Application Guidelines — Aid to Publishers — Digital Periodical

Include paid advertising, contra or in-kind advertisements and advertorial, but does not include charitable, public service, house advertisements, the masthead or other non-revenue pages.

Content of a periodical that promotes or presents the interests, opinions, services or products of an advertiser in a similar style, format and payout as the editorial content. Advertorial content is considered to be advertising.

A legal document filed with a provincial or territorial government, or the federal government, which sets out a corporation's purpose and regulations.

A periodical that fosters awareness of the arts and literature and nurtures the vitality of Canadian cultural expression in Canada.

The average circulation is the total number of copies circulated during the financial year divided by the total number of issues published during that financial year.

A Business Number is a unique 9-digit number assigned by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). A sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, trust or other organization must enter their Business number on the application form in "Publishing Firm Information" section. Register your business on the CRA website.

Editorial content (text and photographs, graphics and illustrations) created or translated by a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or a participant to a federal or provincial/territorial program that provides work experiences or internships to individuals. Translated editorial content by a citizen or a permanent resident of Canada within the meaning of this Act will be considered Canadian editorial content.

To be eligible, a publishing firm or periodical must be majority owned and controlled by a Canadian. For the Canada Periodical Fund, "Canadian" means:

1. a Canadian citizen;
2. a permanent resident within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
3. a Canadian corporation; a partnership, trust or joint venture in which a Canadian or permanent resident or any combination of Canadians and/or permanent residents beneficially owns and controls, directly or indirectly, interests representing in value at least 51% of the total value of the assets of the partnership, trust or joint venture, as the case may be. The president or other presiding officer, and more than half of the directors or other similar officers are also Canadians or permanent residents;
4. a not-for-profit organization in which at least 51% of its members and directors are Canadians or permanent residents.

If at any time one or more persons who are not Canadian have any direct or indirect influence through a trust, an agreement, an arrangement or otherwise that, if exercised, would lead to a control in fact of the publishing firm, the firm will no longer be recognized as Canadian-owned.

"Canadian corporation" is one that meets the following criteria:

1. a corporation that is incorporated under the laws of Canada, a province or a territory;
2. a corporation whose principal place of business is in Canada;
3. a corporation whose president or other presiding officer, and more than half of the directors or other similar officers are Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act;
4. a corporation, in the case of a corporation with share capital, of which Canadians beneficially own and control, other than by way of shares held only as security, directly or indirectly, in the aggregate at least 51% of all the issued and outstanding voting shares representing more than half of the votes; and
5. a corporation, in the case of a corporation without share capital, of which Canadians beneficially own and control, directly or indirectly, interests representing in value at least 51% of the total value of the assets.

As an exception to the requirement for both Canadian ownership and Canadian control, publishing firms that are owned by Canadians and have operated in Canada as a publisher of periodicals for at least thirty years will be considered eligible even if they are not Canadian-controlled.

A circulation report issued by an accepted audit circulation board that reports on the volume of circulation by source, circulation type by breakout, frequency, locations of distribution and selling price for a magazine or community newspaper during a specific period.

We accept reports from the following audit circulation boards:

• Canadian Circulations Audit Board (CCAB/BPA), a division of BPA Worldwide;
• Alliance for Audited Media (AAM);
• Canadian Media Circulation Audit (CMCA).

A periodical aimed at the public, of two types:

• general interest: dealing with broad topics likely to be of interest to anyone, such as news, general history and entertainment;
• special interest: dealing with niche topics, such as hobbies, cooking, sports, and countless other topics.

A newspaper that primarily circulates local or regional information on a geographically defined territory or on information on the basis of common affiliation (e.g. farm, ethnocultural, religious), published under a common name at regular intervals.

Copies distributed free of charge or for which there is no monetary transaction or proof of sale.

Value of the opening stock plus all purchases less the value of the closing stock.

