Tag: enRoute

PASADENA, CA– The North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) recently announced their 2011 competition winners. Now in its 20^th year, the NATJA awards honor the “best of the best” in travel writing, photography and promotion that cover all aspects of the travel industry worldwide.

Spafax media winners include: Air Canada’s enRoute (5 awards), Air Canada’s OnAir e-zine (1 award), Fairmont Magazine for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (1 award) and Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Experience Magazine (1 award).

Gold awards were won by  Bombardier’s Experience magazine for food writer Alan Richman’s “Bubble Economics” in the Culinary Travel category, and by Air Canada’s enRoute magazine for Susan Nerberg, Alex Redgrave and Stephen Marche’s stories in “Geek Odysseys” in the Travel Series – Magazines category. enRoute also earned a Silver for best in-flight magazine.

“This speaks to our overall commitment to quality content marketing,” said Raymond Girard, President, Content for Spafax. “It’s our calling card and it’s always nice to see our hard work rewarded.”

“At Spafax we believe in great content,” said Arjun Basu, Content Director. “Winning these awards is a testament to the talents of our staff and contributors, and to the dedication of our clients not just to their brands but to excellence overall.”

NATJA is the second largest travel media association in North America. Members include travel media professionals, convention and visitors bureaus, social media, hotels and attractions, and other travel marketing agencies. Members are provided with professional development workshops, peer-to-peer evaluation, web tools and networking opportunities. NATJA also publishes Travelworld International Magazine (www.travelworldmagazine.com). For more information about NATJA or a complete list of 2011 award-winners, visit www.natja.org.

Spafax print and digital media properties recently won 4 Eddie and 1 Ozzie at the recent Folio: Awards, held in New York City. And while awards in custom media are gratifying – for both Spafax and our clients – they don’t exist in a vacuum. That is, our publications have a job to do first. Awards are, literally, icing on the cake.

So, the awards:

Eddie Award winners for editorial excellence, include:

• Custom, Frequency 6 times per year or more, Single Article: Grecian Formula by Alan Richman, published in the November 2010 issue of Air Canada’s enRoute
• Custom, Frequency less than 6 times per year, Single Article: Bubble Economics by Alan Richman, published in Issue 16 of Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Experience
• Custom, Best website: enRoute online
• B2B, Best Online Column or Blog: Print in Digital Clothing: The Problem with Magazine Apps by Charles Lim, posted on Sparksheet

Ozzie Award for Spafax for design excellence:

• Custom, Best redesign: Bombardier Business Aircraft’s Experience

We’ve always said that awards are good at highlighting a central behind our service: That truly engaging content starts with excellence. Our media are created to deepen consumer engagement and enhance our clients’ branding and marketing goals. And whether we’re producing a magazine, a website, curating IFE content, publishing an IFE guide, or designing someone else’s editorial, one of our first (and last questions) usually is: How do we make it better?

Because when we sit down in a room in front of a blank screen, we’re not thinking of winning awards. We’re thinking of how best to fulfill our clients’ marketing, branding , PR and content needs. The brief. Our job starts with the brief and then we execute that brief. If we do our jobs properly, we exceed it.

Because there’s another thing media should do (whether it is consumer, custom or B2B): delight. Media that doesn’t touch the end user in some way, is useless. Media is communication and there’s a lot of it. To break through that clutter, media needs to be more than a message. The consumer needs to feel something because of it.

One last note about the recent awards. Charles Lim’s win for Sparksheet (our blog about “content, media and marketing”) is probably the first time a Spafax art director has won an award for his writing. And this win follows Sparksheet’s record haul of 7 award at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards. And it also speaks to the immense talents of everyone here.

In total, this has been a solid few weeks for us with various wins for almost all of our North American clients in award ceremonies in both Canada and the US. And we’re proud of that. But we’re also aware that an award means nothing if the winning product isn’t doing the job it was created for in the first place.

Sparksheet, enroute.aircanada.com and enRoute magazine head up a list of 14 nominations garnered by Spafax media for this year’s National Magazine Awards, Canada’s Academy Awards of the magazine industry.

