Dennis the Menace, Daleks and Darth in Cover of the Century poll

Dennis the Menace, Daleks and Darth Vader rub shoulders with other memorable magazine covers in a new poll celebrating 100 years of the Professional Publishers Association - Britain's trade organisation representing more than 200 publishing-related companies.

The PPA Cover of the Century Poll is part of the organization's 100th birthday extravaganza, looking back at some of the greatest covers ever made.

The 10 covers span different decades and genres and include covers of Time Out, Mac User and Harpers Bazaar - and three covers in particular will surely appeal to most of our readers.

Star Wars Darth Vader features on Empire's 'Breathing Vader' cover published in 2005, which "breathed" when you opened it. Vader's famous rasping drew in people of all ages and still the biggest-selling issue of all time.

A Dalek threatens readers on a 2005 Radio Times cover that celebrated the Daleks’ return after two decades away from Doctor Who, coinciding with the 2005 General Election.

The publisher neatly brought these two events together by recreating a famous 1964 scene of Daleks crossing Westminster Bridge – and had to clear coachloads of tourists to get the shot. A memorable image, topped off with the cheeky coverline: “Vote Dalek!”.

The 1999 Beano cover selected is the issue that first featured Dennis The Menace in non-comic-strip style. The editor faced strong internal opposition to choosing this bold child-like graphic, but his innovation delivered a sale of 202,528 copies, the highest of that entire year.

The Professional Publishers Association represents more than 200 companies, covering everything from consumer magazine publishers to business-to-business data and information providers and smaller independents.

They promote the industry in all its forms, protect members through lobbying activities, and advise the industry through communications and training work.

• Vote Here: www.ppa.co.uk/coverofthecentury. Voting closes in December.

Professional Publishers Association plans UK's first international magazine festival

The Professional Publishers Association - an organisation representing some 200 publishers and existing to promote and protect the interests of print and online publishers of consumer and business media in the UK - has announced MagFest, Britian's first ever international festival devoted to magazines.

Taking place on 26th-27th August  at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, MagFest coincides with the wider season of arts and cultural events that collectively make up the Edinburgh Festival, the largest annual cultural festival in the world. The programme includes a "How to Get Published" workshop and the speaker line up is impressive if you're at all interested in magazine publishing.

The PPA says that MagFest aims to reach out to writers, editors and designers by sharing expert knowledge and magazine publishing successes from Scotland, the UK and around the world. It is supported by PPA strategic partners Pensord and Primitive Media, and will comprise creative workshops, an industry conference and an inspirational exhibition co-curated specifically for the event by Jeremy Leslie of magCulture, London and Andrew Losowsky of The Huffington Post, New York.

The magCulture exhibition will be located in the impressive Ozone space at Our Dynamic Earth and will feature 40 stunning national and international magazines, all exemplifying excellence in magazine design. The exhibition opens to the public at noon on Sunday, August 26 and entry is free to MagFest delegates.

“We are so proud to launch the UK's first festival dedicated to magazines," comments Kathy Crawford Hay, Business Manager of PPA Scotland.

"At MagFest we aim to build a platform that not only promotes publishing in Scotland but also provides a showcase for national and international titles and reaches out to a new generation of creative writers, editors and designers.”

“As well as our practical industry sessions, MagFest will be a hub for sharing ideas and networking with peers and investors. We believe this new event will provide an invaluable opportunity for Scotland’s publishing sector to interact with influencers at a global level, and for the international publishing and creative community to come together in celebration of magazines.”

The workshops will be held on the afternoon of 26th August and will provide a unique opportunity to learn from experts in the fields of magazine design and editorial. As well as people already working in the publishing industry, up-and-coming designers and writers are also encouraged to attend.

Led by Jeremy Leslie of magCulture, the design workshop will cover the principles of magazine design and features a hands-on masterclass in magazine cover layout with Matthew Ball, former Art Director of Rolling Stone magazine, and other design experts.

The editorial workshop, How to Get Published, brings together a wealth of experience from award-winning magazine editors from New York and the UK in a forum that aims to stimulate budding writers and equip them with the knowledge they need to get published.

The MagFest industry day features speaker sessions covering the hot topics in magazine publishing today: Entrepreneurship in Publishing; The Digital Dialogue; Serious Business of Making Money; 2020Vison – the future. Confirmed speakers include publishing heavyweights and high-fliers including: Christopher Ward of Redwood publishers; John Bird MBE, owner of The Big Issue; Chris van der Kuyl from brightsolid, owned by DC Thomson, publishers of The Beano; Andrew Losowsky of the Huffington Post; Max von Abendroth, European Magazine Media Association; Matt Phare, ShortList Media; Barry McIlheney, PPA and Richard Nicholls, Future Foundation.

