Halifax Daily News replaced by 7th Canadian Metro

The Halifax Daily News stopped publication Monday as the tabloid's owner, Transcontinental Media, announced plans to start up Canada's seventh Metro free daily.
The company said all but a few of the paper's 92 employees will be let go. The first edition of the new Halifax Metro will be on the streets Thursday.
Transcontinental acquired the Daily News in 2002. The paper had a weekday circulation of about 20,000 and competed with Halifax Chronicle-Herald, which has a weekday circulation of about 110,000.
The paper was founded by David Bentley and Patrick Sims as the Bedford-Sackville Weekly News in 1974. It was turned into the Daily News in 1979, gradually expanded across the metro Halifax market, and was sold to Harry Steele's Newfoundland Capital Corporation in 1987. It passed through ownership by Southam and CanWest before Transcontinental took over.
The Daily News founded Canada's first online news website -- only the sixth in North America -- in 1994. It won a SND award in the early 1990s for a Halifax Explosion graphic by Jamie Hutt.
"It was an extremely tough business decision," said Transcontinental Media official Marc-Noel Ouellette. "(But) in this context, we are delighted to continue our presence as a daily newspaper publisher in the Halifax market."
Transcontinental employs 800 about people in Nova Scotia, most of them working at 11 weekly newspapers, four other dailies and two printing plants.

A bold new presence online

nationalpost.com and financialpost.com have become a whole lot prettier and so much more easy to use!

In the words of the editor-in-chief, Douglas Kelly:

We are proud to introduce you to a rebooted nationalpost.com and financialpost.com, two Web sites completely redesigned and reimagined with clarity and ease-of-use in mind.

The Post has never been known to hold back when speaking its mind. We remain true to form today as we make available to our Web site everything we produce from commentary to breaking news to business, arts & life and sports coverage, to award-winning design and photography — absolutely free. No subscriber walls, no complicated registration process: it’s never been easier for you to find and enjoy everything the National Post and Financial Post have to offer.

You will find the National Post newspaper peppered with mentions of online items providing background, documents and related items to our stories that appear in print.

On the new nationalpost.com, you’ll discover a commitment to delivering a more immediate, in-depth and customizable news experience that works for you and your busy life. You’ll find us telling the stories that matter to you most in new and different ways. We're introducing NP Network Blogs, which include established interactive blogs and news feeds like FP Trading Desk, Full Comment and Posted.

We're also committed to offering National Post and Financial Post content everywhere. You can experience our news and blogs on your BlackBerry or Windows Mobile-powered PDA using our free reader from Viigo.

And you’ll also find us opening the floor to different sources and viewpoints, including your own, because we know that online, we’re just one voice in the world’s most vast and vibrant community. Enjoy the new nationalpost.com and financialpost.com and all they have to offer.

For some before-and-after looks at nationalpost.com, take a look at this entry on the NP Editors blog.

CanWest restructures its metros

CanWest's metro newspapers are going though a series of wrenching changes related to newsroom layoffs and buyouts, outsourcing of page production and a shifting of editorial resources to web operations.

The restructuring, which is now being put into place, will see 20 to 30 positions bought out in Vancouver, while as many as 10 positions are being eliminated in Calgary through layoffs. About 15 positions could be affected at the Montreal Gazette's 155-person newsroom, with similar numbers expected in Ottawa and Edmonton.

At the Ottawa Citizen, design director Susan McDonough and photo director John Major have agreed to be bought out. One source at the paper described the Citizen's newsroom climate as "not happy."

The metros are now outsourcing portions of their national and international news pages, along with auto and travel sections, to CanWest's Editorial Services operation in Hamilton. Even the Calgary Herald's editorial pages are being outsourced.

One CanWest insider says outsourcing to Hamilton is causing production headaches in the home newsrooms. "It is actually taking more time for editors as they need to spend their time sending copy, headlines, photos, and then receiving it all back and sometimes needing to redo it all."

Jamie Pitblado, vice-president of promotions and community investment at CanWest's two Vancouver papers, the Sun and the Province, told the Globe and Mail recently the changes will allow CanWest to invest more resources in its Internet-based news operations, which could include adding positions on its websites.

