Healthy Food Guide on top at MPA Awards

Health Food Guide came up trumps at the MPA Awards last night as it took out the coveted Supreme Magazine of the Year title.

NZ House & Garden’s Kate Coughlan won Supreme Editor of the Year and magazine doyenne Paula Ryan won a Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards were held last night at the Rendezvous Hotel in Auckland, with a full house of 350 media industry guests. Comedian Raybon Kan did MC duties and singer Athony Utama, along with band Super Highway, entertained.

Healthy Food Guide was deemed an “involving magazine” by judges, simple and effective with strong results.

The magazine keeps growing and growing – a stunning achievement in a climate where other magazines have been faltering or seeing circulation dive.

Fairfax’s Kate Coughlan, who also oversees the bimonthly title NZ Life & Leisure (bought by Fairfax in 2007 for an undisclosed sum), stood out from the crowd of Kiwi editors with “articulated vision” and an outstandingly focused magazine.

“She shows meticulous copy selection and treatment, knows her topic and understands her readers’ interests, needs and passions,” the judges said. “Kate’s strategy is spot on.”

Meanwhile, Paula Ryan’s contribution to the industry over a sustained period of time was recognized with the prestigious lifetime achievement award. Ms Ryan is well-known to the magazine world as a co-founder of Fashion Quarterly and the sole founder of Simply You.

Ms Ryan is also a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen’s Birthday Honours (20009).

The awards ceremony boasted a brilliant turnout, in spite of the second consecutive ACP boycott. CEO Paul Dykzeul had described the awards as a “back-slapping exercise for the industry.” This year Pacific Magazines was back in the fold after following ACP in 2009.

However, its only showing this year was a highly commended for best cover design in the women’s interest category for New Idea.

Its nearest competitor NZ Woman’s Weekly (NZ Magazines) had a great showing with five awards in the women’s interest category, including magazine of the year, editor of the year for Sido Kitchin, best cover design, journalist of the year for Sharon Course, and designer of the year for Julie Koberstein.

In the always interesting relaunch category, Fairfax’s The Cut came out on top, with New Zealand Geographic (Kowhai Publishing) and NZ Marketing Magazine (HB Media) taking home highly commended each – a surprise for NZ Marketing to miss out on the top-top award, considering the industry’s loud applause for its turnaround since HB Media took it over.

The awards boasted a record number of entrants, with 51 winners across 11 awards and 17 highly commended awards.