TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 13, 2026--
The 2026 Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) Awards gala gathered marketers from across Canada on November 13 to recognize the nation’s top marketing campaigns and the ingenious creative and strategic talent shaping the future of marketing. The highest honours were awarded to Denise Dias, chief marketing and communications officer of the Terry Fox Foundation, named Marketer of the Year for her remarkable impact, and Tavleen Hans, corporate programs marketing manager at General Motors, who was awarded the Achievement in Marketing Award for her significant contributions.
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“It is an honour to be named Marketer of the Year and have my incredible team’s work recognized. This recognition creates a positive ripple effect on the thousands of volunteers and supporters across Canada who work tirelessly to keep Terry’s dream alive,” Dias said. “This past year is a great example of how marketing can inspire generosity and accelerate social impact. It has been an extraordinary privilege to help steward his legacy and to work alongside Canadians who support this initiative.”
In addition to Dias and Hans, the winners of the premiere awards are:
“Canada’s marketing talent continues to be at the forefront of innovation and creativity, pushing boundaries and growing brands,” said Esther Benzie, president and CEO of the CMA. “This year’s work demonstrates the remarkable strategic thinking and creative excellence that contributes to brand and business growth. As stated in our recent report, Uncovering the Value of Marketing in Canada, award-winning organizations outperform non-winners on key financial indicators. Award-winning firms have reported up to 39% higher sales and up to 63% higher operating income, compared to their peers.”
This year, the CMA introduced its inaugural Inclusive Marketing Award presented by RBC, recognizing strategy and creativity in campaigns that have leveraged diverse and inclusive inputs and communication formats to achieve outstanding results and relevant representation. Kids Help Phone received the gold award for its “Feelings to Text” campaign.
In total, there were 43 gold CMA signature awards presented across seven disciplines (listed below) and an additional 10 gold featured awards. Notably, Courage led all agencies with 22 total trophies, including 12 gold.
Ten dollars from every 2026 CMA Awards signature award submission and awards gala ticket purchased contributed to a donation for the National Advertising Benevolence Society (NABS). During the ceremony, the CMA announced that a $10,000 donation, raised from award submissions and gala attendees, will be made to NABS supporting people in the Canadian marketing community with wellness and career support.
Awards categories and judging
Signature awards were presented across seven disciplines: brand building, business/brand impact, customer experience and shopper marketing, engagement, innovative media, public relations and sponsorship. Within each discipline, entries competed in one of eight categories: automotive, business, consumer products and services, financial, food and beverage, healthcare, retail/consumer business and social causes.
There were a total of 599 submissions for this year’s awards. The awards were judged by Canadian industry experts, following a two-round process:
The judging process was co-chaired by Nuno Bamberg, senior vice-president, brand and marketing at Sleep Country Canada Inc. and Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, chief creative officer at TBWACanada.
A full list of CMA Award winners can be found here.
About the Canadian Marketing Association
The CMA is the voice of marketing in Canada, and our purpose is to champion marketing’s powerful impact. We are the catalyst to help Canada’s marketers thrive today, while building the marketing mindset and environment of tomorrow.
We provide opportunities for our members from coast to coast to develop professionally, to contribute to marketing thought leadership, to build strong networks, and strengthen the regulatory climate for business success. Our Chartered Marketer (CM) designation signifies that recipients are highly qualified and up to date with best practices, as reflected in the Canadian Marketing Code of Ethics and Standards. We represent virtually all of Canada’s major business sectors, and all marketing disciplines, channels and technologies. We advocate with government stakeholders and provide Canadian consumers with information to help them better understand their rights and obligations. For more information, visit thecma.ca.
Marketer of the Year - Denise Dias, Terry Fox Foundation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials said Friday that new technology being added to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated systems and caused “intermittent” communications and radar gaps, leading to the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years.
It was lifted Friday night after a five-hour stretch when most flights were not allowed to take off from airports in the United States.
Thousands of flights and potentially over a million travelers were affected from coast to coast. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that no one was in any danger as more than 3,000 flights were safely landed. But Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said he could not guarantee it wouldn’t happen again.
Mullin said the FAA was installing “new equipment, new technology” and “it was overwhelming the older system.” There appeared to be no indication of a cyberattack, Mullin said.
A limited number of domestic flights began departing Friday evening after the ground stop was lifted, but it would likely take days for airlines to fully recover because so many planes and crews were out of position. Officials said they think the system will be back to normal in time to handle the Thanksgiving travel rush.