"I think we're seeing a transition from a newspaper to a news-gathering organization. By moving some of this work out of here (to Hamilton), it will provide us with an opportunity to focus more energy and resources on driving local content, both online and in the paper."

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."

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

Blackout no big deal at the National Post

As originally published on National Post's Posted news feed:

There are few things a newsroom needs more than electricity (coffee and a healthy sense of sarcasm are some of the other requisites). So we were amused when a blown transformer plunged the National Post newsroom, located in suburban Toronto, into darkness at around 3 p.m.

Here's a photo gallery of our unflappable newsroom working with the lights out.

The paper was produced on shared terminals operating off our emergency generator. There were a few lineups (including for pizza), but Wednesday's Post hit doorsteps right on schedule.

Photo: Foreground: Chris Watson, Executive Editor Financial Post -- Staff at National Post cope with a blackout after a power transformer flared up in an explosion on a Toronto Hydro powerline along Upjohn Road in the Toronto suburb of Don Mills, Ontario on Tuesday, October 23, 2007. The explosion caused a local power outage for the immediate area beginning in the mid afternoon just before 3 p.m.

Norris named Globe's design leader

Adrian Norris has been named of Managing Editor, Design, for The Globe and Mail.

Adrian joined the Globe in 2000 as a designer in Report on Business and followed that with three years as Presentation and Production Editor in News. In 2005, he took charge of a project to redesign the Globe's websites, a task completed early in 2006.

With that new expertise under his belt, he graduated to the newly created position of Creative Director, Digital Media, and led a Globe Reimagination project team that implemented web-paper integration. He also led a second redesign of the websites that began with the launch of reportonbusiness.com and has spread to other parts of the globeandmail.com network.

Before coming to The Globe, Adrian worked for 11 years in London as a designer at The Times and its associated publications.

"In his new role, Adrian will be accountable for the look of the newspaper, the websites and our magazine products, ensuring consistent application of design principles across all platforms," Globe editor-in-chief Edward Greenspan said. "He will be working to make sure we get the most out of the redesign and continue to situate ourselves on the leading edge of newspaper, magazine and web design."

David Pratt, who has served as The Globe's editorial art director for nine years, will be stepping back from his management role to become more involved in day-to-day design matters. "Through his vision and determination, he has created a design culture in a newspaper once famous as the grey Globe," editor-in-chief Edward Greenspan said. "Nobody would call The Globe grey today."

In honour of David's contribution to the evolution of the modern Globe, its still-unchristened editorial award for visual excellence has been named the David Pratt Award. The first recipient of the award is Cinders McLeod, designer for the Globe's new Life section. She received the award during a newsroom ceremony on Tuesday.

The Canada Blog tossed a few questions to Adrian on his big day.

How has SND helped your career?

So far, it's helped in three ways. 1. Staff recruitment: I've employed one new member of staff this year as a result of posting jobs on the SND website. 2. Making contacts at other news organizations, which I've since visited. 3. Having an open forum for debate; last year's workshop particularly helped me on the topics of print-web integration and work processes related to graphics for the web.

Where does your design inspiration usually come from?

It comes from looking at what I consider industry leaders, but most importantly from the highly talented team I have around me.

Who were your mentors?

My first, most influential mentor was David Driver, Head of Design at The Times, London. I learned from watching him at work. His deputy, Ian Stupples, displayed great patience in teaching me in my first real job after college.

What are the biggest challenges visual journalism faces?

Pulling down walls. Looking for intelligent ways to share top-quality content between different platforms.

The state of online journalism

The growing strength of visual online journalism will be on display at the Online News Association's annual conference in Toronto, Oct. 17-19. It comes a week after our own SND workshop in Boston, which also has a lot of strong content on the subject.

The ONA gathering will feature heavy-hitting speakers Hilary Schneider of Yahoo! and Michael Oreskes of the International Herald Tribune, an 'all-star superpanel' on the future of journalism, and workshops such as So You Want to Shoot Video? and Running a Digi-Newsroom on the Cheap.

