NEWSLETTER – December 15, 2011
Season's Greetings from the GJAC Executive
As 2011 draws to a close I thought I should write on the highs and lows we've gone through this year.
First and foremost we lost two very dear friends in the passing of Jim Barclay and Norm Woods in 2011. Norm had been a member of the association pretty much since the association was formed and I will miss his smiling face and his counsel. Jim, a Canadian Golf Hall of Famer, was our only honourary life member. He was a wealth of knowledge on golf in Canada. The association is sponsoring Golf in Schools in their honour.
Also sadly, OG magazine published its last issue in the fall. Editor Ted McIntyre had put together a magazine that was always filled with interesting reads. It apparently fell victim to the economy.
Our association continued to grow in 2011 and we now have more than 80 regular and associate members. Our website was completely redesigned this year by our new webmaster David Cowx and we thank him for his outstanding efforts.
We're also revamping our system for renewing memberships and sending out memberships cards. Effective this January we will send out invoices to all members. That's your cue to renew your memberships. And as soon as you do Grant Fraser will mail you your 2012 membership card.
In this newsletter you should find a treasurer's report from Grant Fraser, information on our Dick Grimm award, information on the revamped writing/photography awards and a couple of offers to our members who are looking for places to be published.
Please remember, if you have any suggestions for the GJAC, please contact us.
Garry McKay, President
garrymckay1@shaw.ca
Secretary-Treasurer Report
As of December 19, 2011 the number of GJAC members totalled 80. This represents a year-over-year increase of 21%. Our cash balance is $4,727.44.
In January I will be sending out your 2012 membership invoice. You can pay by Pay Pal or by cheque payable to the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. Upon receipt of payment I will send you your 2012 GJAC Membership Card.
Best wishes to you and your families over the holidays.
Grant Fraser
Dick Grimm Award
It is with bittersweet feelings that the Golf Journalists Association of Canada announces that Jim Barclay is the second winner of the Dick Grimm Award for a lifetime of service to golf in Canada.
Jim, who passed away on Dec. 3, was aware that he had won the award. Dick met with Jim in the weeks before his death and reported back to us that he had declined a formal presentation with the executive because of his health issues. Dick did say, however, that Jim was quite pleased with winning the award and was thrilled that we were going to sponsor a Golf in Schools school near his home in Islington in his honour.
I think it's fair to say that anyone who writes or covers golf in Canada owes a debt of gratitude to Jim Barclay. His first book Golf in Canada: A History, published in 1992 has become the go-to reference book for the sport in this country.
Jim also wrote: Canada's Professional Golfers: The Scottish Invasion in 1997 and The Toronto Terror, the story Stanley Thompson in 2000. He was a wealth of knowledge and was always more than willing to share it with anyone who would ask for his time. Jim Barclay was inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2008. He was the only honourary lifetime member of the GJAC.
The Dick Grimm award was first presented in 2010 and Mr. Grimm was the first recipient. It will alternate yearly between a media and non-media person.
GJAC has made two Golf In Schools donations this year. We also sponsored a school in Milton to honour the memory of GJAC member Norm Woods who also passed away this year.
GJAC Writing Awards
The writing/photography awards have undergone a major overhaul. A subcommittee composed of Rick Young, Robert Thompson, Grant Fraser, David McPherson and Garry McKay held several meetings and addressed concerns and suggestions from GJAC members. We also looked at the number of entries in different categories over a three year period to see what the trends were.
One of the things we heard from a number of people is that we should do away with separate classifications for newspapers, magazines and web-sites. And that's what we've done. We've removed the medium to focus on the category. This year the writing categories will be:
- Feature and Profile
- Editorial and Column
- News
- Travel
The Photography categories would be Action and Golf Landscape.
People would be allowed to enter three submissions and they could, if they chose, enter them all in the same category. Because we will have fewer awards we expect to have a first, second and third in each category. At this writing we expect first place winners will receive $500. Second place winners will receive Footjoy shoes. Third place is still to be determined.
