ELLIES 2017 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

New York, The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine top list of print and digital nominees; Lester Holt to host annual awards gala on February 7

NEW YORK, NY (January 19, 2017)—The American Society of Magazine Editors today released the list of finalists for the 2017 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. For the fourth year in a row, the nominations were first announced in a 90-minute Twittercast.  ASME will celebrate the 52nd presentation of the Ellies when each of the 104 finalists is honored at the annual awards gala.

The 2017 winners will be announced during a lunchtime presentation at Cipriani Wall Street in New York on Tuesday, February 7. The gala will be hosted by Lester Holt, anchor of "NBC Nightly News With Lester Holt" and “Dateline NBC.” More than 500 magazine editors and publishers are expected to attend. The winners receive Ellies, the elephant-shaped statuettes that give the awards their name.

Sixty-four media organizations were nominated in 20 categories this year. Five magazines were nominated for the most prestigious honor, Magazine of the Year. They are The California Sunday Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Mother Jones, New York and The New Yorker. Nineteen titles received multiple nominations, led by New York with 10. New York also had the most number of nominations in 2016 with 9, 2015 with 10 and 2014 with 9.

The New York Times Magazine received seven nominations this year and The New Yorker five, both the same as last year. Other multi-finalists include The California Sunday Magazine and National Geographic, both with four, and Bloomberg Businessweek, GQ and Mother Jones, each with three. Eleven publications got two nominations: Aperture, Audubon, Bon Appetit, Cosmopolitan, Eater, The Huffington Post Highline, Modern Farmer, Popular Mechanics, Powder, Saveur and Texas Monthly.

Finalists this year also include 5280, AFAR, The Atavist, The Atlantic, BuzzFeed News and BBC, Chicago, Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE, The Economist, Elle, ESPN The Magazine, Esquire, Essence, Food Network Magazine, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Garden & Gun, GOOD, GQ Style, Harper’s Magazine, The Hedgehog Review, The Hollywood Reporter, The Intercept, Kazoo, Los Angeles, Marie Claire, The Marshall Project, MTV News, Oxford American, Pacific Standard, The Pitchfork Review, Poetry, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, Refinery29, Rolling Stone, Scientific American, Seventeen, STAT, Teen Vogue, TIME, Vanity Fair, Wired, Women’s Health and WSJ. Magazine.

Seven media organizations are first-time finalists: Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE, GQ Style, The Hedgehog Review, Kazoo, MTV News, The Texas Tribune and STAT. GQ Style, Kazoo and STAT were all nominated in their first year of eligibility. Digital-first finalists include The Atavist, BuzzFeed News and BBC, Eater, The Huffington Post Highline, The Intercept, The Marshall Project, MTV News, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, Refinery29 and STAT.

Among the notable repeat finalists are Bon Appetit, nominated in the General Excellence category six years in a row and winner of the award in 2014; Cosmopolitan, nominated in Personal Service four years in a row and winner in 2014; Foreign Affairs, nominated in General Excellence three years in a row; GQ, nominated in General Excellence four years in a row; and The Hollywood Reporter, nominated in General Excellence four years in a row and winner in 2015 and 2016.

Repeat finalists also include New York, nominated in Magazine of the Year six years in row and winner in 2013; The New York Times Magazine, nominated in Feature Writing four years in a row; and Popular Mechanics, nominated in Magazine Section three years in row. An especially noteworthy record belongs to The New Yorker, which has been nominated in Reporting every year since 1989 except 2007 and has won the award eight times during that 29-year period.

Short-listed articles range from long-form to how-to. Particularly timely finalists include the GIF-rich “11 Images That People With Anxiety Will Understand,” photographed by Sam Cannon for Refinery29 and nominated in Feature Photography; “The Eater Guide to Paris,” nominated in Leisure Interests (“The Eater Guide to Surviving Disney World” won the Ellie for Leisure Interests last year); “Immigration: A Special Issue,” the October issue of Los Angeles, nominated in Single-Topic Issue; and “The Break Out Bunch,” from Vanity Fair’s Snapchat Discover Channel, nominated in Multimedia.

The nomination in Feature Writing of George Saunders’ “Trump Days” for The New Yorker marks the seventh time Saunders’ work has been honored with an Ellie nomination or award. His short stories won awards for Harper’s Magazine in 1994 and 1996, The New Yorker in 2000 and Esquire in 2004. His fiction was also nominated for awards for The New Yorker in 1999 and 2010.

Pamela Colloff, whose story “The Reckoning” for Texas Monthly is nominated in Feature Writing this year, is also a previous finalist and winner. Her work for Texas Monthly was nominated in Public Interest in 2001 and 2011; Reporting and Feature Writing in 2013; and again in Feature Writing in 2015. Her two-part series “The Innocent Man” won the award for Feature Writing in 2013.

