JENNINGS NAMED GLOBE'S LEADER IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

Former SND president Jim Jennings has been appointed head of The Globe and Mail's operations in Vancouver.

Reporting directly to publisher and CEO Phillip Crawley, Jennings will be responsible for implementing the Globe's efforts to build circulation, readership and revenue through the ongoing development of its B.C. edition.

"I consider it essential to our success for The Globe to be seen to have a stronger, more visible presence in the B.C. market, so that we can take full advantage of the province's economic growth," says Crawley. "The 2010 Winter Olympics represents an historic opportunity for The Globe to prove its value to B.C. readers and advertisers."

Jennings was head of editorial training for Thomson Regional Newspapers in the U.K.; he then became VP of Editorial Development for Thomson Newspapers in the U.S. and Canada (assisting with the launch of editorial colour at The Globe and Mail in 1998); he was editor of the Toronto Sun during a period of turbulent change; and he has been a key figure at The Globe during implementation of its redesign.

"This is a fabulous opportunity for me to take the next natural step - into the business side of our operations," says Jennings. "I'm looking forward to working with staff in B.C., as well as in the rest of Canada, of the best newspaper in North America."

Globe and Mail Wins Top Design and Layout Award

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada Inc. presented Hank Van de Vondervoort, Automotive Editor of the Globe & Mail's Auto section with the 2007 Mitsubishi Design and Layout Award at the 24th Annual Automotive Journalism Awards.

The award was inaugurated in 2003 to recognize the talents of reporters and their teams to apply creative design and layout techniques to enhance the visual appeal of their work and capture the reader's attention.

Each print publication was judged on skill and creativity and the thought that went in to gathering the design elements, including illustration and photography. The judges, through the evaluation process, maintained an effort to equalize entries based on the various printing techniques of both newspaper and magazines.

"The Globe Auto section is a perfect example of how good typography, well layered information and nicely cropped photography can entice the reader by not only giving a good impression, but by making the information accessible," said Vancouver based Matt Warburton. "They have fun with the layouts and typography on the front page, while the rest of the section is consistently structured and laid
out."

A second place award was given to the Winnipeg Free Press for its Automotive Showcase section produced by Kelly Taylor. Suzanne Dimma, Design Director for Wish magazine praises the newspaper for its playful use of almost full-page caricatures of automotive personalities like Stirling Moss and adventuresome approach with a great mix of stories, features and reporting.

Judges for the award included Suzanne Dimma, Design Director of Wish magazine, Canadian Family magazine, Gardening Life magazine and host of HGTV's newest production, The Style Dept.; Sylvie Berkowicz, Chief Editor for Creativite Montreal; and Matt Warburton, award winning designer (nominated in 2003 as a GDC Fellow, an honour which is awarded to a designer or individual who by influence or accomplishment has made a major contribution to graphic design in Canada) and founder of Emdoubleyu Design in Vancouver.

Winnipeg Free Press bucks trend circulation up

The Winnipeg Free Press saw its paid circulation grow in the six months ending Sept. 30.

The Free Press's paid circulation climbed by 4.56 per cent on Sundays, edged up 0.42 per cent on Saturdays and rose an average of 1.28 per cent on weekdays.

Traffic on the Free Press website has increased substantially in recent months. In October, there were 1.3 million unique visits and 5.6 million page views to the Free Press's online sites, compared with 1.1 million visits and 5 million page views in September and 690,000 visits and 3.5 million page views last December.

Paid circulation for most major Canadian daily newspapers was either down or relatively flat in the six months ending Sept. 30.

The Toronto Star's weekday circulation fell to 430,931 from 446,492 in the same period the year before. The Star's Saturday circulation dropped to 609,163 from 635,355.

The Globe and Mail's Saturday circulation was 406,401 (415,172 in 2006), while its weekday number was 329,099 (330,144).

The National Post's Saturday circulation was pegged at 214,022 (228,899), while its weekday average was 201,376 (209,210).

A red-hot economy didn't translate into higher readership figures for Alberta's two largest newspapers.
The Calgary Herald saw its Saturday circulation fall to 117,513 from 125,578, its Sunday readership drop to 110,737 from 116,091 and its weekday numbers drop to 115,612 from 119,689. At the Edmonton Journal, Saturday paid circulation fell to 126,551 from 133,395, Sunday circulation dropped to 118,438 from 123,993 and weekday readership fell to 119,996 from 124,774.


CIRCULATION CHANGES

Average weekday newspaper circulation for the six months ending Sept.
30, 2007:

Winnipeg Free Press up 1.28% Winnipeg
Calgary Herald down .41%
Edmonton Journal down 3.83%
Vancouver Sun down 0.13%
Ottawa Citizen down 2.53%
Hamilton Spectator up 0.41%
Globe and Mail down 0.32%
National Post down 3.74%
Toronto Star down 3.49%

Source: Audit Bureau of Circulations

Gordon Preece
Director, Region 9, Western Canada

A MODERN-DAY DAVINCI GENIUS?

Dutch artist Theo Jansen has been working for 16 years to create sculptures that move on their own in eerily lifelike ways. Each generation of his "Strandbeests" is subject to the forces of evolution, with successful forms moving forward into new designs. Jansen's vision and long-term commitment to his wooden menagerie is as fascinating to observe as the beasts themselves.


His newest creatures walk without assistance on the beaches of Holland, powered by wind, captured by gossamer wings that flap and pump air into old lemonade bottles that in turn power the creatures' many plastic spindly legs. The walking sculptures look alive as they move, each leg articulating in such a way that the body is steady and level. They even incorporate primitive logic gates that are used to reverse the machines direction if it senses dangerous water or loose sand where it might get stuck.




There are many more videos of his work on YouTube.

Gordon Preece
Director, Region 9, Western Canada