Winning work: Gord Pyzer's Winter 2009 cover story earned 3rd place for best Magazine Feature, Fishing

I have some more great news to report on the magazine journalism awards front. On Saturday, Outdoor Canada Fishing Editor Gord Pyzer garnered two National Communications Awards from the Outdoor Writers of Canada for his work in our magazine, while contributor Sherri Canjar picked up one honour.

The awards, sponsored by Shimano Canada, were presented during a banquet at the annual OWC conference, held this year in Peterborough, Ontario. Here’s how we fared:

• 3rd place (Magazine Column): “Be the baitfish,” by Gord Pyzer (October/November 2008)

• 3rd place (Magazine Feature, Fishing): “Hardwater action guide,” by Gord Pyzer (Winter 2009)

• 3rd place (Magazine Feature, Other): “Cattails: The edible plants that keep on giving,” by Sherri Canjar (Summer 2008)

Congrats to Gord and Sherri!

Winning content: Our Summer 2008 cover story on anglers, hunters and food earned a Gold National Magazine Award

As editor of Outdoor Canada, I have a straightforward mandate: to create this country’s best fishing and hunting magazine. By all accounts, my team and I are doing a pretty good job of living up to that promise. Subscription renewals are as strong as ever and our newsstand sales are continuing to grow, remarkable feats both considering the current economic climate. That enough speaks to the quality of our content; namely, people like what they’re reading and they’re continuing to buy the magazine (thank you, readers!).

So when we received two prestigious National Magazine Awards last night at the classy Carlu in downtown Toronto, it was pure, sweet icing on the cake. In all, we were up for five awards and, in the end, we took home gold and silver. Here’s the tally.

GOLD
• Service Lifestyle: “The best of Living Off the Land,” Brad Fenson, T.J. Schwanky, Alan Davy, Angelo Paino, Aaron Kylie, Jake MacDonald, Mario Carlucci, Ken Bailey, Wayne Phillips, Gord Pyzer, Jack Bramm, Gord Deval, Duane Radford, Bruce Masterman, Patrick Walsh, Sherri Canjar, Nancy Johnston, George Gruenefeld, Paul Quarrington, Tony Aspler, Bob Sexton, Ryan Shervill and Deborah Podurgiel

SILVER
• Travel: “Requiem for a River,” Mark Anderson

HONOURABLE MENTIONS
• Editorial Package: “The best of Living Off the Land,” (as above)
• Sports & Recreation: “Requiem for a River,” Mark Anderson
• Sports & Recreation: “Taking Back the Sport of Kings,” Jake MacDonald

Congratulations to all our nominated field editors and contributors, as well as to our amazing art and editorial staff (Aaron Kylie, Bob Sexton and Sandra Cheung), as well as former art director Rob Biron.

As of now, Outdoor Canada has earned a total of nine golds, eight silvers and 48 honourable mentions at the National Magazine Awards. (Full disclosure: I’m in the first year of a two-year term as president of the National Magazine Awards Foundation, the non-profit body that organizes the annual awards program. I should note, too, that I am not involved in the judging process.)

Congrats to Outdoor Canada’s Winnipeg field editor, Jake MacDonald, on the release of his latest book, Grizzlyville: Adventures in Bear Country, from HarperCollins Canada. Jake will be in Toronto on Wednesday for the official launch at Ben McNally Books.

In Grizzlyville, Jake examines man’s relationship with black bears, polar bears and grizzlies, visiting bear hot spots across North America and talking to locals and biologists alike. Here’s a blurb about the book from Harper Collins:

“Thought-provoking and often frightening, Grizzlyville draws on the personal experiences of MacDonald and others, recounting an absorbing story about the place bears occupy in our world and the place we occupy in theirs.”

Incidentally, Jake is also nominated for a National Magazine Award (one of five nominations for Outdoor Canada contributors), which will be presented this Friday during a gala ceremony at the Carlu in Toronto. All fingers are firmly crossed.

I’m currently in Montreal for the annual nomination party for the prestigious National Magazine Awards and once again there’s great news for Outdoor Canada magazine (as well as our sister publications at Transcontinental Media). The nominations were announced just hours ago at the swanky DNA Restaurant in Old Montreal, and Canada’s only national fishing and hunting magazine was named a finalist in the following categories for the following fine work:

• Editorial Package: “The best of Living Off the Land,” Brad Fenson, T.J. Schwanky, Alan Davy, Angelo Paino, Aaron Kylie, Jake MacDonald, Mario Carlucci, Ken Bailey, Wayne Phillips, Gord Pyzer, Jack Bramm, Gord Deval, Duane Radford, Bruce Masterman, Patrick Walsh, Sherri Canjar, Nancy Johnston, George Gruenefeld, Paul Quarrington, Tony Aspler, Bob Sexton, Ryan Shervill and Deborah Podurgiel
• Service Lifestyle: “The best of Living Off the Land,” (as above)
• Sports & Recreation: “Requiem for a River,” Mark Anderson
• Sports & Recreation: “Taking Back the Sport of Kings,” Jake MacDonald
• Travel: “Requiem for a River,” Mark Anderson

Congratulations to all our nominated field editors and contributors, as well as to our excellent art and editorial staff back at the magazine’s office in Toronto (yes, that’s you Aaron Kylie, Bob Sexton and Sandra Cheung), as well as former art director Rob Biron. Hold your heads high. The gold and silver finalists will be revealed during the National Magazine Awards gala on June 5 at the Carlu in Toronto. Stay tuned!

