Via Magazines Canada
Joyce Byrne, Vice President and Associate Publisher of Venture Publishing, has been named Magazines Canada’s Volunteer of the Year for 2011, Magazines Canada announced today.
A generous and tireless volunteer, Byrne has for many years focused on supporting Canada’s cultural magazines and the publishing industry in Alberta. She has served as a director on the Magazines Canada Board for 10 years. She currently sits on the association’s Government Relations committee and MagNet curriculum taskforce, and has chaired the Professional Development committee since 2007.
“Joyce is a wonderful mentor for the magazine community,” said Deborah Morrison, Magazines Canada Board Chair and President and CEO of Canada’s National History Society. “She’s a talented publisher who is always enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge and networks with others. Most importantly, she always does so with warmth and humour.”
In Alberta, Byrne currently serves on the board of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and sits on the association’s conference committee. She regularly lends her time and expertise to professional development in the province, and visits post-secondary schools to talk about the publishing industry.
Prior to joining Venture Publishing, Byrne was publisher of Toronto-based This Magazine and remains a strong supporter of the cultural magazines community. As a member of the board of Word on the Street Toronto, she led the development of the Canadian Magazines tent, including programming the first two years of the tent. She was also part of the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) taskforce that established the corporation’s successful magazine funding program.
Byrne has been a steering committee member of Digital Eve Toronto (and WebGirls), a jurist for the OMDC and the Canada Council for the Arts, and is a director of the National Magazine Awards Foundation. Byrne chaired the Advertising Club of Edmonton Awards in 2008, and currently chairs the committee for Edmonton’s annual Cannes Reel fundraiser in support of the National Advertising Benevolent Society. She is also the proofreader of the biannual literary magazine Taddle Creek and a consulting publisher to the new Edmonton-based literary magazine Eighteen Bridges.
The Magazines Canada Volunteer of the Year Award is awarded annually to one individual whose outstanding volunteer contributions have had a national impact on the Canadian magazine industry.
Byrne will receive her award at the Magazines Canada Luncheon on Thursday, June 7, 2012 at MagNet, Canada’s Magazine Conference at the Courtyard Marriott at 475 Yonge St. in Toronto.
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