Publication that primarily text, photographic, and illustrated editorial content delivered through a website, download or email, and that is published on a regularly scheduled basis under a common title and governed by an editorial function (editor).

A periodical that is the digital version of a print magazine but whose content is at least 50% original.

The space in a periodical, excluding advertising and non-revenue pages, which consists of original text, images, photographs, graphics and illustrations.

Salaries/costs related to the generation of editorial pages and the activities leading to the production of Canadian editorial content, (for both print and digital content), these include:

• Editor(s)
  • the person(s) responsible for implementing the editorial policy and is responsible for the editorial content of the publication.
• Writer(s)
  • a person who composes thoughts and presents information in literary forms as their occupation or profession.
• Translator(s)
  • an employee or third-party services whose specific job requires changing words in written form from one language into a different language;
    • translated editorial content – See “Canadian editorial content”.
• Proofreader(s)
  • the function of reading text after typesetting but before printing. A proofreader compares the compositor's typeset pages to the original manuscript.
• Photographer(s)
  • the function of producing photographs as stand-alone stories or associated with a theme or story for the purpose of publication in a print or digital publication.
• Publisher(s)
  • a person that prepares and issues journals, magazines and community newspapers in traditional and digital formats for sale to the public which can include their own work and from other authors’.
• Designer(s)
  • costs associated with creative selection of graphic elements and correlating the selected text and graphics into a visually pleasing page format ready for production.
• Illustrator(s)
  • a paid person that creates a conceptualized drawing from the theme of the copy and designs images consistent with the style or format of the publication.
• Videographer(s)
  • the function of producing videos for publication on an associated digital platform or a digital only magazine or digital-only community newspaper.
• Journalist(s)
  • a paid employee who researches and/or investigates events and produces articles which include facts, descriptions or events explanations of interest to the reader.
• Canadian content rights purchased
  • costs associated with the acquisition of Canadian editorial materials from a Canadian or permanent residents who are not salaried employees.
• Freelance editorial work
  • costs associated to a Canadian or permanent resident that are not employed by the publishing firm but provide editorial services to the publication.
• Circulation audit report – See “Circulation report”

Electronic newsletter sent by a website or organization to users who subscribe to it.

A periodical that primarily serves or is primarily concerned with a commonly recognized specific cultural or racially distinct community or specific linguistic group using other languages than Canada's official languages.

An eligible ethnocultural periodical may be published in any language.

A periodical aimed at the farming industry, including animal farming.

A final report is submitted at the end of your project based on the requirements defined in the funding agreement.

Refers to the publishing firm's twelve-month financial year that ends on a date within the period of April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.

Editorial content (text and images) created or translated by a person who is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada within the meaning of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. If the creator or translator is unknown, or if the citizenship cannot be determined, the editorial content is deemed foreign.

A periodical that is primarily targeted to and concerned with serving First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.

Salaries/costs related to the generation of editorial content that are not recognized or covered by the Aid to Publishers formula for the production of Canadian editorial content, these include:

• travel;
• amortized capital costs;
• salaries for employees other than those involved in the creation of editorial content (administration, marketing, advertising, etc.); and
• salaries of employees creating editorial content that are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

An internationally agreed upon standard number that uniquely identifies a publication. It is assigned by the ISSN Network.

A periodical that primarily serves or is primarily concerned with Two-Spirit people, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and people who identify as part of sexual and gender diverse communities, who use additional terminologies.

A series of words, numbers, paragraphs, photos or other items, which may include descriptions, opinions or analysis. Examples: stock listings, sports scores and standings, television listings, product descriptions and restaurant descriptions.

A print periodical that is commonly recognized as a magazine, is paginated and bound, appears in consecutively numbered or dated issues, is published under a common title at regular intervals and may possess an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN).

The section of a periodical which lists information on the staff, the publisher, the editorial board, and provides contact information.

A publication, issued periodically, typically by a business, institution, or other organization, that presents information and news to members, customers, or employees.

