Meet the 2025 IRMA Awards Jury

Kristopher Andres is a fine art photographer and expedition-driven storyteller.

Alan J. Bartels is a writer, photographer, gardener, student of nature, father, chronic volunteer, and wanderer.

Trevor Battye is the founder of Trevor Battye Advertising Sales.

Huck Beard is Creative Director at Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as an accomplished fine-art photographer and creative writer.

Liann Bobechko is a writer and editor, who has been working in the magazine industry since 2000.

Al Bonowitz edits the Northern New England and Hawai‘i regional sections of AAA Explorer.

Harriet Brown is a professor of magazine, news & digital journalism at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, where she directs the MND graduate program.

Melissa Chessher is a magazine writer and editor, and the Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism, at Southern Methodist University.

Tara Cox is a New York-based food writer and magazine editor, and is the creative director at New York startup Epicure.

Joanna Cummings is the editorial director of The Grub Street Journal, the magazine for magazine people.

Phoebe Flynn Rich is a New York–based Creative Director with a background in lifestyle consumer media.

David Halloran is the creative director for Midwest Luxury Publishing, as well as doing freelance designer, photography and writing.

Nicola Hamilton RGD (she/her) is an award-winning editorial designer based in Toronto, Canada, and owner of Issues Magazine Shop.

Joshua Hardin has dedicated his life to looking for the best light to photograph the world’s peaks and plains; forests and deserts; rivers and coasts.

Sara Harowitz is a journalist, content strategist, and consultant based in Vancouver, BC.

Mason Hastie is a graphic designer, illustrator and serial hobbyist with a 20+ year career in magazines.

Jennifer Hewett is the editor of Georgia magazine.

Nick Jackson is an editor, writer and media strategist with experience leading some of the most distinctive digital brands.

Andrea Kaneko is the associate editor of Missouri Life. 

Brian Kevin is a features editor at National Geographic, a founding editor of Wildsam, and the former editor in chief of Down East.

Ryan Krogh is a writer and journalist living in Austin, TX.

Jeff Labreque is the Director of Content for Advancement Communications at Princeton University.

Kim Larson is an editorial art director and designer who has created many award-winning magazines, including Eighteen Bridges, Avenue Edmonton, Alberta Venture, and Edify magazine.

Amélie Legare runs Calypso Design, a graphic design firm based in Pemberton BC and is the Creative director for Mountain Life Media.

Deanna Lowe is an award-winning Designer and Creative Director based in New York.

Jacqueline Marino is a Professor at Kent State University School of Media and Journalism.

Sharon McAuley is a turnaround specialist and publishing consultant based in Toronto, ON.

Eithne McCredie is a magazine publisher and circulation consultant based in Toronto, ON.

Megan McPhaden is a journalist and digital content strategist in Toronto, ON.

Robert Newman is the former design director of New York, Details, Fortune, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, and Vibe.

Texas-based freelance writer Dan Oko specializes in coverage of outdoor travel and environmental affairs. 

Jack Saul is a writer and editor, and the executive direcotor of The Center for Northern Woodlands Education an educational nonprofit located in Lyme, New Hampshire.

Danielle Sayer is the Montreal-based art director at Québec Science magazine.

Bob Sexton is an editor, writer and seasoned communication specialist based in Toronto, ON.

Suzanne Trudel is the executive director of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and a veteran of the media industry.

Jim Vickers is the editor of Ohio Magazine.

Drue Wagner is a graphic designer and illustrator living in Austin, TX.

Paige Weir is a visual designer, photographer and stylist based in Northern Ontario.

Lisa Whittington-Hill is a writer and the publisher of This Magazine.

Jacquie Moore is the senior editor of the University of Calgary's arch magazine, and a freelance writer based in Calgary, Alberta.

Emma Young is Art Director of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine, published seven times annually by the Vineyard Gazette Media Group.

Ryan Rich is a graphic designer and art director originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He is an art director at Richmond Magazine and most previously served as the art director of Virginia Living, the Commonwealth's most widely-read lifestyle magazine. He is an avid foodie and aspiring starving artist. He lives in beautiful Richmond, Virginia with his two girls, Julia and Kiwi.

Evaan Kheraj is a New York-based photographer & director whose love for documenting spans decades and genres.

Meredith Holigroski is a designer and art director based in Toronto, Ontario.

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and a graduate of Kent State University’s School of Visual Communication Design program, Emma moved to Little Rock, Arkansas and served as Creative Director for Arkansas Life magazine and helped guide the magazine’s well-received redesign. She is now Art Director for Little Rock Soirée magazine, a monthly city publication from Arkansas Business Publishing Group, which specializes in crafting stories about nonprofits in the Central Arkansas area. Emma has 9 years of art direction experience in magazine and printed publication design.

Faith Cochran is a creative director and visual communicator based in Toronto, Ontario.

Tina Anson Mine is the senior copywriter at Blue Ant Media. She was an editor for 15 years at Canadian Living before launching a freelance career as a cookbook editor, copy editor, writer and content agency jack-of-all-trades. She loves a well-placed semicolon and is learning to tolerate the Oxford comma.

Kyle Wyatt is the editor-in-chief and executive director of the Literary Review of Canada. He holds a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto.

Kymberly Taylor founded Annapolis Home Magazine thirteen years ago. In addition to editing the magazine she publishes a regular column in Annapolis Home called The High Heeled Gardener. Prior to founding Annapolis Home, she was the Home & Garden Editor for What's Up Annapolis Magazine, Regional Editor of Solutions at Home Magazine and Assistant Editor of Chesapeake Home Magazine. She has a journalism degree from Boston University and an MFA from Columbia University, and participates in many writing events and conferences. She recently edited the book Garden Like a Shaman by Oso Blanco. Her poems have appeared in journals that include New American Writing, Boston Review, Seneca Review, Hawaii Review and Notre Dame Review. Find her at www.annapolishomemag.com, on Instagram @highheeledgardener and @annapolishomemagazine, and on Facebook.

Jessica McKenzie is an associate editor at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, where she writes and edits stories about climate change and the environment. Her work has been published in The New York Times, National Geographic, Audubon Magazine, Backpacker, Adirondack Life, and Grist. In 2021, Outside Magazine named her monthly newsletter, Pinch of Dirt, one of the “Best Outdoorsy Email Newsletters.”

Erica Lenti is a Toronto writer and editor. She is currently deputy editor, features at Chatelaine.

Jesse Hyde is a journalist based in Salt Lake City, and the editor of Deseret Magazine.

Jordan P. Hickey is a Northwest Arkansas-based freelance writer and editor with work in the Washington Post, Garden & Gun, VQR, Southern Foodways Alliance, Investigate Midwest, Southern Living, among many others.

Mike Fricano spent 10 years teaching personal essay writing and journalism to high school students in Los Angeles County as an editor at L.A. Youth, and has spent 10 years editing and writing for UCLA, including leading owned media storytelling and overseeing UCLA Magazine.

As Editor and Publisher, Jocelyn Bell leads the team at Broadview. In 2020, Bell was awarded the Editor’s Grand Prix from the National Magazine Awards.

Dawnya Bartsch is the editor of Kansas City magazine.