Accessible publishing and knowledge sharing are what drives the 2025 Janet Mackenzie Medal winner, Julie Ganner AE

Julie Ganner AE was a little overwhelmed when she learned she was the 2025 Janet Mackenzie Medal winner.

“I was thrilled and very grateful,” she said.

“It’s really exciting and also lovely to be acknowledged in that way. Everyone has been so kind.”

The Janet Mackenzie Medal, known as the Mackenzie, is awarded to an outstanding professional editor who has lifted the standard of the editing profession and/or given exemplary service to IPEd.

Over a career spanning more than 35 years, Julie has made outstanding contributions to publishing and the editing profession. She has significantly advanced the profession by raising awareness, both within Australia and internationally, of the need for accessible and inclusive publications for readers with print disability.

She has co-authored two books on accessibility and inclusive publishing and given time and invaluable expertise to the administration of IPEd, including as a member of the Accreditation Board, as chair of the Accessibility Initiative Working Party and as a member of the IPEd Standards Working Party that recently published the third edition of the IPEd standards for editing practice (2024). Julie has also been an active member of the NSW branch; her long service on the committee included the role of president.

Advocating for the change that we want to see

Julie’s interest in accessible and inclusive publishing was sparked by a forum held by what would later become the Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative. The forum was held in Sydney and, as she happened to be president of Editors NSW at the time, Julie was asked by IPEd CEO Karen Lee to represent IPEd. While initially Julie thought she’d just listen to some interesting talks and learn a few things, that quickly changed.

“I got there and the room was full of people working in the disability sector, government and publishing, including people with vision impairment, talking about their personal experiences with inaccessible publications. And I actually felt quite ashamed of myself that I’d never really thought carefully about how people with disabilities access books if they’re published in print form alone,” Julie said.

“We editors put so much care and thought into making our content as good as it possibly can be, yet this aspect of my work hadn’t crossed my mind. I didn’t know what the issues were, or even that there were issues at all. So as soon as I realised that, I thought, ‘Well, this is something we need to rectify.’”

What followed was two key publications on accessibility and inclusive publishing, Inclusive publishing in Australia: an introductory guide (2019) and Books without barriers: a practical guide to inclusive publishing (2023). These have become standard guides for the publishing industry. But Julie isn’t resting on her laurels when it comes to accessible books.

“It’s not done yet,” she says when asked what drives her work in accessible and inclusive publishing.

“That’s the thing. We’ve done all this work, but I can see that not all editors are aware yet of how to prevent barriers to reading. So that’s partly what compels me. The other thing is talking with people in the disability sector and listening to the accessibility problems they’re still having, such as content being provided in a form that is difficult to transcribe into braille. Awareness is growing, and obviously editing is only one part of the publishing workflow, but we are not there yet. And until we are, I’m going to keep going.”

For Julie, the most exciting aspect of the Janet Mackenzie Medal is the implicit recognition of the ongoing work she and her colleagues are doing to promote the importance of editing for accessibility.

“Our aim is to make the correction of accessibility issues as much a standard part of every editor’s professional practice as correcting language and grammar issues is. My hope is that this award will help us achieve that aim.”

It’s her work in accessible and inclusive publishing that highlights for Julie how editors can take on the role of advocate.

“That’s something that I’m going to be talking about at the IPEd Conference because I think we absolutely have to be advocates for best practice, whether educating clients or sharing our knowledge with each other. Even if that sometimes means sticking our necks out a bit.

“We can’t make clients do things they don’t want to, but we can certainly encourage them, educate them, and explain the benefits of accessible publishing. And in my experience, that’s usually very effective. Most people do want to do the right thing; they just don’t always know what best practice is. As soon as you explain it, they are often happy to adjust. So I think we do have to be advocates for the change we want to see.”

A journey shaped by the value of shared knowledge 

Like many of her colleagues, Julie’s editing story begins with a love of books.

“I have always been an avid reader. I was one of those kids that spent my entire summer with my nose in a book,” Julie said.

