This issue is for you, and by you, according to readers’ votes.

We didn’t get as many votes as a general election, or as a UWSA election, but I suppose we’re a little bit smaller than each of those campaigns. Regardless, most of the contents of this issue weren’t decided by our reporters or our editorial team, or by press releases and phone calls and event invites.

Who we feature in the Uniter 30 is decided by our readers.

This year, we switched out a few categories and added some new ones in.

We had a whole bunch of visual arts grouped into one, but there’s so much great art in our city that it didn’t seem comprehensive enough. We also added a public art piece category and a gallery or artist-run centre category.

I hope that art lovers will also appreciate the gorgeous cover of this issue. Those who know and love Dany Reede, who won the favourite local visual artist category last year, may recognize his distinctive style. This piece was finished over the last month using acrylics and embroidery.

One topic you won’t see this year is favourite local neighbourhood, but to keep this place-specific theme going, we added favourite local public gathering place. And to send shout-outs to the people building community, we also added favourite local grassroots community group.

Many readers were incredibly creative in their submissions, and it didn’t seem fair to keep their original quips to ourselves, so we added an outtakes section on page 21. These are all you, (though we don’t know who “you” are), so perhaps a few readers will see themselves in there.

More than anything, this issue is a reminder of all that’s worth celebrating in Winnipeg and everyone who’s working to make this a better place to live and work and play. And that sounds like a great topic to devote 24 pages to!

– Anastasia Chipelski

Published in Volume 72, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 30, 2017)