2013 Recipients of the Lee d'Anjou Volunteer of the Year Award and President's Award for Volunteer Service

Moira White

Moira has volunteered for EAC for over a decade, often as the go-to person when no one else is able to take on a job. This willingness to take on multiple responsibilities reflects her commitment to the association and her fellow editors. It also means that she contributes a huge amount of her time—like in 2007 when she served as the National Capital Region branch chair, national executive council (NEC) member, and conference chair. She served as NEC president for two years and, in 2012, became the director of professional standards, a position she will continue to occupy next year. Aside from these large positions, she has also taken certification pilot tests, invigilated tests and worked on various national committees.

Moira works as a freelance editor, mainly for government and corporate clients. In the last five years, teaching has become a larger part of her career, which she enjoys because she always learns something from her students. As both a practicing editor and an instructor, Moira is able to keep her skills sharp and stay up-to-date with trends in editing.

Moira's contributions to EAC are all the more impressive given that when she began her volunteering all five of her children still lived at home. Now, she is a grandmother, and outside of work fills her life with family, knitting, quilting, swimming, cycling and, most recently, exploring the lake near her cabin in Quebec on her new paddleboard.
 

Iva Cheung

Iva completed the Master of Publishing program at Simon Fraser University, and worked for many years at a trade publishing house. She now runs her own editing and publishing consulting business, blogs about editing and publishing, and teaches in the Writing and Publishing program at SFU. Iva joined EAC as a student, and has contributed at both the branch and national levels. She helped update the copy-editing section of Meeting Professional Editorial Standards, volunteered for the 2011 conference, served on the code of ethics task force, and worked on the credential maintenance program. She currently sits on the certification steering committee and volunteers for the programs committee with the British Columbia branch. She finds volunteering enormously rewarding, as it has helped her develop as an editor and create connections across the country. When she's not working, Iva loves to cook, visit the farmer's markets and spend time with her family. She also sometimes draws comics about editing—but she's not sure whether that's work or a hobby.

Anne Curry

Anne has devoted most of her professional career to education, teaching French and English in Nova Scotia, Thailand and Newfoundland. She has been a principal, a coordinator of French language services for a school district, an instructor in BEd and MEd programs, and an independent consultant for Mi'kmaw language teachers on curriculum development and processional learning. Her work in editing grew out of her background in education, and she currently draws on her vast experience to edit theses and academic articles relating to education while continuing to work as an instructor and educational consulting. In 2012, realizing that her unofficial copy editing work had become a larger part of her life, Anne joined EAC and attended its conference in Ottawa. She acted as the speaker coordinator for the 2013 Halifax conference, and plans on becoming more involved with her local twig.
 

Dave Ealey

After completing his Master's in ornithology from the University of Alberta, Dave worked for many years as a wildlife biology consultant. His experience with writing reports and proposals eventually led him to the Alberta government, where he worked as a technical editor dealing with a wide range of portfolios, including environment, parks, and fish and wildlife. He joined EAC in the early 90s and spent several years volunteering his time as the Prairie Provinces branch treasurer and contributing his skills to planning and budgeting. Recently he used his knowledge of government to assist with grant applications that successfully helped fund the Words in 3 Dimensions conference held in Edmonton. Dave is now retired, but stays active with EAC by participating in professional development programs and as an auditor. He also mentors young biologists through the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists, and is involved with the accreditation program of the Canadian Public Relations Society, Edmonton Chapter. Dave is an avid power walker and has committed to completing four half marathons this year. He fills the rest of his spare time with travel, singing, trumpet playing and enjoying his impressive collection of dictionaries and reference materials.

Heather Guylar

Heather has worked both full time and freelance for educational, trade, feminist and non-profit book and periodical publishers as a copywriter, copy editor, print production manager, and web and print designer. She currently works full time in a corporate setting while continuing her freelance work in other areas. Heather joined EAC early in her career as a copywriter to learn more about editing and the publishing industry. She rejoined six years ago when she started expanding her knowledge base into the digital world, so EAC has been instrumental in her education and professional development as an editor. She volunteers her time as Edition's graphic designer and has helped to design promotional pieces for the association. She is an urban adventurer, spending her free time exploring Toronto and its neighbourhoods, enjoying theatre, opera, concerts, movies, ballet and the occasional Blue Jays game.

Nancy Holland

Nancy edited her first newsletter when she was eight years old. Since 1992, she has worked as a technical writer, editor and instructional designer. She became involved with EAC in 2007, and has contributed her time in a variety of ways, including acting as the co-chair of the 2013 Halifax conference, founding the Nova Scotia twig, and working with the certification steering committee. She has been the Atlantic representative to Quebec/Atlantic Canada (QAC) branch, QAC rep to the national executive council, treasurer of the Toronto branch, envelope stuffer, seminar host, and The Word on the Street table organizer. Outside of work, Nancy is an avid runner and shows the same dedication to the running community as she does to her fellow editors. She works as a certified coach, director of Run Nova Scotia, co –race director of the Cabot Trail Relay and a race announcer. When she's not busy with running or editing, she loves to ski, travel, learn about wine, and, as a parrothead, indulge her love of Jimmy Buffet.

Valerie Mansour

Valerie began her career as a journalist, freelancing for many years in the diverse spheres of CBC radio, magazines and newspapers. Several years ago she took a new approach to information sharing and began doing documentary film research and scriptwriting, which she still continues today. One of her current writing projects is interviewing and profiling refugee families. Along with these pursuits, she has always been an editor and started her own company with her partner: The Writing Resource.ca provides editing and writing services, coaching and workshops. Valerie also draws on her past experience as a restaurant reviewer to review cookbooks and write food features for regional magazines. After she started her company, Valerie joined EAC as a way to gain resources and meet other editors. She acted as co-chair and helped organize the 2013 conference in Halifax. When not writing or editing, Valerie enjoys travelling, biking, working out, reading, cooking and gardening.

Jennifer McMorran

Jennifer has spent much of her professional life in the world of travel, starting out copy editing, translating and travel writing for Ulysses Travel Guides in Montreal. Motherhood was another journey, as was the freelance work she did when her children were young. Then, it was back to work as the editor at Nights publications, a publisher of travel and lifestyle magazines for the Dutch Caribbean. Recently, she began a new job as editor at Cheneliere Education, a publisher of school textbooks. Jennifer is the secretary for the Quebec/Atlantic Canada branch. She also answers French language queries and, this past year, helped coordinate the purchase of new QAC-branded material. Her involvement with EAC has helped motivate Jennifer to continue learning and pushing herself as a professional. When she's not working, Jennifer enjoys being a great mother to her two daughters (aged 8 and 12), gardening, travelling, and fixing anything around her house that is broken or crooked.

Brooke Smith

Brooke started her editing career as a copy editor, and it is still what she loves most. She currently works as managing editor at Benefits Canada, writing, editing, copy editing and assigning stories. She previously worked as copy chief at Fashion magazine and in Chatelaine's copy department. She is also managing editor for Edition and has marked certification tests. Outside of work, she is a committed runner, last year completing 46 races to mark her 46^th birthday. She hopes to run 25 half marathons in 25 different states—so far she's completed 7. She also makes cards, jewellery and artist trading cards.