News, events, tips and updates for members of the Editors’ Association of Canada
In this issue:
1. CONFERENCE: Registration is now open for Editing Goes Global
2. TOM FAIRLEY AWARD: Submit your nomination
3. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Vanessa Bonneau
4. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities to enhance your resumé
5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
6. AGRÉMENT: One step closer to French certification
7. EDITING CANADIAN ENGLISH: Coming soon!
8. REPRESENTING EDITORS: EAC Status of the Artist recognition renewed
9. REBRANDING: Update
1. CONFERENCE: Registration is now open for Editing Goes Global
In 2015, EAC will host the first-ever international conference of editors. We’ll be welcoming editors from Australia and New Zealand, Great Britain and Ireland, most of the 50 states, and maybe even India and South Africa. We’re partnering on the conference with a whole slew of editors’ associations—the inaugural meeting of all the tribes. We’ve even invited writers (PWAC is a partner in the conference) and indexers. You’ll probably recognize a lot of the names and faces from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn—now you can hang out with them in person. You’ll get to see presentations that have never been offered in Canada before, and may never be offered again. Because we’ve increased the guest list, we’ve also expanded the conference from two days to three, while managing to reduce the fees. And we want YOU there—all of you.
We’re asking you to book as early as you can. If we know from the early registrations that there will be a lot more people at the conference than usual, we’ll know to add extra sessions, extra speakers, extra events. The more editors (etc.) we can get to the conference, the more wonderful we can make it. We’ve set early-bird registration at heavily discounted prices—please take advantage of that to register NOW!
2. TOM FAIRLEY AWARD: Submit your nomination
It’s our time to shine!
Editing might be an invisible art, but that doesn’t mean great editors should hide in the shadows. Help us shine a spotlight on editing excellence by submitting a nomination for the 2014 Tom Fairley Award.
The recipient of the 2014 Tom Fairley Award for Editorial Excellence will receive a $2,000 cash prize. Finalists will receive a cash prize of $500 each, because being shortlisted for the Tom Fairley Award is also recognition of outstanding editorial performance.
The deadline for your letter of nomination is Friday, January 16.
Please spread this message far and wide. Nominees don’t have to be members of EAC and self-nominations are encouraged.
For complete nomination instructions and other information about the award, visit the Tom Fairley Award page.
MORE THAN BOOKS!
Editors know that the fine art of editing extends beyond books and print media. While EAC’s Tom Fairley Award has been awarded to many outstanding book editors since it was created in 1983, we encourage nominations for a variety of written projects. Whether it’s a magazine, a corporate or government report, software documentation or a book, we want to hear about it. When it comes to editing, the variety of material is limitless!
3. VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH: Vanessa Bonneau
An EAC member since 2012, Vanessa Bonneau is currently co-chair of the QAC branch. She acted as program chair for a year and a half and, according to branch administrator Karen Schell, “has been doing a great job with the monthly events, which typically combine networking opportunities and a guest speaker.”
Vanessa values EAC as her network of colleagues, saying “I’m freelance. It’s super important for me to create and invest in a network. EAC is the main way I do this. I’ve met most of my colleagues through EAC and EAC events. Volunteering is the best way to get the most out of the association.”
She developed the art of freelancing early, after graduating from King’s College in 2008. She says, “Almost every job I’ve had has been through an EAC connection.”
Vanessa adds, “I think of myself as a writer as much as an editor. These days I work half my week for the Montreal Gazette. I also do light journalism and copywriting, as well as academic and textbook copy editing.”
Vanessa completed several EAC workshops and comments on their value: “Workshops are wonderful for keeping skills sharp and meeting other writers, editors and translators. The leaders are always such professionals—it’s inspiring!”
The Volunteer of the Month highlights the dedicated people who keep EAC going. Volunteers are the backbone of EAC, a member-run organization. We are grateful for the many members who answer the call when help is needed. Visit the Members’ Area for more information about volunteering for EAC.
4. GET INVOLVED: Volunteer opportunities to enhance your resumé
Getting involved at EAC is a terrific way for you to stand out from the crowd. From providing leadership for the association to authoring essential books, getting bylines in the national magazine and regional newsletters, developing EAC’s landmark certification program, and organizing the annual conference, member volunteers walk away with experience and accomplishments to boast about on their CVs.
Here are some volunteer opportunities that are available today.
Director of communications, national executive council
The national executive council (NEC) has a directorship opening: director of communications. The director of communications represents the interests of the national awards, marketing and public relations, and member communication committees on the council. This director also brings the strategic direction and policies of the association to the work of these committees, and helps them find their own place and direction within that framework. If you are interested in joining the NEC in this capacity, please contact Greg Ioannou.
Chair and members, awards committee
Do you want to be part of the valuable process of recognizing editorial excellence and outstanding service to your organization? The newly formed awards committee needs a chair to guide EAC’s awards and scholarship program. The committee also needs members to support current awards administration and to follow through on task force recommendations, including planning the Karen Virag Award. If you’re interested in chairing or joining the awards committee, contact Carolyn L Burke.
Promotional team, francophone affairs committee
Great news! We are pleased to announce that Sandra Gravel is now chair of EAC’s francophone affairs committee. With committee leadership now in place, we’re looking for volunteers who are interested in creating promotional tools and providing social media support for the association’s francophone audience. To get involved in either of these projects, contact Sandra Gravel.
