The National Magazine Awards Foundation is pleased to announce that the winner of this year’s Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement is Stephen Trumper.
As a distinguished editor, a beloved teacher, a renowned master of display copy and a mentor known for giving generously of his time and expertise, Stephen Trumper has been a pillar of the Canadian magazine industry for more than thirty-five years.
In 1977 Steve joined Toronto Life, where he enjoyed a fourteen-year tenure, including nine as managing editor, during which time the publication was twice named Magazine of the Year. As a handling editor at Toronto Life and, later, at Harrowsmith Country Life and National Post Business plus freelance assignments for, among others, Saturday Night, Chatelaine, Elm Street and This Magazine, Steve’s deft touch and rapport with his writers helped produce more than sixty awards and nominations from the National Magazine Awards and other regional and industry associations.
In the mid-nineties he became a part-time instructor at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism, where he has taught magazine editing and feature writing ever since while also guiding students through the production of several issues of the Ryerson Review of Journalism. As a teacher and mentor, Steve has been an inspiration to a generation of Canada’s brightest journalists, many of whom still seek him out for counsel and friendship at his favourite tables at The Senator or at the Starbucks inside Sears at the Eaton Centre. Shameless magazine was born in one of Stephen’s classes at Ryerson.
A wheelchair user who was on the boards of CBC-TV’s Disability Network, Ontario Science Centre, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital and a member of the Ontario Lieutenant Governor’s ad hoc committee on improving job opportunities for people with disabilities, Steve currently serves on the board of the Canadian Abilities Foundation, which publishes Abilities magazine. In addition, for the past dozen years Steve has been involved with Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), a not-for-profit organization that operates two broadcast services (AMI-tv and AMI-audio) and a website (AMI.ca). By making print, broadcast and digital media accessible, AMI serves more than five million Canadians who are blind or partially sighted, deaf or hard of hearing, mobility or learning disabled, or learning English as a second language. For AMI Steve has been a writer, an editor and, for several years, the organization’s Ombudsman.
Steve’s principal goals in his career as an editor, a teacher and an advocate for people with disabilities: to make media and journalism better, and to make them accessible to all Canadians. In 2012, Steve received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, recognizing his contributions to community and public service.
On behalf of the National Magazine Awards Foundation: Congratulations Stephen!
Stephen Trumper will be recognized at the 36th annual National Magazine Awards gala on June 7. Tickets go on sale May 1, when the NMAF will announce all nominees for this year’s National Magazine Awards.