Chris Turner, 2012 Magazine Award Winner

Winners

Apr. 5

Chris Turner launched his writing career at Shift Magazine in the late 1990s, winning a gold award for one-of- a kind article at the National Magazine Awards for his writing on the social impacts of the booming internet gambling business in the Caribbean. He wrote almost exclusively about contemporary culture and digital technology for the next five years, earning several more National Magazine Awards along the way.

Chris Turner's winning article, published by The Walrus in April 2012 and is entitled "On Tipping in Cuba,". It tells the story of a writer discovering the uncomfortable socio-economics of the cheap beach vacation. Ostensibly about tourism and tours, it ultimately explores the sustainability of Cuba's economy and the toll its singular position in the global economy has taken on its citizens. It is a story of adaptations and resilience in tumultuous times.

Turner has written three books, two of which explore solutions to climate change around the world: The Geography of Hope (2007) and The Leap (2011). Chris believes that the defining issue of our time is climate change and our collective socioeconomic response to it.

He has written features for a wide range of magazines and newspapers, among them The Walrus, Alberta Views, Maclean's, The Globe and Mail and Report on Business. He has won eight National Magazine Awards, including a gold award in 2011 for a Walrus feature on the sustainability crisis in Canadian farming.

In addition to being a full-time writer he frequently delivers public lectures and speeches on the topic of sustainability. His focus is on human society, human systems and the urgent need to retrofit them for sustainability - ecological, social and economic - if we intend to survive and thrive in this chaotic century.

thegeographyofhope.com
@theturner
The Walrus winning article here

Past Winners

Vince Beiser, 2023 Book Award Winner

Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist and author of “The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization.” The book has been translated into five languages, was a finalist for a PEN America award and a California Book Award, and spawned a TED talk.

Carly Lewis, 2023 Magazine Winner

Carly Lewis has been a freelance journalist since 2012. Her work has appeared at The New York Times, Wired, the Globe and Mail, New York Magazine, Elle, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, The Atlantic, Hazlitt, The Guardian and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor.

Arno Kopecky, 2022 Magazine Award Winner

Arno has been a full time freelance journalist and author for over fifteen years. After graduating from the University of Victoria in 2001 with a double major in Creative Writing and Environmental Studies, he spent two years in Spain teaching English and studying Spanish.

Bonny Reichert, 2022 Book Award Winner

A National Magazine Award-winning journalist. Bonny began her career as an editor at Today’s Parent, Canadian’s largest parenting magazine, moving up in seniority before switching to Chatelaine with a then-readership of 3.1 million.

Eva Holland, 2021 Magazine Award Winner

Eva has been a full time freelancer for the past fourteen years. Much of her work focuses on the environment, especially the intersection of wilderness and society.

Josiah Neufeld, 2021 Book and 2014 Magazine Award

Josiah Neufeld grew up in Burkina Faso the son of evangelical Christian missionaries. Alarmed and awakened to the ecological crisis humanity faces, Josiah journeys on a quest for a spirituality that he hopes will transcend the religious binaries of his childhood faith and rise to meet the crisis of his time.

Alex Roslin, 2020 Magazine Award Co-Winner

Alex Roslin is a journalist based in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. He has focused on social justice and investigative reporting for nearly 30 years.

Francesco Bianco, 2020 Magazine Award Co-Winner

Francesca Bianco was raised in Smithers, British Columbia, graduated from McGill University in English literature, and completed her master’s degree in journalism at the University of British Columbia in 2018.

Roberta Staley, 2019 Book Award Winner

Roberta Staley is a Vancouver-based, independent magazine editor, writer, columnist, documentary filmmaker and author. Voice of Rebellion – How Mozhdah Jamalzadah Brought Hope to Afghanistan is her first book.

Nicholas Hune-Brown, 2019 Magazine Award Winner

Nicholas Hune-Brown is a Toronto-based magazine journalist who has been published in places like Toronto Life, Slate, The Walrus, The Guardian, Hazlitt, Reader’s Digest, The Believer, Chatelaine, The Globe and Mail, and The Toronto Star.

Chris Turner

Shirley Dunn

Chris Turner, 2012 Magazine Award Winner

Paul Webster, 2013 Magazine Award Winner

Jennifer Cockrall-King, 2011 Book Award Winner

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