Girlfriend Magazine

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Girlfriend magazine is an Australian teen girls magazine. It targets readers aged 12-17 years old with a mix of entertainment, fashion, beauty, advice and lifestyle articles.

Girlfriend gained media attention in 2005Fact|date=February 2007 when it was the first magazine to allow readers complete control of the magazine's content via the website in an initiative called "U Make The Mag". This section allowed the reader to vote for things like the cover girl, colour, and features of the magazine. However this section of the website no longer exists.

Girlfriend magazine initiated a "Girlfriend Bans Bullying" campaign in 2005. In each issue of the magazine, Girlfriend featured ways to deal with bullying, and stories of people that had had to deal with bullying in their lives. Girlfriend also teamed up with Supre, to release a range of "Girlfriend Bans Bullying" singlets and dogtag necklaces, with slogans such as 'Peace Lover' and 'Lover, not a fighter'. All the proceeds went to charity.

In 2006 Girlfriend celebrated its 18th birthday and won the Magazine Publisher's Awards for both Best Website and Editorial Initiative.Fact|date=February 2007 In 2006 it initiated a campaign to alert readers to its use of Photoshop throughout the magazine as part of the "Self Respect" campaign.Fact|date=February 2007

The Girlfriend Self Respect Campaign encourages readers to be themselves, not put themselves down, be happy with who they are, and generally lead a good and happy life. The magazine features 'Real Girls' in the magazine each month, who have had to deal with issues in their lives, and are intended to be an inspiration. There are inspiring quotes, yummy recipes to try, reader profiles, exercise tips, and dogma on how to live a happy, successful life in the "Girlfriend Guru" section of the magazine, which is part of the self respect campaign.

In 2007 Girlfriend became one of the first magazines to be completely printed on recycled paperFact|date=July 2008. It has started a "Girlfriend Goes Green" campaign, to inform readers of the effects of global warming, and how they can help prevent it. The Girlfriend website also features an "Enviro-Room" which has many ideas on how to save water, electricity and resources.

The magazine's website is one of the most popular youth websites in Australia.Fact|date=February 2007

Girlfriend is part of the Pacific Magazines stable.

* Editor - Sarah Cornish
* Deputy Editor - Odette Tonkin
* Art Director - Liz North
* Chief Sub - Katrina Sichlau
* Beauty Editor - Sarah Tarca
* Fashion Editor - Lisa Stern
* Features Writer - Jenna Zampa
* Entertainment Editor - Rob Moran

Girlfriend also has a New Zealand edition published from Auckland each month under Pacific Magazines New Zealand.

External links

* [http://www.girlfriend.com.au Girlfriend website]
* [http://www.whatagirlneeds.com.au/story/aug072007/fashion-in-full-bloom-part-two Interview with Girlfriend Beauty Editor Sarah Tarca]
* [http://www.whatagirlneeds.com.au/story/nov012006/erica-holburn Interview with former Girlfriend Deputy Editor Erica Holburn]