The nomination of Sarah Stillman’s story “The List” for The New Yorker is her fourth in Public Interest in the last six years. Her story “The Invisible Army” for The New Yorker won the award for Public Interest in 2012. The nomination of Nikole Hannah-Jones’ story “Worlds Apart” for The New York Times Magazine is her second in Public Interest in three years. Her story “Segregation Now” for The Atlantic was a finalist in 2015.

Other repeat Ellie finalists include Jeffrey Goldberg (finalist in Reporting for The Atlantic), whose two-part series “In the Party of God” won Reporting for The New Yorker in 2003; Michael Chabon (finalist in Essays & Criticism for GQ), whose short story “Son of the Wolfman” won Fiction for Harper’s Magazine in 1999; and Andrew Sullivan (finalist in Essays & Criticism for New York), who as the editor of The New Republic won the award for Public Interest in 1995.

Three of the 2017 finalists in Columns and Commentary previously won or were nominated in the category: Matt Taibbi won the award for his work for Rolling Stone in 2008; Ann Wroe was nominated for her obituaries for The Economist in 2010; and Rebecca Solnit was nominated for her work for Harper’s Magazine last year. Repeat finalists this year also include Lindsey B. Koehler (finalist in Leisure Interests for 5280), nominated in Personal Service for 5280 in 2010; Mac McClelland (finalist in Feature Writing for Audubon), nominated in Feature Writing for Mother Jones in 2011 and 2013; and Rebecca Traister (finalist in Feature Writing for New York), nominated in Columns and Commentary for The New Republic in 2015.

“For more than half a century the National Magazine Awards have celebrated the best of American journalism,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of ASME. “Whether it’s self-help packages or long-form reporting, luscious photography or bigly videos, magazines are the go-to source for information and entertainment for the more than 200 million adults who read magazines every year. This year 20 print magazines and magazine websites will win Ellies—the most prestigious award for print and digital magazine journalism in the United States—demonstrating the enduring strength of magazine media.”

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media are sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME. Two hundred eighty publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 1,376 print and digital entries.

The 282 print- and digital-magazine editors, art directors, photo editors and journalism educators who judged the Ellies this year met in early January at the Columbia School of Journalism to choose the 2017 finalists. A complete list of the judges will be posted on the Ellies website after the winners are announced. The judging was led by the following journalists and educators:

Vanessa K. De Luca, Editor in Chief, ESSENCE; Adi Ignatius, Editor in Chief, Harvard Business Review Group; Mark Jannot, Vice President, Content, National Audubon Society; Clara Jeffery, Editor in Chief, Mother Jones; Lucy Kaylin, Editor in Chief, O, The Oprah Magazine; Christopher Keyes, Vice President and Editor, Outside; Amy Keller Laird, Editor in Chief, Women’s Health; Cynthia Leive, Editor in Chief, Glamour; Kate Lewis, Senior Vice President and Editorial Director, Hearst Digital Media; Anthony Licata, Group Editorial Director, Bonnier Men's Group; Pamela Maffei McCarthy, Deputy Editor, The New Yorker; Mary Melton, Editor in Chief, Los Angeles; Janice Min, President and Chief Creative Officer, Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group; Norman Pearlstine, Vice Chairman, Time Inc.; Dana Points, President, ASME; Jessie Price, Editor in Chief, EatingWell; Robert Safian, Editor, Fast Company; Duy Linh Tu, Professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Charles Whitaker, Professor, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; and David Willey, Editor in Chief, Runner's World.

Each National Magazine Award winner receives a copper reproduction of Alexander Calder's stabile "Elephant," the symbol of the awards since 1970. Ellie Awards Annual Gala ticket sales provide support for the Osborn Elliott Scholarship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Named in honor of the former Newsweek editor and Columbia dean, the scholarship is awarded to students who intend to pursue careers in magazine journalism.

Tickets to the 2017 Ellie Awards lunch go on sale tomorrow, January 20. To purchase tickets, visit ellieawards.org or call Wise & Company at 212.938.1032.