Winners of the Online Journalism Awards will be announced at ONA's banquet at the Sheraton Centre. There are three Canadian finalists: The Globe and Mail in the General Excellence (Medium) category, cba.ca for news consumer reporting in the Service Journalism (Large) category, and the Toronto Star's Lost in Migration project for the Knight Foundation Award For Public Service.

Canadian content in SND election

Canada's own Gayle Grin leads the slate of officers running for the SND's top office. Online ballots were e-mailed out to members last week, though there are two other options for voting: mailing a paper ballot postmarked no later than Mon., Sept. 24, to SND HQ, and casting a paper ballot at the Boston workshop's registration desk no later than 10 a.m. Fri., Oct. 12.

Gayle would be the third Canadian after the late Rob Austin, former Hamilton Spectator editor (1983-84) and design consultant Lucie Lacava (2001) to lead SND.

Gayle is Managing Editor of Design and Graphics at the National Post and the design consultant for the CanWest newspapers. She's been involved in SND in virtually every possible way since becoming Region 10 director in 1997.

The Canada Blog asked Gayle for her "'vision thing" on where SND is headed:

"We are moving quickly to adapt to rapid change and SND's website is again vital and our blog lively. I think the Society has plenty of spark and vitality to offer members.

"However, new challenges are everywhere. Newsrooms are in transition and many are, by necessity, in the process of reinventing themselves. SND, as a worldwide organization, has the potential to be inspirational, a resource and support for media organizations reshaping themselves to remain relevant.

"We need to accommodate the huge growth in online journalism and design. Journalism is integrating print and online and SND needs to shift gears on what we offer members. I think we need to create more visible web awards as well as offer more web and multimedia training."

UPDATE The Canada Blog asked Lucie Lacava what it was like being SND president?

"The year I was president was 2001, the year that changed the world. Preparing for the annual Workshop which was being held in Phoenix, Arizona, just weeks post 9/11, was rather unsettling. The annual event itself was fairly understated, akin to hosting one giant wake. We were celebrating our accomplishments, while contemplating an uncertain future. But what permeated the air most of all was this feeling of loss for our American cousins and for the rest of the world."

'Wannabe killers' and 'exhausted Macs'

It has been around for a few years, but maybe you have not tripped over it yet. MediaScout, part of Montreal's Maisonneuve magazine's web operation, bills itself as ''Canada's definitive morning news briefing.'' It's modeled on Slate.com's Today's Papers and Guardian.co.uk's The Wrap and follows Canada's big seven national newsrooms: The Globe and Mail, National Post, La Presse, Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star, CBC TV's The National/cbc.ca and CTV News/ctv.ca.

MediaScout's mission? ''By comparing the day's top stories and analyzing the different angles taken by each organization, MediaScout can feed you the best analysis, keep you aware of biases and generally give you a bird's-eye view of the day's news cycle.''

Here's a taste of MediaScout's critiques from the last couple of days:

Thursday: Crime stats
''Since Big Seven sources don't provide much sociological analysis of these various statistics, MediaScout is left wondering, for instance, whether the decline in murder rate connotes a less violent population, or considering the rise in attempted murders, merely a less effective set of wannabe killers.''

Wednesday: Census day
''Upon yesterday's release of new Statscan census data on the age structure of Canada's population, the question was not whether or not to transform the numbers into a flock of maps and tables, but just how big those maps and tables should be. If today's papers are any indication, the country's graphic designers are sleeping late and letting their exhausted Macs cool down today, after burning the midnight oil to turn out colourful and positively enormous charts showing where our demographics are headed.''

Black verdict, tale of the tape

Friday's verdict was arguably the biggest news day in Canada so far this year. And four of Canada's biggest English-language newspaper newsrooms - Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, National Post and Ottawa Citizen - pulled out all, or at least most, of the stops.

Toronto Star
Amount of A1 newshole used: 80%
Number of Black-related stories on A1: 2
A1 Headline: Bail or jail for Black
Total space (full-page equivalent): About 5 pages
Number of traditional-form stories (news, features, analysis): 5
Number of opinion columns: 1
Editorial cartoon on verdict: No
Number of alternative-form stories: 5
Number of display-size photos: 6
Number of graphics: 0
Editorial on verdict: Yes: The downfall of Conrad Black
Web effort: Live breaking news by staff reporters. Reader feedback on the site as the verdict came down to give voice to the readers.

