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Dr. Richard William Hill's Canadian Art Column Nominated for Digital Publishing Award

Shellyniro The Rebel 1987 875W
Shelley Niro
The Rebel
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By Selina Rajani

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Dr. Hill and Canadian Art join nominees from CBC News, Vice and The Huffington Post on the Digital Publishing Award shortlist.

Shelley Niro's The Rebel (above) is "a timely reminder of the power Indigenous women could exercise by seizing control of their own representation and harnessing the plays of desire that drive pop-cultural tropes to new and delightful ends," writes Dr. Hill in his award-nominated Canadian Art column.

ECU Faculty Dr. Richard William Hill’s columns in Canada's most read art magazine, Canadian Art have been nominated for a Digital Publishing Award. Dr. Hill is ECU’s Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies, and his series, which focuses on Indigenous art of the 1980s and 1990s, joins such publications as CBC News, VICE and The Huffington Post on the shortlist for Best Blog or Column.

Dr. Hill’s partnership with Canadian Art came about while he was researching a book on contemporary Indigenous art from 1980 to 1995. While planning the project, he realized that the interesting issues and questions his research was raising would be worth blogging about.

Before he could get the blog started, he was approached by Leah Sandals, Managing Editor, Online, at Canadian Art. After discussions with Sandals, Dr. Hill decided to revise his idea for a modest independent blog into a higher-profile regular column for Canadian Art’s website.

Reader response was unprecedented! Dr. Hill’s columns are currently among the most read on the website, with many comments and contributions from readers, both supportive and constructively critical. He has even heard from the families of artists who were active during that period but no longer living.

The Gold, Silver and Honorable Mention awards will be presented at the Digital Publishing Awards soirée on Thursday, June 1 in Toronto, hosted by author and illustrator Evan Munday. Gold winners in most categories include a $500 cash prize.

Congratulations to Dr. Hill and to Canadian Art!


Produced by the National Media Awards Foundation, the Digital Publishing Awards promote and reward the achievements of those who create digital publishing content in Canada — the writers and editors, designers and developers, video and podcast producers, photographers and illustrators, and many others. The DPA program recognizes, celebrates and promotes to a national audience the innovative publishing teams that produce digital content in Canadian media.

Richard William Hill is Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies at ECU. Dr. Hill taught full-time in the Art History program at York University, Toronto, beginning in 2007 and leaving as Associate Professor in 2015. As Curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, he oversaw the museum’s first substantial effort to include Indigenous North American art and ideas in permanent-collection galleries. His regular column “Close Readings,” featuring extended reviews of contemporary Indigenous art, began in FUSE Magazine in 2013 and now continues in C Magazine.