Acquisitions editor, Language Portal
We’re looking for a member to take over coordinating EAC’s quarterly Language Portal of Canada submissions. The acquisitions editor will recruit writers, review pitches and assign stories to ensure EAC continues to provide quality content for the Language Portal. This is a terrific leadership and project management opportunity. If you’re interested, contact Andrew Wright, chair of the marketing and public relations committee.
Member news coordinator
Want to help us shine a light on the great work EACers do? Our member news page is a regular website feature designed to tell the world about our members’ outstanding and wide-ranging skills and talents. We’re looking for a member news coordinator to monitor membernews@editors.ca, follow up on member news submissions, and write monthly summaries about EACers who win awards, publish books and make their mark on the communications world. Interested? Contact Andrew Wright.
If you’d like to get involved in EAC in other ways, please contact the volunteer coordinator to see how you can make a difference.
5. MEMBER NEWS: A round of applause!
Prairie Provinces branch member Paul Buckingham, editor in the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at the University of Alberta, has been awarded the Pearson Canada Award for academic excellence in Ryerson’s Certificate in Publishing.
Merridy Cox Bradley (Toronto branch) has published Edwardian Pets and How to Keep Them, Book I: Beasts. This book, written in 1907 by ornithologist Frank Finn, includes charming black-and-white photos and information about all sorts of animals now considered exotic. Merridy has annotated the book with contextual information and a biography of the author. Historians and animal lovers will find this book intriguing.
Toronto branch member Caroline Kaiser recently published a novel with the help of two BC branch colleagues, Irene Kavanagh and Arlene Prunkl. Virginia’s Ghost is a cozy mystery centred on Virginia Blythe, an antiques specialist at a Toronto auction house, and Constance Pendleton, a beautiful flapper ghost. The novel is a tale of ghastly crime, euphoric love and devastating betrayal, in which two women transcend time to affect each other’s lives in startling ways.
Robert Runté (Prairie Provinces branch) received an Aurora Award for “Why I Read Canadian Speculative Fiction: The Social Dimension of Reading,” Scholar Keynote Address at the Academic Conference on Canadian Science Fiction & Fantasy, Toronto, October 2013, and subsequently published in Canadian Fantastic in Focus: New Perspectives. Allan Weiss, ed. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland, 2014 (in press). The Aurora Awards are presented each year by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association; this year’s banquet was held in Vancouver on October 4.
BC branch member Philip Sherwood launched his latest book, It’s Not the Ships, at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, BC. The book, which Sherwood co-authored and which his company lifewriters.ca published, is the World War II memoirs of his father, the late Frederick Sherwood. Fred was well respected among the Canadian naval community as Canada’s most highly decorated submariner. The book launch was part of West Coast Submarine Week, commemorating 100 years of Canadians in submarines.
Do you have a recent achievement? Let EAC tell the world about it on EAC’s member news page. If you have member news to share, drop our member news coordinator a line.
6. AGRÉMENT: One step closer to French certification
The Comité Agrément/Principes (CAP) met November 1 in Drummondville, QC, for a series of exciting discussions.
Everything is progressing on schedule and the first agrément exam is almost ready. Other documents, such as the policy on agrément and the study guide, are also in development. These should be ready no later than May 2015 to allow candidates to prepare for the first agrément exam in autumn 2015.
Agrément will assess the competence of candidates and is based on the recently updated Principes directeurs en révision professionnelle, the association’s French-language editing standards.
For questions, comments or to get involved with the CAP, contact committee chair Sandra Gravel.
7. EDITING CANADIAN ENGLISH: Coming soon!
The online edition of Editing Canadian English will be launched on February 18, 2015. The new edition of this classic Canadian style guide has been thoroughly revised and updated by our own members! Watch for more news about ECE in the weeks ahead.
8. REPRESENTING EDITORS: EAC Status of the Artist recognition renewed
Did you know that EAC was certified in 1998 by the Canadian Artists and Producers Professional Relations Tribunal to represent professional freelance editors with respect to collective bargaining and their relations with producers within federal jurisdiction? The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) now oversees these certifications and “deals with applications and complaints involving the acquisition and termination of collective bargaining rights for artists’ associations to represent self-employed artists, unfair labour practices and other matters brought forward by artists, artists’ associations or producers in federal jurisdiction.”
EAC originally sought this certification to lobby for recognition by the federal government. We are pleased to announce that as of November 3, 2014, the certification has been renewed for another three years.
For more information, visit the Status of the Artist Act page.
9. REBRANDING: Update
As directed by the national executive council, the branding task force continues to work on the messaging platform—i.e., how to tell the story of editors and their work, as well as the work of EAC, in a positive, contemporary and dynamic way using copy that reinforces the association’s core purpose and goals. Here is an updated look at the visual and messaging platform (at October 24, 2014) (754.09 KB).
The member discussion of the rebrand closed on November 12. Thank you to all members who participated in the group discussion or sent feedback privately. The rebranding feedback consolidation team is now compiling feedback; the national executive council will decide at its Q4 meeting (November 29–30) what happens next.
The EAC national e-news update is produced on behalf of the national executive council by the national office.