazine Award Winners for 2012
The winners of the 2012 Alberta Magazine Awards were announced at the Alberta Magazine Excellence Gala on March 22, 2012 in Calgary. Showcase awards were handed out to seven Alberta magazines with Avenue Calgary taking the award for best digital presence. Achievement Awards were handed out with United Way’s WE Magazine awarded best new magazine in Alberta. Read more
Magazine Spotlight: Social Media Monthly, a Fine Production
S
ocial Media Monthly is not an Alberta magazine, normally the topic of this category, but is nevertheless a most interesting magazine — at least to me – in that it is a print magazine promoting social media and online technologies. According to its website the magazine was conceived at the 2011 South by Southwest Interactive Conference in Austin Texas and was launched 53 days later on May 20, 2011 at BlogWorld 2011 in New York. Three weeks later it secured national distribution in the US through Barnes and Noble. The magazine was honoured as one of the top magazine launches of 2011 by MIN, an organization that reports on the publishing industry. Published by Robert Fine, the founder of Cool Blue Companies and author of The Big Book of Social Media Case Studies, Stories and Perspectives, the magazine seems to have hit a sweet spot, at least with companies offering web based social media services and social media conferences across the US. The magazine is now sold in 19 countries and 15% of the subscribers are from outside the US. Not bad for the first year in the life of a print magazine in a digital world. Read more
Alberta Magazine Awards, Conference and Gala in Calgary on March 22, 2012
The Alberta Magazine Awards will be presented at the Alberta Magazine Excellence Gala, March 22 at the Carriage House Inn in Calgary, as part of the 2012 Alberta Magazines Conference. This is a celebration of you or someone you know in the Alberta magazine industry, featuring Showcase Awards (new digital category!) and Achievement Awards, cash prizes, plus all that glorious glory — and they need your submissions before January 31, 2012. Read more
Calgary’s City Style and Living Magazine Receives Two National Awards
City Style and Living magazine garnered two prestigious awards for “Best of Show” and “Best Article in a Consumer magazine” from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). The annual Caribbean Tourism Organization Media Awards Luncheon, held on December 8, 2011 at the Novotel Toronto Centre drew a crowd of nearly 100 media, industry members, national tourism organization representatives and Caribbean dignitaries attended the luncheon. This event serves to recognize Canadian-based media that have captured the essence of the Caribbean in their story telling. The prizes for Best Article in a Consumer Magazine, followed by Best in Show, were awarded to Kailash Maharaj and a team from City Style and Living magazine for their article ‘Paradise Found’, which ran in the Fall 2010 issue of City Style and Living. Read more
Alberta Magazine Spotlight > AlbertaViews: Perspectives on a Province
AlbertaViews is in its fifteenth year of publishing and according to its website description “is the must-read magazine for the people who are shaping the new Alberta. Innovators in politics, education, industry, public service and the arts share and discover fresh perspectives in our in-depth analysis of everything relevant to the public interest of Albertans. Recognized for its editorial excellence, Alberta Views is one of the most respected publications in Canada, and has won Magazine of the Year and both the National and Western Magazine Awards. Right now no other province is as complex, vibrant and creative as Alberta, and no magazine covers it like Alberta Views.” I once had the pleasure of working for a time with their founding editor Jackie Flanagan on promoting the launch of the magazine in Alberta. I agree that no other magazine in covers Alberta the way they do. Readers with an interest in film and movie makers in Alberta will be particularly impressed with their December 2011 issue.
Alberta Magazine of Interest: SOS Children’s Safety Magazine
The Edmonton-based SOS Children’s Safety Magazine is recognized as a viable resource for preventative educational material in Canada. The publication was founded in 2002 and has grown substantially over the last nine years in readership and circulation. By providing new innovative design and relevant content through hard copy and online presence, the magazine has attracted a captivated audience across the nation. Last year in 2010 they distributed over 260,000 copies of the publication and received honourable mention from the country’s top political leaders, law enforcement agencies, and educational faculties. Topics include teaching children and parents alike about bullying, peer pressure, the huge crystal meth epidemic, teen suicide and much more. Read more
Cool Companies 2011: Alberta’s Clean Technologies & Green Products
Cool Companies is a magazine styled book series that is focused on “helping entrepreneurial-minded business people discover unique business development opportunities — joint ventures partnerships, R&D collaborations, product purchasing agreements and investment opportunities — with innovative Canadian companies in emerging high tech industries.” Published yearly by Claudia Sammer since 2004, the latest publication – the eighth one in seven years — heralds an expanded business model. Claudia is now offers strategic marketing support for innovative, technical new-to-the-world products and producers. Each of the publications in the series explores a single emerging high tech industry. Based on first-hand research, each article captures an industry’s latest products and technologies, industry leaders and rising stars, cutting edge research, proven industry supporters and key industry stats. Read more
United Way Edmonton Launches New Magazine to Celebrate their 70th Anniversary
The United Way of the Alberta Capital Region launched a new magazine this summer to “explore a number of current topics, including: homelessness, unsung heroes, stories of struggle and triumph, donor support, and the latest facts about our community. It is a magazine about our community, for our community.” In it they plan to cover the most pressing social issues experienced in the region, create meaningful dialogue, encourage support and celebrate the successes. United Way is active throughout the community year-round, leading initiatives, delivering programs and events, working with partners, creating awareness, sharing results and more. “What better way to talk about all of these activities,” writes the editor Nancy Critchley, “than in a magazine, unique to the cause and to the collective efforts?” Read more
Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton Launches New Magazine for their Heroes
In April 2011, the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton launched a new magazine called Hero in order to acknowledge the heroes within and those that support the hospital. They produce 40,000 copies four times a year which they send to donors. The remaining 10,000 copies are racked throughout the city and placed in doctor’s offices. According to Jan Archbold, the Vice President of Marketing & Communications for the Stollery, and a colleague of mine many years ago, the magazine came about as a result of research they conducted. Their survey showed that donors wanted to know more about the people who work at the hospital, the patients, new technology, and about the many things that make the Stollery a centre of excellence. “When we went through the process of ‘narrowing down’ what stories to include in the magazine we realized the significant impact donors have on the quality of care and of the lives of the kids in the Stollery.” Read more
BC Publisher Brings New “Vue” To Edmonton’s Alternative Weekly Market
Rivalry is bad for business. That’s the lesson learned in the wake of the recent merger between Edmonton’s former newsstand foes, alternative weekly newspapers SEE Magazine and Vue Weekly. British Columbia publisher Bob Doull bought Vue, an independent paper, from old friend and founder Ron Garth in January 2011. Garth has been Vue’s publisher since its inception in 1995. Then in May, Doull acquired SEE from St. Albert-based Great West Newspapers LP. The company, headed by Duff Jamison, also publishes the St. Albert Gazette, among others. Read more
Marilyn
Jones is a corporate and social media advocate for individuals, small businesses
and nonprofit organizations in Alberta. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada and is the proprietor of RiverCity Productions. You can contact her
by phone at 780-695-5675 or by email at marilyn@mediamag.ca.