• Tickets for the event will be available for purchase at the MagFest website at www.magfest.co.uk and the latest updates on the event are available via @MagazineFest on Twitter.

British comic publishers join new MagAid campaign to fight illiteracy

British magazine and comic publishers have just launched MagAid, the first national project to use magazines to promote literacy.

Established by the Professional Publishers Association, which represents the UK’s magazine publishing industry, in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, funding raised through MagAid will be channeled into the Trust’s Young Readers Programme, designed to promote reading among children from areas of disadvantage.

The scheme engages children in reading at school, giving them the opportunity to select and keep reading materials they can then read at home.


Through MagAid, the scheme has been expanded to include magazines for the first time, and the PPA will encourage donations and co-ordinate funding for MagAid on behalf of the consumer and business media publishers within its membership.

Here at DownTheTubes, this sounds like a great opportunity for comic publishers to support the battle against illiteracy, especially given the use of comics across the globe to promote various social and welfare campaigns. DC Thomson, Egmont and Panini are all members of the PPA.

Comics are being used to promote literacy in South Africa and Haiti, and are have been used to promote health issues such as AIDS awareness. A new documentary, Comic Book Literacy, is currently doing the festival circuit in the US to support the use of comics in education there.

Last year, This Magazine reported on how Canadian teachers were using graphic novels to help reading, and noted comics scholar Gretchen Schwarz's 2006 article entitled “Expanding Literacies Through Graphic Novels,” [PDF] which argued the benefits of using graphic novels as a way to expand and strengthen literacy skills.

Schwarz feels graphic novel readers have to pay attention to conventional literary elements of plot, character, and dialogue as well as interpret visual elements such as colour, shading, panel layout, and even lettering style, making graphic novels an engaging and sophisticated form of reading.

Literacy is a significant yet relatively hidden problem in the UK: it's estimated that one in six people in the UK currently has a literacy level below that expected of an 11-year-old, and the country has recently slipped to joint 23rd in the international literacy rankings.

National Literacy Trust research involving 18,000 children and young people suggests that magazines are a powerful medium for encouraging reading for pleasure among children who label themselves as non-readers.

“Literacy is a fundamental life skill that many of us take for granted," notes Barry McIlheney, CEO of the PPA, "but without it these children will develop into young adults who will struggle in the modern world. Through MagAid, our industry can play its part in tackling this problem, improving life chances, and encouraging an enjoyment in reading.”

The National Literacy Trust has recently completed a MagAid-funded Young Readers Programme at the City of London Academy in Southwark, the first phase of a pilot project designed to investigate the introduction of magazines into the portfolio of reading materials available to the children.

“The MagAid-funded National Literacy Trust programme has had a tremendous impact in promoting literacy across Year 7 in our Academy," Richard Bannister, Principal of City of London Academy (Southwark) reveals. "It actively encourages our students to engage in reading.

"Using magazines as a medium to promote literacy in our Academy has been really well received by students and staff.”


“This is the first time magazines have been used to address the literacy challenge by a national literacy project," Caroline Sence, who manages the Young Readers Programme for the National Literacy Trust, revealed.

"We believe magazines are a powerful tool for engaging reluctant readers: by giving children and young people the opportunity to choose and keep new magazines and books that are linked to their own interests, we are helping to make reading relevant to them, and to encourage reading as an activity of choice outside of school.”


Clive Foskett, Founder of MagAid and Chief Executive of Signature Publishing, said: “Poor literacy skills disadvantage millions of people in many aspects of their life, let alone in being unable to access and enjoy the information produced by magazine publishers.

“The first school project is already demonstrating that through MagAid we can make a real difference on this major issue.”

With some 200 members, the PPA promotes and protects the interests of print and online publishers of consumer and business media in the UK. More at www.ppa.co.uk.

The National Literacy Trust (www.literacytrust.org.uk) is an independent charity that transforms lives through literacy. They believe that society will only be fair when everyone has the literacy skills they need to communicate, to fulfil their potential and to contribute more to society. The charity campaigns to improve public understanding of the vital importance of literacy, as well as delivering projects and working in partnership to reach those most in need of support.

- More about MagAid at: http://magaid.org