NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS 2015 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmo, Hollywood Reporter, New York and Vogue short-listed for Magazine of the Year; Grantland, Politico and Refinery29 are first-time nominees

NEW YORK, NY (January 15, 2015)—The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) today announced the National Magazine Awards 2015 finalists. For the second year, the nominations were first announced in an hour-long Twittercast. Known as the Ellies—for the Alexander Calder stabile "Elephant" given to each award winner—the National Magazine Awards will be presented on Monday, February 2, at the New York Marriott Marquis. The awards dinner will also include the presentation of a lifetime achievement award to the TIME photojournalist James Nachtwey.

Sixty-six publications were nominated in 24 categories this year. Five magazines were nominated for the most prestigious honor, Magazine of the Year.  They are Better Homes and Gardens, Cosmopolitan, The Hollywood Reporter, New York and Vogue.  Twenty-nine magazines received multiple nominations, led by New York with 10 (New York also led last year with nine nominations). Bon Appetit and The New Yorker both received six nominations, followed by The Atlantic, GQ and Virginia Quarterly Review, each with four nominations.

Magazines with three nominations include The Atavist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Cosmopolitan, Grantland, Harper’s Bazaar, Sunset and Texas Monthly. Publications with two nominations are Garden & Gun, The Hollywood Reporter, Inc., Matter, National Geographic, Nautilus, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Politico, Popular Mechanics, Runner’s World, Slate, T, The New York Times Style Magazine, TIME, Vogue and Wired.

Also nominated are The American Scholar, The Antioch Review, Audubon, Backpacker, Better Homes and Gardens, California Sunday Magazine, Chicago, Consumer Reports, ESPN The Magazine, Foreign Affairs, The Georgia Review, Glamour, Harper’s Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Kinfolk, Martha Stewart Living, Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Mental Floss, Mother Jones, National Journal, O, The Oprah Magazine, Outdoor Life, Outside, The Oxford American, Pacific Standard, Parents, The Paris Review, Powder, Real Simple, Refinery29, Rolling Stone, San Francisco, The Texas Observer, Vanity Fair, Vice and Women’s Health.

Eight publications are first-time finalists: California Sunday Magazine for Design; Grantland for Video, Feature Writing and Columns & Commentary; Kinfolk for Photography; Matter for Public Interest and Feature Photography; Nautilus for General Excellence and Website; Politico for General Excellence and Website; Powder for Multimedia; and Refinery29 for Website.

Digital-first finalists include The Atavist for Multimedia, Reporting and Feature Writing; Grantland for Video, Feature Writing and Columns & Commentary; Matter for Public Interest and Feature Photography; Nautilus for General Excellence and Website; Politico for General Excellence and Website; Refinery29 for Website; and Slate for Multimedia and Public Interest.

Short-listed articles range from how-to to long-form. Notable finalists in Public Interest include “You’re 16. You’re a Pedophile. You Don’t Want to Hurt Anyone. What Do You Do Now?” by Luke Malone (Matter), and “The Campus Rape Overcorrection,” by Emily Yoffe (Slate); in Personal Service, “The Cosmo Icky-pedia of STIs” (Cosmopolitan) and “Your Grandmother’s Guide to Pot” (New York); in Reporting, “The Truth About Chicago Crime Rates,” by David Bernstein and Noah Isackson,  (Chicago); in Feature Writing, “The Reckoning,” by Andrew Solomon (“The New Yorker”); and in Essays & Criticism, “Shame and Survival,” by Monica Lewinsky (Vanity Fair).

The nomination of “The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates , in Essays & Criticism is the third for Coates’ work for The Atlantic in the last three years. His article “Fear of a Black President” won Essays & Criticism for The Atlantic in 2013. Other previous winners nominated this year are Pamela Colloff, who won Feature Writing for Texas Monthly in 2013; Michael Finkel, Photojournalism, National Geographic, 2008; Alex Hutchinson, Personal Service, Popular Mechanics, 2008; Patrick Radden Keefe, Feature Writing, The New Yorker, 2014; Jason Motlagh, News Reporting, Virginia Quarterly Review, 2010; Chris Offutt, Fiction, DoubleTake, 1998; Zadie Smith, Fiction, The New Yorker, 2014; and John Jeremiah Sullivan, Feature Writing, Harper’s Magazine, 2003, and Essays & Criticism, The Paris Review, 2011.