Air Canada’s enRoute leads the way with 12 nominations: 10 for the magazine and 2 for enroute.aircanada.com. Sparksheet, the online magazine which explores the convergence of content, media and marketing published by Spafax, received 2.

A full list of the nominees:

Best Digital Design: Sparksheet (team)

Best Multimedia Feature: enRoute: Canada’s Best New Restaurants

Best Service: Lifestyle: enRoute: Sarah Musgrave, Canada’s Best New Restaurants

Best Art Direction for a Single Article: enRoute: Nathalie Cusson, Ladies and Gentlemen Montreal

Best Art Direction for an Entire Issue: enRoute: Nathalie Cusson, The Family Travel Special

Best Art Direction for an Entire Issue: enRoute: Nathalie Cusson, The Food Issue

Fashion and Beauty Photography: enRoute: Gabor Jurina, Nathalie Cusson, Zeina Esmail, Aqua Fresh

Best Illustration: enRoute: Pascal Blanchet, The Family Travel Special

Best Spot Illustration: enRoute: Lauchie Reid, Higher Learning

Best Single Issue: enRoute: The Family Travel Special

Best Magazine Cover: enRoute: Nathalie Cusson, Natasha V, Belgium

Words & Pictures: enRoute: JF Legaré, Isa Tousignant, André Doyon, Food Souvenirs

Magazine of the Year (Digital): enroute.com

Magazine of the Year (Digital): Sparksheet

These nominations show the breadth of the offer at Spafax in digital and print, and in both editorial and design. “The nominees highlight our commitment to quality content creation and our belief that quality leads to higher levels of consumer engagement,” noted Content Director Arjun Basu.

The awards will be presented this year in Toronto on June 10th. You can find more information about the National Magazine Awards here.

The North American Travel Journalists Association is the premier professional association of writers, photographers, editors, and tourism professionals dedicated to redefining professional development for the travel industry. The competition is always fierce and the print and online versions of Air Canada’s enRoute was yet again very well represented.

The awards:

• Gold: ENROUTE, In-Flight Magazine
• Gold: Julian Smith, Sports and Recreation, Internet
• Gold: Sarah Steinberg, Personality and Profiles, Internet
• Gold: JF Legaré, Isa Tousignant, Susan Nerberg, Travel Tips and Adivce
• Silver: Leda & St. Jacques, Photography and Illustration, Overall Excellence
• Bronze: Lorne Bridgeman, Photography and Illustration, Overall Excellence
• Bronze: Susan Nerberg, Eco, Environmental or Special Service Travel, Print

Congratulations to the enRoute media team, all those at Spafax who support them – and a huge thanks to Air Canada for their inspiration and support.

IN magazine and digital media, and enRoute magazine won a total of 6 awards at the recently held Folio Awards in New York City.

IN, produced by our Santiago office for LAN, won 2 Gold Awards for:

• Best Use of Photography, Custom for the October, 2009 issue
• Best Custom Website, June 2009

IN also received a bronze award for best Automotive Article from its January 2010 issue.

enRoute, published by the Montreal and Toronto offices for Air Canada, won a silver and two bronze awards for:

• Silver, Best Custom, Full Issue for the November 2009 issue
• Bronze, Best Cover, May 2010
• Bronze, Best Overall Design, November 2010

Various Spafax media have won numerous Folio awards, both Eddies (for editorial excellence) and Ozzies (for artistic/design excellence) in the past, a good indication of its continuing dedication to high standards in both editorial and design. “I’m very proud of our team,” said Paula Fontaine, General Manager and Editorial Director of Spafax Chile. “Their talents show on every page of IN. We have created a strong brand in print and digital for a strong brand, LAN.”

“We believe that well-done, creative content enhances our clients’ brands,” said Spafax Editorial Director Arjun Basu. “The Folio Awards attract the world’s top media companies and always seem to recognize our efforts. Our work stands up to the best on offer and that’s a great feeling.”

For more information on the Folio Awards

www.folioawards.com