Ellie Awards 2017 Finalists

General Excellence

News, Sports and Entertainment
Honors publications covering politics, business and technology as well as pop culture and leisure interests

Bloomberg Businessweek; ESPN The Magazine; GQ; New York; The New Yorker

Service and Lifestyle
Honors publications covering health and fitness as well as fashion, design, food and travel

Bon Appétit; Elle; GQ Style; Marie Claire; Saveur

Special Interest
Honors publications serving highly defined reader communities, including city and regional magazines and active-interest titles

Chicago; The Hollywood Reporter; Kazoo; Modern Farmer; Powder

Literature, Science and Politics
Honors smaller-circulation general-interest magazines as well as publications covering the arts

Aperture; Foreign Affairs; The Marshall Project; Mother Jones; Poetry

Design
Honors overall excellence in magazine design

Bon Appétit; The California Sunday Magazine; GQ; New York; The Pitchfork Review

Photography
Honors overall excellence in magazine photography

AFAR; Aperture; The California Sunday Magazine; Powder; WSJ. Magazine

Feature Photography
Honors the use of photography in a feature story, photo-essay or photo portfolio

• National Geographic for “Bloody Good,” photographs by Charlie Hamilton James, January
• National Geographic for “Every Last One,” photographs by Joel Sartore, April
• The New York Times Magazine for “Voyages: The Danakil Depression, Ethiopia,” photographs by Andrea Frazzetta, Sept. 25 at nytimes.com
• Pacific Standard for “Adrift,” photographs by Francesco Zizola, July/August
• Refinery29 for “11 Images That People With Anxiety Will Understand,” photographs by Sam Cannon, July 8 at refinery29.com

Magazine Section
Honors the editorial direction of print or digital departments or sections

• Food Network Magazine for “Fun Cooking”
• Garden & Gun for “Talk of the South”
• New York for “The Culture Pages”
• Popular Mechanics for “Know-How”
• Women’s Health for “Discuss!”

Personal Service
Honors magazine journalism that serves readers’ needs and aspirations

• Cosmopolitan for “How to Have a Safe Abortion,” by Amanda Robb and Caitlin Moscatello, April
• Dr. Oz THE GOOD LIFE for “Your Heart: The Inside Story,” by Sari Harrar, November
• GOOD for “What Can He Really Do? What Can We Do About It?,” Winter
• The New York Times Magazine for “Doctor Without Borders,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, “Written on the Body,” by Ryan Bradley, and “The Shark and the Lightning,” by Melanie Thernstrom, May 15
• Seventeen for “Oh, Zit!,” by Kelsey Castañon, December 2016/January 2017

Leisure Interests
Honors magazine journalism that provides practical information about recreational activities and special interests

• 5280 for “Earth, Wind and Water,” by Lindsey B. Koehler, May
• Eater for “The Eater Guide to Paris,” by Eater Staff, October 19 at eater.com
• Modern Farmer for “How to Raise Chickens for Farm-Fresh Eggs,” by Lucie B. Amundsen, Spring
• Texas Monthly for “Knives Out,” by Courtney Bond, Abby Johnston, June Naylor, Katharyn Rodemann, Patricia Sharpe and Daniel Vaughn, December
• Wired for “What to Eat Today,” August

Single-Topic Issue
Honors print magazines that have devoted a single issue to the comprehensive examination of one subject

• The California Sunday Magazine for “Listen,” October 2 print issue and californiasunday.com
• Los Angeles for “IMMIGRATION,” October
• National Geographic for “Yellowstone: The Battle for the American West,” guest edited by Chris Johns, May print issue and nationalgeographic.com
• New York for “Eight Years in America,” October 3-16 print issue and nymag.com
•  Saveur for “The Origins Issue,” October/November

Website
Honors magazine websites and online-only magazines

Audubon; Bloomberg Businessweek; Eater; The Intercept; National Geographic

Multimedia
Honors digital storytelling and the integration of magazine media

• Huffington Post Highline for “The 21st Century Gold Rush,” by Malia Politzer and Emily Kassie, December 21 at highline.huffingtonpost.com
• New York for “The Year in Memes,” by Madison Malone Kircher, Brian Feldman and Max Read, December 14 at nymag.com
• The New York Times Magazine for “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going,” nytimes.com and March 13 print issue
• ProPublica and The Texas Tribune for “Hell and High Water,” by Neena Satija for the Texas Tribune and Reveal, Kiah Collier for the Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw and Jeff Larson for ProPublica, March 3 at propublica.org
• Vanity Fair for “The Break Out Bunch,” September 13 at Snapchat Discover

Video
Honors the outstanding use of video in magazine media

• ESSENCE for “Black Girl Magic: Sage Adams,” directed by Laurie Thomas, “Black Girl Magic: Ammarah Haynes,” directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, and “Black Girl Magic: Berneisha Hooker,” directed by Nailah Jefferson, at essence.com
• New York With Narrative 4 for “Guns & Empathy,” December 26 at nymag.com
•  STAT for “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 1,” March 25, “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 5,” March 31, and “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 8,” August 25, at statnews.com
• Teen Vogue for “Guys Read: Sexual Assault—Jason and Yahdon,” “Guys Read: Sexual Assault—Spencer and Anthony” and “Guys Read—Sexual Assault: Andrew and Alex,” April 29 at teenvogue.com
• TIME for “100 Photographs: Untitled (Cowboy),” “100 Photographs: A Portrait of Domestic Violence” and “100 Photographs: The Falling Man,” November 17 at 100photos.time.com

