Editors’ Association of Canada announces the 2007 Tom Fairley Award Short List

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Toronto, May 15, 2008 —

The Editors’ Association of Canada/Association canadienne des réviseurs (EAC/ACR) today announced the short list for the 2007 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence. The $2,000 Tom Fairley Award recognizes the editor’s often invisible contribution to written communication and is awarded annually for an editor’s outstanding contribution to a work published in Canada in English or French.

Judges Marine Armstrong, Heather Ball and Audrey McClellan selected four finalists whose work ranged from painstaking copy editing and proofreading to shaping a collection of interviews and written memoirs into a coherent manuscript, as well as mediating between authors and publishers. The four finalists will be invited to and honoured at the banquet at EAC’s national conference at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton on Saturday, June 7, 2008, where the winner will be announced and will receive the $2,000 prize.

SHORT LIST

Peter Midgley for Culturing Wilderness in Jasper National Park: Studies in Two Centuries of Human History in the Upper Athabasca River Watershed by I. S. MacLaren, Michael Payne, Peter J. Murphy, PearlAnn Reichwein, Lisa McDermott, C. J. Taylor, Gabrielle Zezulka-Mailloux, Zac Robinson and Eric Higgs
(University of Alberta Press)

Noting his management skills, persistence and diplomacy in particular, the judges lauded Peter Midgley’s professionalism in carrying out this demanding project. “It is truly an achievement,” said Heather Ball.

Paul Payson for The Freshwater Fishes of British Columbia by J. D. McPhail
(University of Alberta Press)

Paul Payson’s patience and commitment to a manuscript under constant evolution immediately impressed the judges. “The speed and accuracy with which he worked is even more amazing given the complex and detailed nature of the manuscript,” said Audrey McClellan.

David Prosser for This Rough Magic: The Making of an Artistic Director–a memoir by Richard Monette; as told to David Prosser
(Stratford Shakespearean Festival of Canada)

Heather Ball commended David Prosser’s notable work unravelling a tangle of anecdotes and interviews. “Mr. Prosser found the threads of the story and stitched them together to recount a fascinating life. He turned memories into a coherent and engaging narrative.”

Saeko Usukawa for Abstract Painting in Canada by Roald Nasgaard
(Douglas & McIntyre Publishing Group)

“Saeko Usukawa played an instrumental role in turning Roald Nasgaard’s extensive knowledge and interesting take on abstract painting in Canada into a well-received book that has become a reference for experts in the field,” said Marine Armstrong. The judges also praised her efforts for advocating on the author’s behalf, persuading the publisher to increase the page count when cutting further would have weakened the book.

The judges for the 2007 Tom Fairley Award are distinguished publishing professionals. Marine Armstrong is a certified translator based in Ottawa, part of the Ubiquitext team. Heather Ball is a freelance editor who also works in house with the Government of Alberta in Edmonton. Audrey McClellan, the 2006 winner of the Tom Fairley Award, is a freelance editor and indexer in Victoria. The award coordinator is EAC past president Maureen Nicholson of Bowen Island, BC.

The Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence was established in 1983 and is presented annually by EAC. The cash award of $2,000 is made possible by grants from EAC and several publishers: HarperCollins, Random House of Canada, Breakwater Books, Orca Book Publishers, UBC Press, Madison, the C. D. Howe Institute, New Society Publishers and the University of Calgary Press. Further information can be found on EAC’s Tom Fairley Award web page.