The Walrus leads finalists for magazine awards

The Walrus will be the one to beat at the National Magazine Awards, with writer J. B. MacKinnon and photographer Edward Burtynsky also among the finalists vying for honours.

The foundation that administers the annual celebration of print and digital magazines announced nominees in 43 categories on Monday.

General interest magazine The Walrus leads the way with 35 nominations, recognizing its website design as well as articles such as Alison Motluck's exploration of the grey market for egg donations "The Human Egg Trade," Ross King's historical art feature "What Tom Thomson Saw," and "My Dad, the Movie, and Me," a reminiscence Noah Richler penned after visiting the set of the film Barney's Version.

Following closely are the Globe and Mail's Report on Business magazine, which nabbed 31 nominations, and Toronto Life, with 30 nominations.

None of the trio ofprominent titles, however, will compete for the prestigious magazine of the year honour, which will be chosen from:

• Canada's History (formerly known as The Beaver), which NMA organizers describe as "a magazine that builds and shapes our sense of community," with "stories that entertain as well as educate."
• Cottage Life, called "a lively mix of all the great elements of magazine publishing."
• MoneySense, praised as "fresh, inclusive and visionary" for its mix of "expert advice with practical experience" and for "developing a whole new genre of personal-finance reporting."

Past magazine of the year winners have included Up Here, Toronto Life, The Walrus, Maisonneuve and Chatelaine.

Writers earn multiple nominations

MacKinnon, whose books include The 100-Mile Diet and the award-winning Dead Man in Paradise, stacked up three nominations for articles in three different publications: "Island Survivor" in British Columbia Magazine, "The Highland Fling" in the magazine explore (both in the travel category) and "A 10 Percent World" in The Walrus (essays).

Several writers earned multiple nominations, includingMotluk, whose Walrus fertility feature will compete in three different categories (investigative reporting, politics & public interest and health & medicine). Others include:

• Valrie Borde, nominated for a pair of articles published in L'actualit:"Gurir par les microbes?" (health & medicine) and " qui profite le boum minier?" (investigative journalism and politics & public interest).
• Tyee Bridge scored three nominations for a pair of articles: Vancouver Magazine's "Fishing for Answers" (science, technology and the environment) and Swerve's "The End is Here" (travel and essays).
• Ian Merringer is also a triple nominee for two articles he wrote for explore: "Into the Cold" (sports & recreation and investigative journalism) and "Notes from a Nervous Naturist" (humour).
• Robert Hough will see three of his Toronto Life articles competing: "Gold Wars" (one of a kind), "Kid Power" (profiles) and "The Toronto Diet" (health & medicine).
• D.W. Wilson landed a trio of nominations in the fiction category for writing in three magazines: "The Mathematics of Friedrich Gauss" in Grain Magazine, "The Persistence" in Prairie Fire and "The Dead Roads" in Prism International.

Celebrated photographer Burtynsky's"Five Views of a Catastrophe" isa visual chronicle of the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that was published in Queen's Quarterly. It is nominated in two categories: conceptual photography and photojournalism & photo essay.

Out of nearly 2,000 submissions, a volunteer jury chose 379 finalists, representing 88 Canadian publications. A complete list of finalists is available on the awards website.

The 34th annual National Magazine Awards will be presented June 10 in Toronto.