Roughly 600 editors, art directors, circulators and writers are expected to attend the 37^th National Magazine Awards (NMA) gala on June 6, at The Carlu in Toronto.
 
The NMA’s are a bilingual not-for-profit institution that celebrates and advocates for Canadian digital and print publications. This year they received over 2,000 entries and of those entries 376 submissions were nominated in 48 award categories.

Communications Manager, Émilie Pontbriand said there is a lot to look forward to this year and that includes a new category and an NMA first.

“This year, based on feedback we received from the industry, we’ve added a new category—Infographics, recognizing outstanding data visualization in print and online magazines,” she said. “This year there are five magazines nominated for a NMA for the first time. And a magazine launched just over a year ago—Nouveau Projet—is one of the 3 finalists for the prestigious Magazine of the Year.”

Leading the nominee list overall is The Walrus, who according to NMA judges has beenone of the top magazines in Canada since it launched in 2003, carrying on the tradition of excellence they’ve seen from other great magazines such as Saturday Night, Maclean’s, Toronto Life and Equinox.

Pontbriand added that the recipient for the 2013 Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement will go to Kim Jernigan, who has been the editor of The New Quarterly for over thirty years.

A new master of ceremonies will host the gala this year and his identity will be revealed next week.