The Globe and Mail
Amount of A1 newshole used: 100%
Number of Black-related stories on A1: 1
A1 Headline: Why he fell
Total space (full-page equivalent): About 8.5 pages
Number of traditional-form stories (news, features, analysis): 12
Number of opinion columns: 3
Editorial cartoon on verdict: Yes
Number of alternative-form stories: 5
Number of display-size photos: 11
Number of graphics: 2 - Five-column grid on charges/verdicts; 6-column Q&A with original illustrations.
Editorial: Yes: The fall of Conrad Black
Web effort: Live breaking news by staff reporters. Live breaking news by staff reporters. Audio slideshow from reporter Paul Waldie looking back at the trial; html graphic showing the verdict in all charges; video coverage. Also interactive timeline, live reaction from people who know Black. Reader 'join the conversation' closed before verdict issued due to massive volume

National Post
Amount of A1 newshole used: 100%
Number of Black-related stories on A1: 2
A1 Headline: Black guilty
Total space (full-page equivalent): About 8 pages
Number of traditional-form stories (news, features, analysis): 14
Number of opinion columns: 1
Editorial cartoon on verdict: Yes
Number of alternative-form stories: 3
Number of display-size photos: 22
Number of graphics: 1 - shallow 5-column annotated stock chart of former Hollinger International (now SVN/NYSE)
Editorial: Yes: The downfall of Conrad Black
Web effort: Live breaking news by staff reporters. Special page of coverage plus a blog called "Black Board" that covered the verdict; also a series of galleries looking at key players; best quotes;highlights; key witnesses

Ottawa Citizen
Amount of A1 newshole used: About 80%
Number of stories on A1: 2
A1 Headline: Black Friday
Total space (full page equivalent): About 6 pages
Number of traditional form stories (news, features, analysis): 11
Number of opinion columns: 0
Editorial cartoon on verdict: No
Number of alternative-form stories: 1
Number of display-size photos: 9
Number of graphics: 1 - Four-column grid on charges/verdicts with mugs
Editorial: No
Web effort: Live breaking news by staff reporters. Part of larger CanWest web service

Already booked in for SND's Boston workshop Oct. 11-13, but think you might need some more stimulation? The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD Ontario) is focusing its annual conference to reflect on design and its role in society and commerce the very next week, Oct. 17-19. DesignThinkers 2007, Canada's premier graphic design conference, will be a stimulating interactive thinkfest on the ideas of exciting innovators and Canada's vibrant design community in general.

What's RGD Ontario, you might be asking? It is the self-regulatory, professional body for graphic designers in Ontario grants the right to use designations Registered Graphic Designer and R.G.D., a quality signal of standards of professional practice. The association has approximately 2800 members.

Get all the poop on the conference on the DesignThinkers website

Oh, and while you are there, why not take a stab at RGN Ontario's online design quiz! Here's a tease: Know which logo, designed by Toronto graphic artist Allan Fleming, was called 'an icon' by media theorist Marshall McLuhan? Is it A, Bank of Montreal logo, B Canadian National Logo, or C, CBC logo?

National Post Graphics Editor in Afghanistan

Richard Johnson, Graphics Editor of the National Post is in Afghanistan! He is illustrating and writing stories of lives caught up in the conflict in Kandahar province. Richard is filing almost daily to his blog, Kandahar Journal, at nationalpost.com, where you will find audio clips of his experiences, illustrations, and commentary on his travels.

He has just spent several days on two patrols with Canadian soldiers from Afghanistan's Forward Operating Base Ma'Sum Ghar. One was a tense patrol searching a village for booby traps, the other collecting dead bodies after a Taliban attack. National Post devoted page A3 to Richard's coverage.