That appreciation for books soon turned to a desire to work in publishing. Local publishers were pestered for tours of their businesses, and a young Julie wrote letters to publishers asking them what she needed to study at university to get into publishing. “Whatever you want” was the reply. A degree in English literature and then postgraduate studies at the London College of Printing followed – the latter giving Julie a “background in all aspects of publishing”, from editing and design to typography and print.

Her first job was as an editorial assistant at McGraw-Hill, followed by a role as acquisitions editor.

“I was the youngest acquisitions editor in the UK at the time. It was quite funny because my job involved visiting universities and trying to sign up lecturers to become authors, but I looked like a student myself! I had to start power dressing to get taken seriously,” Julie said.

After immigrating to Australia in her mid-20s, Julie worked as production editor in the (then) educational division of HarperCollins, before stepping into the role of editorial and production manager. The birth of her first child prompted a switch to freelance work. Today, Julie is a highly respected freelance editor with many clients, including a long association with Pearson Australia. She has worked in most aspects of the editing profession and in many genres.

While publishing professionals have benefited from her workshops, webinars and articles, Julie also promotes awareness of the principles of accessibility and inclusion for the editors of the future, through her teaching at the University of Sydney for the Master of Publishing degree.

“It has been eye-opening. A lot of my students report having had very little grammar education, so some of the things I thought I wouldn’t need to explain, I’ve found that I do,” Julie said.

“And they teach me as well. They ask me really difficult questions, and sometimes I have to go and brush up on the information or research it further myself. I really like that challenge.”

Teaching the next generation of editors exemplifies the knowledge sharing that Julie values the most about her involvement with IPEd.

“One of the other exciting things has been to see IPEd’s evolution,” Julie said.

“We had a difficult start, but those of us who were keen to get this direct membership organisation going did so because we were hoping to achieve pretty much what we are now achieving: that shared knowledge, shared experience, and the ability it brings to advocate for changes in the publishing industry and greater recognition of what editors do. And I’m really delighted to have been part of that.

“What drew me to working with IPEd in the first place was knowing that there was so much knowledge in Australia among editors.

“We had individual state societies with their own newsletters, and I learned quite a lot from those. But there was so much more we could be doing to share our experience and expertise. That’s been a really big change in the past 10 years.”

Continuously learning 

Among other industry changes, Julie cites technology as a standout. 

“Technology has made massive advances since I began. For starters, I don’t have a sore neck anymore from looking down constantly at pieces of paper!

“The continual need to learn new tools is also something I’m very aware of. Obviously, there has been the evolution of Microsoft Word, which we all use, as well as Adobe Acrobat for proofreading. And now, with the advent of digital publishing, publishers are regularly adjusting their workflows and tools, so editors need to stay up to date too.”

The Janet Mackenzie Medal provides an opportunity for Julie to reflect on her career and the things she is most proud of, but also the things she is excited about. 

“A lot of the individual projects I’ve worked on have been very rewarding, as have our achievements within IPEd. I am particularly proud to have been on the IPEd Council, as part of the team that negotiated the transition to a direct membership organisation in 2016. That was a lot of work!

“I then chaired the first IPEd policies committee, which drafted the IPEd Code of Ethics. This was another important step, as it set out the core principles of the organisation. And of course Books without barriers and its predecessor, Inclusive publishing in Australia, have been big achievements for me, as well as my involvement with the most recent edition of the IPEd standards.

“Now I’m in a new career phase too, teaching part time at the University of Sydney. It’s exciting to help a new generation of students understand what editors do: how difficult it is to be a really good editor, what our work involves and how many layers to it there are, and what’s needed to create content that is accessible and inclusive.”

Julie’s advice to those aspiring editors: read widely and be open-minded. 

“First of all, read as widely as you can. And don’t be too judgemental of other people’s work, or think too much in terms of ‘this is good; this is bad’.

“The editor’s job is to support the author and help them communicate their ideas as clearly as possible. As I try to emphasise in my teaching, to do this we need to remain humble, useful and always open-minded; and to keep learning continuously. I’ve been in this industry for well over 30 years now, and I’m still learning. This is something everyone in our profession should expect to do – not just aspiring editors, but all of us.”