The winners of the 2012 Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA) presented by Masthead were announced with much fanfare at The Hoxton in Toronto on Monday night.

A record number of attendees registered to be at the fourth annual COPA party at The Hoxton in Toronto, COPA's new venue.

The COPAs honour excellence in digital journalism and design from magazines, newspapers, broadcasters and online-only publishers. Entries were placed in three divisions: Red (consumer, custom, religious, public association); Blue (business-to-business, professional association, farm, scholarly); and Green (daily and weekly newspapers, and broadcasters).


Big winners during the evening in the Blue division included Sparksheet (Spafax) with four golds and three silvers, including being named the best in the online-only website and website design categories. University Affairs captured two golds and two silvers, IT World Canada took two golds (including best digital replica), while the Ryersonian grabbed a gold and a silver. Best overall companion website went to SalonMagazine.ca.

Other golds in the Blue division include The Thunderbird (UBC Graduate School of Journalism) for best video/multimedia feature, Open Canada (Canadian International Council) for best online-only article or series, and Alberta Venture for cross-platform initiative.

In the Green division, the CBC shone brightly with six golds, including best online-only website. Another of the CBC golds went to CBC Hamilton for best mobile-optimized website. The National Post grabbed two golds (including best companion website) and a silver, and Globe and Mail took home two golds (including best digital replica) and a silver. The Toronto Star (who led all nominees with 14 finalist nods) earned three silvers. Toronto Standard had a gold (in website design) and a silver, while Huffington Post Canada swept the blog category with a gold and a silver.

Other golds in the Green division include La Presse for best video/multimedia feature, The Tyee for best online-only article or series, iPolitics Morning Brief for best e-newsletter, and OpenFile: OpenRoad for best data visualization.

In the Red division, Maclean's led the way with three golds (including best news coverage), while Canadian Art took home two golds followed by Walrusmagazine.com with a gold (for best companion website) and a silver. Best overall online-only publication went to RedNation Online: Your Canadian Soccer Magazine.


Other golds in the Red division included Sharpformen.com in website design, Apartment613 for best blog, Observerdocs in the best video/multimedia category, BlogTO for smartphone app, Wondereur for best tablet edition, and Canadian Living for best data visualization.

Some of the other online-only publication category entries nominated this year included rabble.ca, YummyMummyClub.ca, and Boulder Pavement (Banff Centre Press).

The judges do not review entries in their own divisions. To see all 2012 finalists and winners, visit this page: http://www.canadianonlinepublishingawards.com/2012/winners.php

The COPAs were hosted by Amber Mac — an entrepreneur, television host, professional speaker, and bestselling author. Attendees also took home the first-ever COPA Book of Winners, the who's who of digital publishing in Canada. Extra copies of the COPA Book of Winners can be purchased through print-on-demand service Lulu.com here.

Check out photos from the event here.

COPA sponsor Agility CMS produced a video from the event, asking digital leaders about their favourite online initiatives. You can see it here.

For winners of silver/gold awards that would like extra certificates, they can be ordered here.