From top, counter clockwise, Corporal Jason Sypher is among the Canadians who respond to a report of an attack on an Afghan police check-point. The soldiers walk behind the tanks toward the checkpoint, where they find the bodies of Afghans inside. Their police collegues are somber. Earlier, Master Corporal Darryl McCann was on village patrol. The soldiers met a man and his children, the smallest appears sickly.

Richard has illustrated war before! When he was at the Detroit Free Press, he went to Iraq with fellow journalist, Jeff Seidel and they produced Portraits of War. Their stories were eventually published into a book.

Through the stories and sketches, he is reminding readers that individuals make up the casualty counts in the news stories they read. He is giving them faces and stories.

Last week Richard's art became main art on A1. He drew two members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, Trooper Steve Davidson and Corporal Wade Wick mourning the death of their friend, Trooper Darryl Caswell, who died in an explosion a few days before.

The Globe's online push

The Globe and Mail has been very active with changes on the online front. Back on April 28 when it launched its print redesign, the national newspaper also unveiled a redesigned and restructured business web hub - reportonbusiness.com - which premiered a new look for globeandmail.com.

In Monday's paper (June 4), the Globe took the unusual step of carrying a glossy insert promoting "Canada's new financial supersite."

reportonbusiness.com takes the Globe's online business coverage, globeinvestor.com pages, advanced investment tools and mutual fund data and analysis into one enhanced site.

The Globe has since flipped its home page into the new design. It also gave birth to a new GlobeLife hub in the new look back on the April 28 launch day.

Here are the highlights of the new design:

• Elimination of vertical navigation column in order to create more above-the-fold space on the page for editorial content.


• New design allows editors to switch the layout of any page on the fly to reflect the news of the day -- there are a collection of routine news and major news options.


• Built and launched a new video player to make video content an integral portion of the site. This can be seen in both the "multimedia centre" on the Home page and in the redesigned story pages that allow video to truly stand out.


• Redesigned article page to enhance readability and to allow content related to the article -- such as video -- to stand out without in any way impeding the reader experience. Article page now also allows for in-line stock quotes.


• Subtle adoption of the design element of the print edition -- the new maple leaf, new font on page labels, etc.


• Use of a more subtle palette on the hub pages to reduce clutter and visual noise.
  
• Fewer images on hub pages, but images used more selectively and creatively.


• Ad placement has been tweaked to maximize ad effectiveness without in any way detracting from the effectiveness of the editorial.

Here's a link to globeandmail.com editor Angus Frame's online chat about the new look on May 23.

On Friday, June 1, the Globe flipped six more content hubs into the new design: Technology, AtPlay, Personal Tech, TQ@Work, Science and Opinions

Quebecor snaps up Osprey chain

Quebecor Inc. will acquire Osprey Media Income Fund, a newspaper chain with several of Canada's oldest titles, in a $517-million deal.

Based in Markham, Ont., the company operates 54 newspapers, including the St. Catharines Standard, Peterborough Examiner and the Kingston Whig-Standard.
Quebecor owns papers across Canada, including Le Journal in Montreal and Quebec, and the Sun tabloid chain in Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg. It also owns the 24 Hours chain of freebies in several cities.

"We believe that the addition of the assets of Osprey to our existing portfolio in the print media sector will make our organization better equipped to meet the challenges facing our industry. With the combination of Sun Media and Osprey, Quebecor Media consolidates its role as a leader in the industry", said Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor Media.

"The offer of Quebecor Media reflects strong value for unitholders while providing an excellent strategic fit for our newspapers," said Osprey CEO Michael Sifton, great-grandson of Sir Clifford Sifton, a federal cabinet minister who bought the Winnipeg Free Press in the 1890s.

CanWest sells off stake in Metro freebies in Vancouver, Ottawa

CanWest Global Communications Corp. is selling off its stake in Metro's Vancouver and Ottawa freebies.

The Winnipeg-based media company is choosing instead to focus on its paid newspapers in those cities and its own freebie, Rush Hour, which launched in Ottawa recently.
Torstar Corp. and Metro International SA are acquiring CanWest's one-third stake.
The two companies are already equal partners on three other Metro newspapers in Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto. The purchase will give each a half stake in the Vancouver and Ottawa publications.

