Mennonite Weekly Review

Geez Magazine, a Canadian quarterly whose motto is “holy mischief in an age of fast faith,” has won several awards in both the religious and secular sectors.

Geez won three awards in the Western Canada Press Awards, including Magazine of the Year, in 2007. It won a General Excellence Award in 2008, along with awards in nine other categories, in the Canadian Church Press Awards. Geez also received a nomination from the Utne Independent Press Awards.

Beyond enjoying the recognition, Geez values the awards because they provide feedback on what material resonates within the writing and publishing world.

Geez attempts to blur the line between the religious and the secular.

“This is affirmation that we have had some success in doing that,” said Will Braun, editor of Geez.

Geez began as the idea of Aiden Enns, former managing editor of Adbusters, who recognized the need for a similar venue for people of faith. Enns, in collaboration with Braun, both from Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, recruited Daryl Brown, from Newberg, Ore., for the magazine’s layout and design.

Now in its third year, Geez has grown a readership of more than 2,000 in both Canada and the United States since its first issue in 2005.

“We try to do unpredictable things,” Braun said. “So much in the written world is predictable. We try to be unpredictable in that regard, look at unexpected angles and unexpected opinions.”

Geez explores themes of culture and lifestyle as a matter of faith. It takes seriously the spiritual aspects of bike-commuting and the complex moral choices wrapped up in food. It tackled fear in Issue Seven, “Monsters in our Midst,” and unconventional homilies in “30 Sermons You’d Never Hear in Church.” In its second issue, “The Lighter Side of Less,” Geez highlighted the lives of several people who are creatively choosing lives of simplicity.