The nationwide ground stop was the first since January 2023, when a key FAA computer system malfunctioned, and the second since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Asked whether he could rule out a cyberattack or rogue artificial intelligence incident, Mullin said: “There’s nothing completely certain right now. It doesn’t appear that way.” He said there are no “footprints” showing an attack and that it appears to be “mechanically driven,” adding that officials were still looking for the cause.
At least 827 flights had been diverted. As of 7:05 p.m. EST, 670 flights were sent back to the airport from where they originally took off, while 157 were redirected to a different airport, according to Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
The airports where many of the flights ended up being diverted included Washington Dulles International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Nashville International Airport.
Some 11,000 flights carrying more than 1.5 million passengers had been scheduled to take off from airports in the U.S. after 4 p.m. EST.
At the time of the ground stoppage, 3,500 airplanes were in the sky, Duffy said.
“And last time I looked, we had less than 400 in the airspace,” he said. He said it's going to be slow getting air traffic back to normal.
At Chicago O’Hare Airport on Friday afternoon, travelers passing through security learned about the ground stop when they looked up at screens that showed flight delays across the board.
Some called friends or family members, debating whether to stay the night in Chicago or find another way to their destinations.
Amber McQuilkin, 27, sat on a bench, disappointed that she might miss a trip with friends to New York for the League of Legends world finals. Her friends, she said, had already arrived there.
“There’s not really any information being passed to me,” said the Seattle software engineer, who took a week of vacation for the trip. “I contemplated just abandoning the flight and driving, but then the more I thought about it, the more I’m like, that would be miserable.”
Austin Curtis and his wife were rethinking their trip from South Bend, Indiana, to a friend’s baby shower in Denver after getting delayed during a layover in Chicago.
They had boarded a flight to Denver from O’Hare International Airport when they were told to get off the plane.
“We did see them taking luggage off our plane and others, so we’re assuming it’s going to be a pretty substantial delay,” Curtis said.
They were unsure whether to get a hotel room or keep waiting out the delay at the airport. With care already in place for their two young children at home, they might stay the weekend in Chicago, he said.
NBA, NHL and college teams were left stranded as they tried to reach their destinations. Meanwhile, NFL teams were left to wonder whether the issue would be resolved in time to travel to their games this weekend.
Duffy said NCAA teams will be prioritized ahead of football games on Saturday.
“I would encourage those football teams to reach out to the FAA, to schedule their flight times and make sure they can move” to make their kickoff, he said.
Cargo flights were also delayed by the ground stop.
FedEx, the world’s largest cargo airline, said it was prepared to activate contingency plans to keep any possible disruptions at a minimum.
U.S. airlines move about 61,000 tons (55,340 metric tonnes) of goods — from letters to packages — to and from more than 220 countries daily, according to the industry trade group Airlines for America.
Despite the ground stop, SpaceX launched its Starship rocket from Texas on Friday afternoon in its latest test flight.
The problem appeared similar to a regional air traffic control communication outage in September that snarled hundreds of flights across the Northeast, although that disruption was linked to a construction crew cutting a fiber optic line. Aging equipment was also blamed for the brief radar outages last year that disrupted Newark airport.
Aviation safety expert Steve Arroyo said the difference this time is that it happened on a nationwide scale that left controllers unable to reliably talk to pilots.
“If you don’t have that ability, whether it’s because the old wires that they have are just run down or for whatever reason, you’ve got to stop airplanes on the ground and not put them in the air, where you’re going to risk not being able to communicate with them,” said Arroyo, a former United Airlines pilot.
Friday’s ground stop was also different than the one after 9/11 because planes were not being told to land immediately and pilots likely were able to communicate with ground controllers at airports, Arroyo said.
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. AP writers Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado; Ali Swenson in Chicago; and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
This story has been corrected to show the Sept. 11 attacks were in 2001.
Passenger watch as workers unload luggage from a United plane as flights are delayed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Passengers wait as flights are delayed inside a terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
The sun sets over Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in DFW Airport, Texas, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A passenger moves through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport as all flights are canceled or delayed, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
An agent helps travelers at a ticketing desk at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
People wait at a terminal at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Arlington, Va., after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
Passengers wait as flights are delayed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A person looks at a flight information board at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
People wait in line for car rentals at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Arlington, Va., after the FAA issued a nationwide ground stop. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)
A family waits at a terminal as flights are delayed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An information board displays flight statuses and cancellations, at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Friday, Nov. 13, 2026, after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all flights nationwide. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
FILE - A Federal Aviation Administration logo is displayed in the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - An airplane flies past the air traffic control tower at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Nov. 8, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
FILE - A Delta Airlines and United Airlines plane are seen at Denver International Airport on Nov. 6, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)