The format for entering will remain the same. Photocopies of publications will be accepted and photos will have to be submitted on CD. Deadline for submissions – All entries must be postmarked before April 30, 2012. All entries will be sent to David McPherson who will forward them to the judges. Judging deadline will be June, 30, 2012.
No "Question and Answer" articles will be accepted. A submission is deemed to be a credible submission if it is published in a commercial venture – an entity that generates revenue. By that we mean a commercial newspaper, magazine or website. For example, a website that has no advertising whatsoever would not be considered a commercial venture.
The executive wishes to thank Dan Pino for his help and guidance over the past three years running the awards and we want to thank David McPherson for volunteering to take over.
You can start thinking about your submissions and we will make a formal announcement when the contest opens in the New Year. We must also thank Robert Thompson and Rick Young for their work with the sponsors and Hal Quinn who did a great job organizing everything at our Awards luncheon this past summer in Vancouver. Robert has met with RBC and they have agreed to continue being a major sponsor of our writing/photography awards.
Your executive has also accepted an offer from Dundas Valley Golf and Curling Club to host this year's event. We are moving it forward a day from a Tuesday to a Monday afternoon of Canadian Open week. It had become obvious that Tuesday was just too busy a day for reporters at the Canadian Open. This year we will have a shotgun start about noon on Monday, July 23 at Dundas Valley, followed by a B-B-Q steak dinner and the presentation of our writing/photography awards. For any of you who haven't played Dundas Valley you are in for a treat. It's an old Stanley Thompson design tucked into the base of the Niagara Escarpment. It's about a 15 minute drive from Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where this year's RBC Canadian Open is being played.
Writing Opportunities...
From time to time the Golf Journalists Association of Canada receives offers of how our members can get their writing published. The board's position is that we do not endorse any of them. That's not what we're here for. We are, however, happy to make our members aware of these offers. With that in mind please find some information attached from GJAC member Stu MacDonald from Golf Digest Canada and from Alison Yesilcimen of Media Cool Innovations Inc.:
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Dear Mr. McKay and esteemed members of the GJAC;
As announced in August of this year, Norlinks Digital Media Group has been awarded the license to the Golf Digest trademark and brand for the country of Canada. As the CEO of the group and Chairman of Golf Digest Canada I wish to extend to the members of the Golf Journalists Association of Canada an open invitation to contact me personally to discuss the possibility of your contributions to the content of our digital products.
Golf Digest Canada will be a digital only enterprise. We will stay focused on the editorial elements that have made Golf Digest the world's leading golf publication. These are the How, What and Where to play golf. We will pull from the content of this 60 year old and growing archive of talent and content and add to it the excellence in Canadian writing that I know you can provide. Canada is the number golfing nation in the world, we love the game and my hopes are that we will be seen to be here to support and grow the game in Canada through our digital publications.
Our website at www.golfdigestcanada.ca has been up for three months and we have been awarded two Davey Awards and an International Media Award for design, content and delivery. Your work will be respected by us and delivered in a format that is already winning critical acclaim. We need your help and your talent to bring more and better Canadian content to our pages.
GDC is looking for writers and bloggers for our website and our future digital applications and publications. I am interested in the following areas;
- Canadian Travel and Destination
- Canadian Instruction content
- Local coverage of golf, associations and special interest stories
- Columnists that will provide unique and exclusive content
- Writers that will work with GD Canada to take our very successful enterprises such as The Hot List, Top 100 Courses You Can Play, (all of our lists); Golf Saved My Life, The Long Drive and so forth and make them distinctly Canadian
- Fashion
- Business
Please contact me at;
stu@golfdigestcanada.ca
If interested please provide me with an idea of what you would like to contribute, how often and if it is exclusive.
Cheers and I look forward to hearing from you. Stu
Stu MacDonald
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief
Golf Digest Canada
www.golfdigestcanada.ca
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