Canadian Press Style for Magazines: CP or Chicago?

What to take away

What is being compared

Two style guides sit on most Canadian magazine desks. The Canadian Press Stylebook is the news agency's own manual, sold by subscription and revised continuously. The Chicago Manual of Style is a reference book from the University of Chicago Press, now in its seventeenth edition, revised roughly every seven years.

They were built for different jobs. CP exists so wire copy reads the same in every newsroom. Chicago exists so scholarly and trade publishing can handle notes, bibliographies and complex typography. A magazine borrows from both, and the borrowing is where the arguments start.

The criteria that matter

Option by option

Canadian Press Stylebook

CP gives you Canadian English as the default, which matters for a title sold in provinces where readers notice "colour" and "licence." It handles Canadian institutions, federal titles and provincial names without a house list. It also assumes news copy: short sentences, metric units, minimal citation.

Chicago Manual of Style

Chicago gives you depth. Chapters on tables, captions, foreign languages and permissions run far beyond what CP covers. It is the better tool for a feature that quotes a court ruling or a book review with footnotes. Its spelling default is US, so you override it on every page.

A house guide built on both

Most established titles do not choose. They write a short internal guide naming CP as primary for news and Chicago for features, then list the exceptions. That document is the one copy editors actually use.

The method for writing it is set out in how to create a magazine editorial style guide, which walks through the sections a new title needs.

Where each one wins

CP is right for news-driven magazines: city weeklies, business titles, anything with short turnaround and Canadian datelines. If your copy arrives from freelancers across the country, CP's shared defaults cut editing time.

Chicago is right for features, arts criticism, academic-adjacent titles and any magazine running endnotes. A quarterly with long essays will use Chicago more than CP.

For layout and typography decisions that sit outside both guides, a working reference is magazine design, layout, and typography: a practical guide, which covers the grid and type choices style guides do not touch.

A style guide is a decision record. If two editors cannot settle a comma without opening the book, the guide is incomplete.

Example: one sentence, two guides

Take a line about a federal grant. The sentence below is made up to show the two forms.

CP: On Jan. 5, 2024, the department gave the magazine a grant of $25,000, or 40 per cent of its annual budget.

Chicago: On January 5, 2024, the department gave the magazine a grant of $25,000, or 40 percent of its annual budget.

The date, the figure and the spelling match. CP shortens the month and keeps per cent as two words; Chicago spells the month out and closes percent into one word.

The Canada Periodical Fund is a separate question from style. Its rules sit on the Canada Periodical Fund page.

Costs and upkeep

CP is a subscription, so the cost recurs every year and the text updates under you. Access is priced by the number of users, so the current rate comes from The Canadian Press on request.

Chicago is a purchase, so the cost lands once and the edition ages. The print edition lists in the range of US$70 to US$80 a copy, a typical price for a reference book of its size that shifts with each edition and retailer.

Budget the time, not just the money. Someone has to read the updates, tell the desk what changed, and amend the house guide. A guide nobody maintains is worse than no guide, because it makes old decisions look current.

For titles that sell advertising, the FTC native advertising guide covers the labels sponsored pages need.

What none of them solve

Neither guide decides your voice. CP will not tell you whether to open a feature with a scene or a fact. Chicago will not tell you how long a caption should run.

Neither settles legal risk either. Defamation, fair comment and privacy are questions for a lawyer, not a stylebook, and a magazine that publishes profiles should keep counsel on call.

Common questions

Does Canadian Press use Canadian spelling?

Yes. CP follows Canadian English, so "colour," "centre" and "licence" are standard. Chicago defaults to US spelling, which is why Canadian magazines that adopt it usually override the spelling chapter in their house guide.

Can a magazine use both CP and Chicago?

Yes, and many do. The workable split is CP for news, short items and captions, Chicago for features, reviews and anything with notes. The split has to be written down, or editors will apply it differently.

Which guide is cheaper for a small publisher?

Chicago is a one-time book purchase, while CP is a recurring subscription. Over five years the subscription usually costs more, but it stays current. Compare the renewal against your editing hours before deciding.

Do I need a style guide if I use CP?

Yes. CP covers the common cases, not your title's voice, your column names or your house hyphenation.