Canadian Magazine Award | A queer magazine wins honors

It is a magazine aimed at a niche audience, self-financed and supported by many volunteers. But all this did not prevent the magazine lstw – a magazine created by and for lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer women and people – to walk away with the Grand Prix du magazine 2023, at the last gala of the Canadian Magazine Awards.

The magazine lstw competed against big names such Chatelaine, Maclean’s, Toronto Life…

“We can’t hide our surprise on Friday,” concedes Florence Gagnon, founder and creative director of lstw. A nice surprise, therefore, welcomed with open arms, and which comes at an opportune time for the LGBTQ + communities.

“At the moment, we are living in different contexts, whether among our neighbors to the south, very recently in Europe, and even here, where we are really privileged people, but where we are still experiencing micro-aggressions, says Florence Gagnon. There is a setback in terms of laws, but also in terms of subtexts. We need to live these moments of pride there. »

lstw is a bilingual print magazine, published once a year, and distributed in more than 20 cities in North America and Europe. Its mission: to put forward positive role models who go against stereotypes. The team relies on collaborators from all over the world, which “really gives the pulse of the community and reflects its diversity”. Each issue is approximately 250 pages and the team “couldn’t cut it down so much [elle] receives great material,” explains Florence Gagnon.

The award-winning issue, “Special 10 years”, offers a retrospective of the key moments of the organization lstw through stories, photos and interviews. On the program, in particular, meetings with singer-songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson and with Cree Ojibwe artist and activist Ma-Nee Chacaby.

“Putting forward positive stories, I think it’s super important,” concludes Florence Gagnon, who underlines the great teamwork behind the creation of the magazine.