Best Content Director Award

This individual or small team should be a leader who has a proven track record creating content that simultaneously meets the needs of the target audience and delivers on the client’s business and/or marketing objectives. They will have a well-developed understanding of the role of content marketing and take advantage of a wide array of content types and channels to effectively communicate their message. They will be admired by peers and employees as well as encouraging collaboration.   

Congratulations to 2018 winner, Justine Drake!
Content Director, John Brown South Africa

 Justine Drake has worked in food media since 1988, though she’s been cooking since   she was old enough to wield a wooden spoon. She has written five cookbooks and   edited several magazines and supplements. 

 Back in the day she worked with multiple local and international retail brands as a   consultant on trends, print content and food styling.

 She is the launch editor of Pick n Pay’s Fresh Living magazine, still the largest food   and lifestyle magazine in South Africa, recipient of numerous local and international   awards, including the prestigious Pearl Awards Best International Retail Magazine   2016.

 Justine has presented numerous television shows, the most recent of which, Just Cooking which aired on BBC and subsequently on SABC. She has just completed Episode 86!

Today she is content director of John Brown SA and works across digital and print channels for clients as diverse as Old Mutual, BMW and Life Healthcare amongst others.

2017 Winner: Maryam Sanati, Editorial Director, Strategic Content Labs at St. Joseph Media

 Maryam Sanati is editorial director of Strategic Content Labs, St. Joseph Media in   Toronto. The company’s portfolio—which includes award-winning consumer media   brands such as Toronto Life, Fashion, Where Canada and Canadian Family—has   an annual readership of more than 9 million readers in print and 15 million online. In   her role, Maryam leads a diverse range of consumer, custom, exhibition and experiential content programs and audience engagement strategies. Clients include Nordstrom, Sephora, Lindt, Manulife Financial, the Senate of Canada, Canadian Automobile Association, Toronto Pearson Airport and Birks Group. Recently, she led a team of writers, editors, art directors and visual artists in creating a dynamic range of content across 50,000 square feet of exhibition space at the National Music Centre, a new and innovative cultural institution in Calgary, Alberta. Maryam is also the former editor-in-chief of Chatelaine magazine, and has held numerous senior editorial positions, among them at The Globe and Mail and Report on Business Magazine, where she edited National Magazine Award-winning storytelling.  

2016 Winner: Tom Sather, Senior Director, Research, Return Path

 Tom Sather is the research director at Return Path where he leads the corporate  marketing department including the research, content marketing, public relations and  customer advocate teams.  As an email marketing expert, Tom has worked with top-  tier brands to diagnose and solve strategic marketing issues as a consultant with  Return Path. Tom is a frequent speaker and writer on marketing trends and  technology, where his research and commentary is widely cited across leading  business media outlets including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, AP, and Ad  Age.

2015 Winner:Jayne Haugen Olson, VP Content, MSP Communications

 Jayne leads the editorial and design teams at MSP Communications, including the company’s  content marketing agency, MSP-C. Jayne’s approach to content creation, packaging, and  presentation comes from her combined 25 years of experience in journalism, retail, and  marketing. Her multi-channel approach and key understanding of voice and tone—both  verbally and visually—influences the way she guides her teams to capture the attention of  today’s busy consumers.

 As a content strategist, Jayne oversees the work of more than 60 creatives developing work  for 15 proprietary and custom magazines, as well as digital, social, and video platforms, and  editorial-driven special events for clients such as General Mills, United Healthcare, 3M, IBM,  McKesson, and Delta Air Lines.

Continuing to be active in daily creative work, Jayne serves as editorial director for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, the most-read magazine in the Twin Cities, and editor-in-chief of Delta Sky magazine, the world’s leading onboard magazine with more than 4.6 million monthly readers.

2014 Winner: Nic McCarthy, Content Director, Seven

As a best-selling editor in the UK and US for over a decade, Nic has edited a handful of our best-known women’s titles. From five years at OK! selling a million copies a week with exclusive coverage of celebrity events like the Beckhams’ wedding and Elton’s John’s star-studded White Tie & Tiara parties, to running a team of 70 journalists at New York’s Us Weekly magazine, to commissioning beautiful fashion and groundbreaking features for the sophisticated readers of Eve Magazine.

As Content Director of Seven for the past five years, Nic has used this editorial expertise to partner big UK consumer businesses in creating brilliant all-platform content to grow their brands. In 2012 Nic was appointed to the Group Board at Seven, working alongside the CEO, MD and CFO to create a thriving and valuable business for Seven’s shareholders, and making editorial excellence the watchword for the agency.