“The National Magazine Awards 2015 finalists demonstrate the enduring power of magazine journalism in print and on websites and mobile,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of ASME. “Whether it’s politics, fashion, sports or the kind of service journalism that only magazines can do, readers know that their favorite print and digital magazines are where to find information and entertainment they can trust.”

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards are sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Two hundred sixty-three publications entered the National Magazine Awards this year, submitting 1,548 print and digital entries. Three dozen magazines entered the National Magazine Awards for the first time. More than 25 digital-first publications submitted entries. The judges included 340 magazine editors, art directors and photography editors as well as journalism educators.

National Magazine Awards 2015 Finalists

General Excellence

General Interest Magazines
Honors magazines covering politics, business, technology, sports and entertainment

GQ; The New York Times Magazine; The New Yorker, Politico; Wired

Service and Lifestyle Magazines
Honors magazines covering family, the home, food, fashion and relationships

Cosmopolitan; Glamour; Martha Stewart Living; Parents; Sunset 

Style and Design Magazines
Honors magazines covering fashion, decorating, dining, entertaining and travel

Bon Appétit; Garden & Gun; Harper’s Bazaar; T, The New York Times Style Magazine; Vogue 

Active Interest Magazines
Honors magazines covering health and fitness, active sports, outdoor recreation and cars and boats

Men’s Health; Outside; Popular Mechanics; Runner’s World; Women’s Health 

Special Interest Magazines
Honors magazines serving highly defined reader communities

Harvard Business Review; The Hollywood Reporter; Inc.; Mental Floss; Texas Monthly 

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

The American Scholar; Foreign Affairs; Mother Jones; Nautilus; Virginia Quarterly Review 

Design
Honors overall excellence in print magazine design

Bon Appétit; The California Sunday Magazine; Harper’s Bazaar; New York; Wired 

Photography
Honors overall excellence in print magazine photography

Bon Appétit; GQ; Harper’s Bazaar; Kinfolk; National Geographic   

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

  • Audubon for “Special Issue: Birds and Climate Change,” September/October
  • Bloomberg Businessweek for “85th Anniversary Issue,” December 8
  • Bon Appétit for “The Thanksgiving Issue,” November
  • New York for “Health: A Special Issue,” June 9-15
  • San Francisco for “The Oakland Issue,” June 

Magazine Section
Honors front- or back-of-the-book departments or sections regularly published in print

  • Bloomberg Businessweek for “ETC”
  • Inc. for “Made”
  • New York for “The Culture Pages”
  • New York for “Strategist”
  • Popular Mechanics for “How Your World Works” 

Website
Honors magazine websites and online-only magazines

The AtlanticNautilusNew YorkPoliticoRefinery29 

Tablet Magazine
Honors magazines published on tablets and e-readers

Bon Appétit; Garden & Gun; National Geographic; New York; Sunset 

Multimedia
Honors digital storytelling and the integration of magazine media

  • The Atavist for “Love for My Enemies,” by Lukas Augustin and Niklas Schenck, June, at atavist.com
  • Consumer Reports for “A Beautiful Death,” in December print edition and at consumerreports.org
  • Powder for “The Human Factor,” by David Page, December 9, at powder.com
  • Slate for “The Year of Outrage,” December 17, at slate.com
  • The Texas Observer in Partnership With The Guardian for “Beyond the Border,” by Melissa del Bosque, August 6, at texasobserver.org 

Video
Honors the outstanding use of video by magazine websites and digital-only magazines

Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance

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

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

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

Feature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling

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

  • Bloomberg Businessweek for “Border Lines,” photographs by Kirsten Luce, December 1
  • Harper’s Magazine for “Dark Heights,” photographs by Benjamin Lowy, May
  • Matter for “Whoever Saves a Life,” by Matthieu Aikins, photographs by Sebastiano Tomada, September 14
  • New York for “Magic Show,” photographs by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, February 17-24
  • TIME for “Crime Without Punishment,” photographs by Jerome Sessini, August 

Essays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism

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

Fiction
Honors fiction originally published in magazines

Magazine of the Year
Honors magazines for print and digital editorial excellence and for magazine-branded content and services, including conferences and events

Better Homes and Gardens; Cosmopolitan; The Hollywood Reporter; New York; Vogue 

All publication dates 2014 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 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.

National Magazine Awards Supported by Publishers Press

 

Contacts:

Sid Holt
[email protected]
212-872-3723

Meredith Wagner
[email protected]
212-872-3732

Louisa Holmberg
[email protected]
212-872-3724