Awards
Over the course of my career, I have been very lucky to win a number of awards for my work in advertising and journalism. I worked on the creative side of advertising in leading international agencies, Ted Bates and later, DDB Needham, as a copywriter and associate creative director. This was a time when big multi-national agencies and huge budgets were the way of the industry. I was in my twenties, popping babies at home – three in four and a half years – and at the office, coming up with kooky ideas for television commercials for gum, chocolates, ketchup and - wait for it - sinus medication. (Never won any awards for my stuffed sinus ideas, I should note. They involved a lot of simple animation of blue fluid, instead of yellow, moving through the labyrinthine sinus cavities.) I was fortunate to work alongside a hugely talented art director, Dan Pawych. I left the ad world in 1990 after the birth of my third son to reinvent myself as a magazine writer.
1985. MERIT Clios. “Telephone Booth” Dentyne Gum.
1986. SILVER Marketing Award. “Telephone Booth” Dentyne Gum
1986 SILVER The Bessies “Telephone Booth” Dentyne Gum
1986. MERIT Advertising Music Producers Association of Canada Bessie Award. “Telephone Booth” Dentyne Gum.
1987 MERIT The Art Directors Club of Toronto “Celebrities” Dentyne Gum.
1991. MERIT. The Art Directors Club of Tortonto. Brochure., Strategies International.
I started writing for magazines, including Toronto Life, Saturday Night, Report on Business, Canadian Art, Chatelaine, City and Country Home and Canadian House & Home in the early 1990s.
1993. HONOURABLE MENTION. National Magazine Awards. “Scenes from a Hogtown Western,” Toronto Life cover story.
1994. HONOURABLE MENTION National Magazine Awards.. Service story. Chatelaine.
1994. SILVER. National Magazine Awards. Isiah Thomas profile. Toronto Life.
1995. GOLD National Magazine Awards. Profiles. Toronto Life.
1998. GOLD. National Magazine Awards. Profile on Allan Fotheringham. Saturday Night.
2000. GOLD National Magazine Awards. Holt Renfrew story. Toronto Life.
2004. HONOURABLE MENTION. National Magazine Awards. Profile of Sherry Abbott. Chatelaine.
In 1998, I was invited to write a column for The Globe and Mail.
2001. HONOURABLE MENTION. National Newspaper Awards. Profile of Anne Carson.