Indexing Society of Canada

Befores and Afters: Looking at Usability in Cookbook Indexes

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Saturday, January 24th, 2026, @2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time

Cookbooks are hands-on texts, requiring intelligent, user-friendly indexes. In our first talk of the year, Gillian Watts will share her indexing expertise with a focus on usability in cookbook indexes. Join us as Gillian takes us through examples from unsatisfactory indexes (befores), explaining why they don’t work well, and demonstrating how they can be improved (afters). In preparation for Gillian’s talk, we invite you to look at the indexes in your favourite cookbooks, and bring your comments and questions.

Gillian Watts is a freelance editor and indexer with more than 30 years’ experience in the field. Although well-known as a cookbook indexer (since 2002), she has also produced hundreds of back-of-the-book indexes in a wide variety of disciplines. She is a long-term volunteer with ISC/SCI and served on the executive for several years. 

Members: log in and check Upcoming Events for the Zoom details.

Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary 2026

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Application deadline: March 8, 2026

The Indexing Society of Canada (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce the opening of the application period for its Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary.

This bursary is part of ISC/SCI’s special program to contribute to filling a proven lack of diverse voices and the demand for them in the Canadian publishing industry to help achieve equality of opportunity for aspiring indexers belonging to underrepresented and/or marginalized groups.

Indexing is a specialized field, involving close reading, analysis, and organization. Beyond writing back-of-book indexes, indexers use their skills in areas as diverse as embedded (digital) indexing, metadata and database maintenance, cataloguing, glossary writing, thesaurus construction, and project management, to name only a few! Indexing provides endless opportunities for learning, professional exploration, and growth, aided by offerings of the Indexing Society of Canada and other societies worldwide, welcoming individuals from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds.

The application deadline for the 2026 bursary is 8 March 2026. It will be granted to one person and will cover fees for an approved indexing program, two years of ISC/SCI membership with listing, and entry into the Mentorship program. Please refer to the bursary application for more information, including eligibility requirements.

In February we will be holding an open info session for anyone interested in applying to the bursary. You can ask questions about the bursary, ISC/SCI, and indexing in general. Please check the bursary application website for the ZOOM url closer to the date.

The ISC/SCI and TIDE (The Inclusion, Diversity and Equity) committee look forward to fostering connections within and outside of the publishing industry while working toward diversification, cultural education, and inclusion. Please share this information with your contacts and join us on this exciting and necessary path—one forged by many thoughtful and hardworking people and organizations before us—toward embracing diversity and expanding our knowledge and understanding together.

LEARN MORE: https://indexers.ca/volunteer/tide/

APPLY HERE: https://indexers.ca/tide-application/

CONTACT US: tide@indexers.ca

Call for Submissions: ISC/SCI Ewart-Daveluy Award for Excellence in Indexing 2026

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Submission deadline: Monday, March 16, 2026

Submissions are open! The application has never been easier.

  • It’s all online.
  • You don’t need a hard copy—a PDF of the published book AND/OR the PDF sent to you by the publisher plus your Word/RTF file of the index.
  • The cost is only $30.

The winner will receive two tickets to the conference banquet at the next in-person conference.

No restriction to the subject matter or genre—textbooks, cookbooks, guidebooks, memoirs, art books, how-to books, travel books, all books—it’s your index we will be looking at.

Show us how you creatively overcame challenges, resulting in an outstanding, well-structured, easy-to-navigate, clear, and comprehensive guide for all of its users.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Maybe you’ll get the prize (which won’t happen if you don’t apply).

This year you can submit indexes published in 2024 and 2025. If you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, this is the time to do it. If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you may submit an index if you were a member of ISC/SCI at the time you wrote the index.

The deadline for submissions is March 16, 2026. Please see the Ewart-Daveluy Indexing Award page for guidelines, criteria, and the submission form.

2025 Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary Recipient: Rhonda Kronyk

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The Indexing Society of Canada / Société canadienne d’indexation (ISC/SCI) is pleased to announce that Rhonda Kronyk is the 2025 ISC/SCI Diversity in Canadian Publishing Bursary recipient.

Rhonda Kronyk has been editing since 2013, building “a career that combines technical skill with advocacy for more equitable publishing practices.” She goes on to say, “In 2017, I attended the Indigenous Editors Circle, led by Gregory Younging. As a member of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation, this experience profoundly shaped my professional and personal life. On the final day, I became a founding member of the Indigenous Editors Association (IEA). From that point forward, my work has focused on Indigenous authors and stories, and I have committed myself to learning Canada’s true history with Indigenous Peoples so that I can edit with respect and accuracy.” Rhonda views indexing as a continuation of this journey.

With this bursary, ISC/SCI aims to help achieve equality of opportunity for aspiring indexers belonging to underrepresented and/or marginalized groups. The bursary covers fees for an approved indexing program, two years of ISC membership with listing, and entry into the Mary Newberry Mentorship program.

This year has been an extraordinary year for applicants. Along with the full bursary, ISC/SCI has awarded 5 exceptional runners up with a 6-month membership.

Congratulations, Rhonda! Congratulations all, and welcome!

Professional Development Series

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From the Beginning: Approaching a New Index

Saturday, October 18th, 2025 @ 2:00-3:30 p.m. Eastern Time

As indexers, we share a common goal: creating a quality index for each project. But our approaches to new indexes vary widely and evolve over time.

Join us to hear how our panel of established indexers – Alex Peace, Mary Newberry and Pierke Bosschieter, with input from Marta Steele – approach a new index, and see where their methods correspond and differ. We expect a lively discussion, so come prepared to ask questions and share your approaches.

Please join us for this Zoom meeting, open to all members of ISC/SCI. You can check the meeting start time in your time zone here: https://dateful.com/time-zone-converter.