COVER VOTE

How we chose this issue’s cover

Magazines have to make some tough decisions. And choosing a cover can, at times, be particularly challenging. That was certainly the case in selecting the front page of this issue. Back when we reviewed a wide selection of image options with guest editor Catherine Mckenna, the image of a blue shark ( ABOVE, left) off Nova Scotia’s south shore was her unequivocal favourite, and our newsstand consultant emphatically agreed. Voters in our regular online cover vote, however, felt differently. Option three, of Flowerpot Island in Ontario’s Fathom Five National Marine Park, earned a full 40 per cent of the tally, with the other two covers splitting the difference. Even so, experience has taught us that newsstand magazine buyers love top predators, so we decided to make that tough choice, to trust our collective publishing instincts by sticking with the shark. Now it’s sink or swim.