Reporting
Honors reporting excellence as exemplified by one article or a series of articles

• The Atlantic for “The Obama Doctrine,” by Jeffrey Goldberg, April
• Bloomberg Businessweek for “Walmart’s Crime Problem,” by Shannon Pettypiece and David Voreacos, August 22-28
• BuzzFeed News and BBC for “The Tennis Racket,” January 17, and “The Italian Job,” March 15, by Heidi Blake and John Templon, at buzzfeed.com
• Foreign Policy for “Present at the Creation,” August 16, “How the Islamic State Seized a Chemical Weapons Stockpile,” August 17, and “The Greatest Divorce in the Jihadi World,” August 18, by Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa, at foreignpolicy.com
• Mother Jones for “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard,” by Shane Bauer, July/August print issue; June 23 at motherjones.com and youtube.com
• New York for “Sources: Megyn Kelly Told Murdoch Investigators That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Her,” July 19 at nymag.com, “Former Fox News Booker Says She Was Sexually Harassed and ‘Psychologically Tortured’ by Roger Ailes for More Than 20 Years,” July 29 at nymag.com, and “The Revenge of Roger’s Angels,” September 5-18 print issue, by Gabriel Sherman
• The New Yorker for “The Assad Files,” April 18, and “The Shadow Doctors,” June 27, by Ben Taub

Feature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling

• Audubon for “Delusion Is the Thing With Feathers,” by Mac McClelland, May/June
• New York for “A Woman Running for President,” by Rebecca Traister, May 30-June 12
• The New York Times Magazine for "'I Have No Choice but to Keep Looking,'” by Jennifer Percy, August 2 at nytimes.com
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Mysterious Metamorphosis of Chuck Close,” by Wil S. Hylton, July 13 at nytimes.com
• The New Yorker for “Trump Days,” by George Saunders, July 11 and 18
• Popular Mechanics for “Climb Aboard, Ye Who Seek the Truth,” by Bronwen Dickey, September
• Texas Monthly for “The Reckoning,” by Pamela Colloff, April

Essays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism

• GQ for “My Son, the Prince of Fashion,” by Michael Chabon, October
• The Hedgehog Review for “Ladies in Waiting,” by Becca Rothfeld, Fall
• New York for “Democracies End When They Are Too Democratic,” by Andrew Sullivan, May 2-15
• The New York Times Magazine for “David’s Ankles,” by Sam Anderson, August 21
• Oxford American for “Listening for the Country,” by Zandria F. Robinson, Winter

Columns and Commentary
Honors political and social commentary; news analysis; and reviews and criticism

• The Economist for three obituaries by Ann Wroe: “Manohar Aich: Raising the Temple,” June 18-24, “Elie Wiesel: Unanswerable Questions,” July 9-15, and “Qusai Abtini: From Child to Man,” August 13-19
• Esquire for three columns by Dwight Garner: “Second Only to Sex,” September, “Drinking Games,” November, and “Name Dropping,” December 2016/January 2017
• Harper’s Magazine for three columns by Rebecca Solnit: “Bird in a Cage,” March, “The Ideology of Isolation,” July, and “Giantess,” September
• MTV News for three columns by Doreen St. Félix: “Diamond ‘Lavish’ Reynolds, Public Witness,” July 7, “The Images We Can’t Unsee,” July 19, and “New Tongues,” August 29, at mtv.com/news
• Rolling Stone for three columns by Matt Taibbi: “President Trump, Seriously,” March 10, “Appetite for Destruction,” August 11, and “The Fury and Failure of Trump,” November 3

Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance

• The Atavist for “A Family Matter,” by Jessica Weisberg, August 16 at magazine.atavist.com
• Huffington Post Highline for “Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream,” by Kathryn Joyce, video and photographs by Emily Kassie, March 16 at highline.huffingtonpost.com
• The New York Times Magazine for “Worlds Apart,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, June 12
• The New Yorker for “The List,” by Sarah Stillman, March 14
• Scientific American for “The Looming Threat of Factory-Farm Superbugs,” by Melinda Wenner Moyer, December

Magazine of the Year
Honors magazines for print and digital editorial excellence; audience engagement; and the success of branded content and services, including conferences and events

The California Sunday Magazine; Cosmopolitan; Mother Jones; New York; The New Yorker

All publication dates 2016 unless otherwise indicated

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