Over the years, Outdoor Canada has earned a total of eight golds, seven silvers and 45 honourable mentions (50, as of today) at the National Magazine Awards. (Full disclosure: I’m in the first year of a two-year term as president of the National Magazine Awards Foundation, the non-profit body that organizes the annual awards program, hence my presence today in Montreal.)

We here at Outdoor Canada magazine are currently conducting a comprehensive survey of hunting guides and outfitters across the country to learn their opinions on the best guns, cartridges, ammunition, optics and techniques for big game.  We’ve compiled a fairly lengthy contact list, and the surveys have been sent out.

Of course, we may have missed a few experts, so if you’re reading this and you’re a guide or an outfitter, or if you know someone who is, please contact Associate Editor Bob Sexton for a copy of the survey. We’d really appreciate your input. As a way of saying thank you, in fact, the name of every guide and outfitter who completes the questionnaire will be entered in a draw to win one free classified advertisement in Outdoor Canada (value $600, to be used in our Hunting or October 2009 issue).

The results of the survey will be compiled and analyzed by Hunting Editor Ken Bailey, and his report will appear in our popular Hunting annual, due out in mid-August. It should make for fascinating reading. Thanks in advance to all who participate.

Since last year, renowned B.C. science writer Terry Glavin has been preparing a major report for Outdoor Canada magazine on the state of the West Coast’s wild Pacific salmon. Due out in our forthcoming April issue, Glavin’s piece illustrates that while the salmon are getting hammered by everything from sea lice infestations to climate change, there remains signs of hope that the species can rally.

One example comes from a new study released last week by the Vancouver-based Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council. Entitled Pacific Salmon in Canada’s Arctic Draining Rivers, With Emphasis on Those in British Columbia and the Yukon, the report predicts the Canadian Arctic’s Mackenzie watershed should see greater numbers of returning chum salmon as climate change continues to transform the earth.

The study also suggests pink salmon will eventually colonize the Mackenzie watershed as return spawners. A press release announcing the new study quotes Paul Leblond, chair of the PFRCC, as saying:

“While five species of Pacific salmon have been seen within these northern watersheds, this report shows that only chum have returned regularly to successfully spawn in these colder rivers. As climate change warms the north, we will likely see greater numbers of chum in the Canadian Arctic and possibly pink salmon as well, but regular monitoring is now needed to track these changes.”

The report bases its conclusions on studying salmon returns on the Liard watershed, where the Liard River, starting in the Yukon, runs along B.C.’s northern border and flows northeast through the N.W.T. before entering the Mackenzie River at Fort Simpson.

However, the study also concludes that coho, chinook and sockeye salmon are unlikely to become regular fixtures in the watershed any time soon, due to a lack of suitable overwintering habitat.

This is just a wee shout out to the forum users on Bountyfishing.com (“home of the world’s largest fishing tournament”). Nice board you have there.

To clarify one thing, though. It seems Freshwaterphil and a few others didn’t see the point of including a photo of their buddy Dragonslayer with a big pike for an article on pollution in the Ottawa River (“Capital offence,” March). In a recent string, Freshwaterphil even suggested we used the image just to sell magazines.

Gosh, we thought it was pretty obvious why we ran that photo: to show that the Ottawa is a darn fine fishery (since that’s where that pic was taken), and demanding of better attention from our politicians.

There was nothing more to it than that, guys. But hey, thanks for reading the magazine!

Since Outdoor Canada magazine always writes about other folks in the outdoors, from outfitters to conservationists to gear makers, it’s always a kick when we get a nod from other outdoor media. But we were especially chuffed when U.K.-based Tackle Trade World magazine took note of our Fishing 2009’s Best New Gear awards for fishing tackle and accessories.

Distributed to more than 11,000 tackle wholesalers, distributors, manufacturers and retailers, as well as media outlets, Tackle Trade World positions itself as the “only truly global trade magazine for the fishing industry.”

Seems the glossy magazine was impressed that Outdoor Canada selected the Stonze system of fishing weights, made by British firm Pallatrax, as the best environmentally friendly new product (the all-natural weights are, as the name implies, actually made of porous rock).  And yes, we think they’re pretty cool.

The magazine quotes Pallatrax boss and Stonze inventor Simon Pomeroy as being “delighted to have received accolade.” Adds Pomeroy:

“Slowly the world is waking up to the fact that anglers can’t keep piling lead into water systems and that there are good alternatives out there.”

The World Fishing Network’s Mark Melnyk took his Reel Road Trip show to Kenora, Ontario, earlier this winter to go ice fishing on Lake of the Woods with—who else?—Outdoor Canada’s very own Fishing Editor, Gord Pyzer.

Along with one of Gord’s fishing buddies, local guide Ryan Haines, they spent a couple of days running-and-gunning for a variety of species, including whitefish, walleye and lakers. And boy, did they catch fish.

The resulting action-packed show, slated to air next winter, will complement Gord’s planned ice-fishing special for our Winter 2010 issue, and vice versa. In the meantime, you can watch a teaser on what to expect at the World Fishing Network Web site.

Plans are also afoot for Mark Melnyk to likewise team up with some of Outdoor Canada’s other field editors across the country to shoot further episodes of his Reel Road Trip.