Metro International is based in Sweden and publishes the free newspapers in more than 100 cities by partnering with publishers around the world. The company arrived in Canada in 2000, starting in Toronto, and has been battling Quebecor Inc.'s free newspaper brand 24 Hours fiercely in several of the country's biggest cities.

"With a consistent ownership structure now in place in all five English Metro markets, the Metro newspapers will be managed with a single-minded focus on the development and growth of the Metro brand across English Canada," says Jagoda Pike, president Star Media Group and chair of the board of directors of the English Canada Metro newspapers.

STAR PREVIEWS ITS NEW LOOK

The Toronto Star has let the cat out of the bag. While most papers go to great lengths to keep their redesign projects top secret until the big day, the Star rolled out a two-page redesign readers' guide in its Saturday and Sunday editions, complete with images of sample sections fronts constructed on a five-column grid and a new body type sample, more than a week before its May 28 launch. See pdf here


The readers' guide lays out four key changes:
1 'Bigger body type': The Star's custom Torstar Text will increase in size from 9.9 over 10 to 10.25 over 11.
2 'Easier to handle': The Star will gradually move to a 11.5 inch page from the existing 12.5 inch size over the next five months.
3 'Focus on local news': The Star is moving Greater Toronto News "to the front of the line" A-section, made way by creating a new section for world news and comment.
4 'New and improved daily sections': The Star will expand coverage of lifestyles in a new Living section, focusing on health, food, family, relationships and other topics.

In a Saturday Star A2 column, Editor-in-Chief Fred Kuntz admitted that many readers dislike change. "But no newspaper should stagnate," he said. "We will embrace any change that heightens your enjoyment of the newspaper."

"That's why we began this project by improving our understanding of readers -- and seeing how every reader is different. Many will jump to their favourite section first. Some are fans of one columnist, or devotees of certain puzzles or comics. With 2.9 million Star readers a week in print and online, that's a lot of interests to satisfy.

"We conducted in-depth readership surveys, and met with groups of readers in person to review our plans."

WINNING PORTFOLIO

NNA UPDATE Here are Genevieve Biloski's winning pages from the National Newspaper Awards in Winnipeg on May 19. Genevieve, who won the presentation category, is a designer for the National Post's daily Arts & Life section andweekly Toronto magazine. She has been at the paper since February 2006 and this is her first NNA. Previously she was a designer at Maclean's for 3 years. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art & Design in 2005.

The other nominees were Cinders McLeod of The Globe and Mail and Philippe Tardif of La Presse.

Congratulations again, Genevieve!

Welcome to THE CANADA BLOG

Welcome to The Canada Blog, a news design blog for and about Canada's vibrant design community.

Regions 9 and 10, representing Western and Eastern Canada, have joined forces to create a unified site to help keep you up to date with Canadian design happenings.

Although we do not have all the bloggers together yet, we have a pretty dynamic crew already. All of you know Region 9 Director Gordon Preece, art director of the Winnipeg Free Press; and Michael Bird, Region 10 Director and Deputy Editor of Presentation and Editing at The Globe and Mail. And me, Gayle Grin, Managing Editor, Design and Graphics, National Post, SND Vice President.

Others on the team so far are Nicole MacAdam, Deputy Editor, Presentation and Editing, Report on Business, The Globe and Mail; Ron Wadden, National Post's Financial Post Design Editor; Steve Murray, comic book illustrator and part of National Post graphics department; Janet Matiisen, Senior News Editor, Design, Calgary Herald; Susan McDonough, Director of Design, The Ottawa Citizen; Justin Stahlman, graphic artist at Le Journal de Montreal (Justin has worked at several papers in Canada, The Montreal Gazette, Le Soleil, The Toronto Star as well as the U.S.); and Adam Sommerfeld, Directeur du design, Lacava Design.

More to come: Toronto Star is immersed in a redesign and cannot join us yet. And we are looking for more participants from Western Canada.

But here we are: The Canada Blog. Welcome!

If you should have a tip for The Canada Blog, please shoot us an e-mail to the SND's Canadian Web Desk at sndcanada@gmail.com