October 23, 2012

Toronto, ON— Contempo Media, the publishers of Sharp, Sharp: The Book for Men and SharpForMen.com was the proud recipient last night of the coveted Best Web Design gold award at the fourth Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA).

SharpForMen.com’s bold design, unveiled earlier this year, bested the websites of finalists The Walrus and RedNation Online to take home the prize in front of a record turnout of Canada’s top digital media players.

Contempo Media’s Editorial and Creative Director, Michael La Fave, accepted the honour from ceremony host Amber Mac, alongside Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Freed, Art Director Evan Kaminsky and Online Editor Lance Chung.

“SharpForMen.com is a truly unique online property,” said La Fave, of Sharpformen.com, “…our combination of premium environment, quality content, high reader engagement and sophisticated appearance are creating remarkable demand on the part of both readers and advertisers”.

Editor-in-Chief Jeremy Freed was honoured to receive the award, and promises more big things to come from Sharp, both in print and online. “While the print editions of Sharp and Sharp: The Book for Men continue to show unprecedented issue-on-issue growth, expanding Sharp’s online presence continues to be the recipient of significant investment,” said Freed. “We are the men’s lifestyle leaders in Canadian print, and this award confirms what we already believed, that SharpForMen.com is a world class online resource for Canadian men as well.”

Sharpformen.com was also recognized for an innovative social media outreach surrounding last summer’s Canada’s Sharpest Man competition, which allowed users to interface over multiple digital platforms—including kiosks in The Bay stores—and attracted tens of thousands of online votes from across the nation. “The amount of participation and interest that we received through this initiative was a testament to the growing importance of social media. We successfully engaged with our readers, while utilizing various social media platforms to increase brand awareness in new and innovative ways,” said Online Editor Lance Chung.

Sharp is published six times per year by Contempo Media, Inc., and is Canada’s only premium men’s lifestyle magazine. Contempo Media also publishes Sharp: The Book for Men, an ultra-premium, 270-plus page men’s lifestyle tome—in both English and French—biannually. SharpForMen.com is updated daily with exclusive content and is complimented by the Sharp Insider e-newsletter. Print publications are available on newsstands nationwide. Sharp’s November 2012 issue—featuring Daniel Craig on the cover—is available on newsstands now, along with Sharp: The Book for Men Fall/Winter 2012 edition.

www.sharpformen.com

www.contempomedia.ca

For More Information

Michael La Fave, Editorial and Creative Director: michael.lafave@contempomedia.ca

John McGouran, Publisher: john.mcgouran@contempomedia.ca