DON LEMON TO HOST 2018 NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS LUNCH

CNN anchor to present Ellies to editorial leaders at March 13 event in New York City

NEW YORK, NY (January 31, 2018)—Sid Holt, chief executive of the American Society of Magazine Editors, today announced that the 2018 Ellie Awards Annual Luncheon will be hosted by Don Lemon, anchor of “CNN Tonight With Don Lemon.” The editorial leaders of more than 60 print and digital titles—including magazines published by Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Meredith Corporation and Time Inc.—are expected to be honored on Tuesday, March 13, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.

“Every year magazine editors and publishers join together at the Ellie Awards to celebrate the best of print and now digital journalism,” said Holt. “Of course, the last twelve months have been unlike any other in the history of our craft, so we’re especially looking forward to sharing this important occasion with an outspoken advocate of press freedom, Don Lemon.”

In addition to anchoring “CNN Tonight With Don Lemon,” which airs weeknights at 10, Lemon serves as a correspondent across CNN/U.S. programming. He is based in the network’s New York bureau.

Lemon joined CNN in September 2006 after serving as co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast on NBC5 News in Chicago. He earlier worked in New York as a correspondent for NBC News, The Today Show and NBC Nightly News as well as an anchor and reporter at stations in Philadelphia, St. Louis and Birmingham, Alabama. He began his career as a news assistant at WNYW in New York while still in college.

The winner of an Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C., snipers as well as several Emmys, Lemon serves as an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College, teaching and participating in a curriculum designed around new media. He earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Brooklyn College and also attended Louisiana State University.

In addition to the presentation of the National Magazine Awards, the Ellie Awards Annual Luncheon will include the induction of Dorothy Kalins into the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame. Danny Meyer, the chief executive officer of the Union Square Hospitality Group and founder of Shake Shack, will present the Hall of Fame Award to Kalins on behalf of ASME. The lunch will also include the presentation of the 2018 ASME Award for Fiction to Michael Ray, the editor of Zoetrope: All-Story. The winners of the 2018 ASME Next Awards for Journalists Under 30 will be honored as well.

The National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media—known as the Ellies, for the elephant-shaped statuette presented to each winner—are the most prestigious awards for magazine journalism in the United States. Originally limited to print magazines, the awards now recognize magazine-quality journalism published in any medium. Founded in 1966, the awards are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME.

Two hundred eighty-one regional and national publications entered the awards this year, submitting 1,368 print and digital entries. The awards were judged by 269 journalists and educators, who met at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York at the beginning of January to choose the finalists and winners in each of the 20 Ellie Award categories.

The 104 Ellie Award finalists will be Twittercast @asme1963 tomorrow, February 1, beginning at 1:15 p.m. Tickets to the 2018 Ellie Awards lunch go on sale Friday, February 2. To purchase tickets, visit ellieawards.org or call Wise & Company at 212.938.1032.


About ASME

The American Society of Magazine Editors is the principal organization for magazine journalists in the United States. The members of ASME include the editorial leaders of most major consumer and business magazines published in print and on digital platforms. Founded in 1963, ASME works to defend the First Amendment, protect editorial independence and support the development of journalism. ASME sponsors the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media in association with the Columbia Journalism School and publishes the ASME Guidelines for Editors and Publishers.

About Columbia Journalism School

For over a century, the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism has been preparing journalists with instruction and training that stresses academic rigor, ethics, journalistic inquiry and professional practice. Founded with a gift from Joseph Pulitzer, the school opened its doors in 1912 and offers master of science, master of arts and doctor of philosophy degrees. Learn more at journalism.columbia.edu.

Contacts:

Sid Holt
[email protected]
212-872-3723

Susan Russ
[email protected]
212-872-3732