A newsletter attributes include the following but may not be limited to:

• no cover page – articles start immediately;
• unbound;
• fewer than 20 pages;
• no table of contents;
• no list of authors;
• no full masthead;
• no regular editorial columns or letter to the editor; and
• part of a continued series.

Newsletters are not eligible for funding under the Aid to Publishers component.

A periodical which contains news on current events of special or general interest. The individual articles are listed chronologically or numerically and appear regularly, usually at least once a week but sometimes bimonthly or monthly.

All pages other than advertising pages or editorial. They can include self-promotional pages, pages donated to local charities or businesses, delivery of in-kind services, etc. Blank pages are considered to be non-revenue pages.

Periodicals or projects that, in our opinion, contain or promote any of the following:

• material that is hate propaganda, obscene or child pornography, or any other illegal material, as defined in the Criminal Code;
• pornography or other material having significant sexual content unless it can be demonstrated that there is an overriding educational or other similar purpose;
• material that contains excessive or gratuitous violence;
• material that is denigrating to an identifiable group; or
• any other similarly offensive material.

Periodicals that contain offensive content, in our opinion, are not eligible for funding under the Aid to Publishers component.

A periodical that is published in English or French, in a region of Canada where the language and content of the periodical primarily serves and is concerned with an official-language minority community (a French-speaking community outside of Quebec or an English-speaking community in Quebec).

Editorial content created by the publishing firm that has not previously been published elsewhere, including websites and other Canadian or foreign periodicals. This includes the translation of content created by the publishing firm.

Copies of a magazine or community newspaper sold through subscriptions, single-copies/newsstand sales and sponsored copies.

A professional association periodical meets all the following conditions:

• is directly owned by an association;
• membership in the association is necessary to maintain a professional status which is recognized by a federal or provincial/territorial statute; and
• membership in the association includes paying professional dues which are deductible under subparagraph 8(1)(i) (i) of the Income Tax Act.

Professional association periodicals are not eligible for funding under the Aid to Publishers component.

The number of issues of a periodical, pre-determined by the publishing firm, that are published during the 12-month financial year.

A periodical that is primarily religious in purpose and content.

Content created and used for multiple periodicals or platforms under the same publishing firm.

In the application form, salaries for an employee whose content appears in more than one periodical must be prorated or reported under one periodical.

Reproduced or translated content taken from Canadian or foreign sources other than the publishing firm.

Reproduced content cannot represent more than 49% of a periodical and the source of the content must be cited.

Free copies of magazines that are individually addressed to recipients who have directly requested the periodical from a publishing firm using written, telephone, email or fax request.

A magazine, aimed at specialists, which presents results of research in a specific field for disseminating knowledge.

Copies purchased by an individual at a point of sale or newsstand for which there is a monetary transaction and a proof of sale.

An insert or a combination of two issues is not considered as a special issue. A special issue:

• is published within the regular publishing cycle;
• is an additional issue, sent separately, that focuses on a specific theme or topic;
• has a title and International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) common to the host periodical; and
• has its cost included in the subscription cost.

A specific and distinct section of content that is sponsored by an advertiser. The sponsored content will often match the subject matter, as well as the audience. Sponsored content is considered to be advertising.

Single copies or subscriptions purchased in sets of 11 or more, at a reduced price, in a single transaction or copies purchased by a sponsor for distribution to targeted consumers.

An individual who has knowingly paid or undertaken to pay for a subscription to a periodical, to be delivered over a specified period.

A magazine that is targeted to workers in a particular field of employment, usually using request circulation. Also known as a business, business-to-business, or professional magazine.

An individual working on behalf of others without receiving financial or material gain.

A report that provides traffic information on a given website. For program purposes, the required information on the report must include:

• URL Address
• Geographic data
• Traffic during the application financial year

Please note that the Web analytics report provided must come from an official application or service; an Excel or Word document will not be accepted.