The 59th Annual Kenneth R. Wilson (KRW) Awards will open its submissions process on Monday. Some changes to the awards program have been announced on the KRW website, and more updates are to follow in the spring, said Richard Johnson, KRW media liaison.

A  B2B publishing industry roundtable was held Oct. 10 for industry figures and KRW reps. Out of that meeting grew an advisory committee for ongoing consultations about short-term and long-term plans.

"We're glad to have almost full representation there," said Johnson about the group's membership range. "We just wanted to sit them down together and talk about some of the feedback we received from our various surveys and questionnaires from last year, and talk about improvements that can be made moving forward."


Last year, many in the Canadian B2B/trade publishing industry were upset that the show was hitched to the National Magazine Awards (NMA) gala for consumer mags, with both held the same night at the same venue in succession. Masthead commenters said the KRWs were being treated as an "opening act" and that trade mag industry members were relegated to "second-class citizens."

"There was effort made to bring in all of the voices from that discussion last year," Johnson said when asked if the committee included critics of the 2012 show.

The committee members are:

Joyce Byrne, vice president, associate publisher, Venture Publishing
Rick Campbell, editorial director, Rogers Healthcare Group
Peter Carter, editor, Newcom Business Media
Scott Jamieson, group publisher, Annex Business Media
Melissa Kluger, publisher, Law And Style Media
Chaz Osburn, content director, Junewarren-Nickles Energy Group
Lisa Wichmann, editorial director, Business Information Group

Last year's decision to align the KRW and NMA awards was due to funding cuts. Whether this is an ongoing relationship remains to be seen. "We're going to be announcing sometime in the spring the full plan for this year's awards gala," Johnson said. "We're certainly taking all the feedback and responses we've gotten into consideration."

So far, the biggest changes to come from the advisory committee are awards category additions and tweaks. This year, Magazine of the Year will be split into Trade (for manufacturing and trade mags) and Professional (for professional and general business mags) categories. Publishers can choose what category suits their magazine best, but can't enter both. The Best Feature Article award will be adjusted along the same lines.

New awards have been added for Best New Journalist, Best Online Editorial Package, and Best Online-Only Article. For further info on changes to the awards, visit the KRW website.