FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, May 27, 2019—The Editors’ Association of Canada (Editors Canada) has announced the finalists for the 2019 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence.
In 2019, Editors Canada will present the Tom Fairley Award for the 35th time. The 2019 award recognizes an exceptional editor who played an important role on a project published in the 2018 calendar year.
The $2,000 grand prize will be presented at the awards banquet of the Editors Canada 40th anniversary conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on June 8, 2019. Editors Canada is also pleased to announce that the other two finalists will each receive a cash prize of $500 in recognition of their exceptional editorial performance.
SHORT LIST
Tracey L. Anderson (Edmonton, Alberta)
Truth Be Told: An Anthology of Inspirational Stories by Women in the Law
edited by Jeananne K. Kirwin, Teresa R. Haykowsky and Sarah D. Eadie
(Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, Jeananne Kirwin)
Tracey L. Anderson calmly and diplomatically brought to fruition a collection of short memoirs by 114 lawyers, judges and other very busy people. Working with the project team, she developed the editorial process and set the standards. Then she managed multi-channel correspondence and tracked the moving parts while bringing unity and polish to the texts, all under an extremely tight deadline. It is easy to believe the nominator’s claim that the book “just wouldn’t have happened” without Anderson.
(photo credit Rebecca Blissett)
Jennifer Croll (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography
by Andrea Warner
(Greystone Books)
Jennifer Croll’s editorial contribution to Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography was wide-ranging and significant. Identifying opportunities to improve the first draft, she had the vision to pinpoint and articulate how the manuscript could be reshaped, prompting the author to complete an extensive rewrite in only 14 days. Although facing tight time constraints, Croll made further important contributions in the revised manuscript to improve its style and impact. Andrea Warner, the book’s author, writes that Croll’s “clear, constructive, supportive [edits] were absolutely essential to the book’s timely completion. Buffy Sainte-Marie…echoes my thanks and gratitude for Jen’s hard work and brilliant clarity.”
Lesley Erickson (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Truth and Conviction: Donald Marshall Jr. and the Mi’kmaw Quest for Justice
by L. Jane McMillan
(UBC Press)
When the project began, Lesley Erickson was the production editor at UBC Press. Recognizing the manuscript’s potential to capture a wider readership than either the author or the publisher had envisioned, she convinced her colleagues to reposition the book as a lead title on the fall list and to let her take the lead on the necessary developmental edits. She prepared a manual for academics on how to write for a general audience, which she used in the course of her own extensive revisions. Halfway through the project, Erickson left UBC Press, but remained committed to the book, bringing it to a timely publication and proving herself once again to be an editor of conviction and dedication.
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The judges for the 2019 Tom Fairley Award are respected Canadian editors and writers.
Marie Clausén is the author of Sacred Architecture in a Secular Age and a number of academic articles, reviews and poems. She has been an academic editor for 20 years.
Barbara Czarnecki, a freelance editor in Toronto, works on a wide range of materials and topics. She joined Editors Canada (then FEAC) in its first year. She was the inaugural winner of the Tom Fairley Award in 1983.
Dania Sheldon is a freelance editor and writer with 20 years of editing experience. She holds a doctorate in English Language and Literature from Oxford University and received the Tom Fairley Award in 2017.
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About Editors Canada
Additional information about the Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence is available on the Editors Canada website.
Editors Canada began in 1979 as the Freelance Editors’ Association of Canada to promote and maintain high standards of editing. In 1994, the word “Freelance” was dropped to reflect the association’s expanding focus to serve both freelance and in-house editors. As Canada’s only national editorial association, it is the hub for 1,300 members and affiliates, both salaried and freelance, who work in the corporate, technical, government, not-for-profit and publishing sectors. The association’s professional development programs and services include professional certification, an annual conference, seminars, webinars, and networking with other associations. Editors Canada has five regional branches: British Columbia; Saskatchewan; Toronto; Ottawa–Gatineau; and Quebec, as well as smaller branches (called twigs) in Barrie, Calgary, Edmonton, Manitoba, Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph, Hamilton/Halton, Kingston, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Media contact
Michelle Ou
Senior Communications Manager
Editors Canada
416 975-1379 / 1 866 226-3348
communications@editors.ca