THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGAZINE EDITORS ANNOUNCE FINALISTS FOR 2020 NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS

The New York Times Magazine, New York, National Geographic top list with most nominations for coveted Ellie Awards; annual awards show to be held at Brooklyn Steel on March 12 
Former Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger to receive Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame Award
Pamela Colloff ties record for most nominated female writer in awards history

NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2020)—The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) today announced via Twittercast the finalists for the 2020 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. ASME will celebrate the 55th annual presentation of the Ellie Awards and honor the 112 finalists on Thursday, March 12th, at Brooklyn Steel, a music venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. 

This year, the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame Award will be presented by journalist Tom Junod to David Granger, former editor-in-chief of Esquire magazine. Junod previously wrote for Granger at GQ and Esquire, where his work included the cover story on Fred Rogers that inspired the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” 

The evening reception will include the presentation of the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction to The Paris Review, as well as honors for the five winners of the 2020 ASME Next Awards for Journalists Under 30. More than 500 magazine editors and publishers are expected to attend the annual event. 

Other highlights in 2020 include Pamela Colloff, ProPublica senior reporter and The New York Times Magazine staff writer, receiving her seventh nomination with “False Witness.” Colloff now ties the overall record for most nominated female writer in awards history with The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan. 

The New York Times Magazine led the nominations with 10, the most in its history, with three nominations (General Excellence, Podcasting, Public Interest) honoring The 1619 Project, which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative,” according to the magazine. Rounding out top finalists were New York magazine and National Geographic with nine and eight nominations respectively. 

Titles with multiple nominations also included Bon Appétit and The New Yorker with six each, and SELF and Texas Monthly with four. 

Sixty-two titles were nominated in 22 categories. Twenty publications were nominated for the most prestigious honor, General Excellence. Nominees include large-circulation titles such as Cosmopolitan (which also received its seventh-consecutive nomination in Personal Service), regional titles like Atlanta, special-interest magazines like National Parks, literary journals like Oxford American and digital-first publications like The Trace. 

Bon Appétit was nominated for the ninth consecutive year in General Excellence, the most consecutive nominations in that category in the history of the awards. Aperture and New York magazine received their fifth-consecutive nominations in General Excellence, while The Marshall Project received its fourth-consecutive nomination in General Excellence. 

Ten media organizations were first-time finalists in any category: 1843, Catapult, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Emergence, Gimlet, National Parks, Quanta, Stranger’s Guide, Vox, and The Washington Post Magazine for its “Prison” issue featuring the work of currently and formerly incarcerated Americans. 

Taffy Brodesser-Akner received her first nomination for Feature Writing with “All That Glitters,” a piece featured in The New York Times Magazine on gender discrimination and sexual harassment at Sterling Jewelers. Jia Tolentino is also a first-time finalist in Columns and Commentary for her work in The New Yorker. 

New York magazine and The Cut writer Rebecca Traister received her fourth nomination in six years for her profile of Elizabeth Warren. 

“This year’s finalists for the National Magazine Awards showcase an incredible range of innovative, inspiring journalism from 62 magazines and websites,” said Sid Holt, executive director of ASME. “Columbia and ASME join me in congratulating the many writers and editors nominated today—their work underscores the power of magazine journalism to entertain and challenge readers and listeners both in print and online.” 

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME. Originally limited to print magazines, the awards now recognize magazine-quality journalism published in any medium. 

Two hundred forty-five national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 590 print, 531 digital and 133 multiplatform entries. New categories this year included Feature Design and Profile Writing, which previously existed from 2000 to 2012. 

Winners receive “Ellies,” the elephant-shaped statuettes modeled on Alexander Calder’s stabile “Walking Elephant” that give the awards their name. 

The 281 print- and digital-magazine editors, art directors, photo editors and journalism educators who judged the Ellies this year met in mid-January at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York City to choose the 2020 finalists. 

Tickets to the 2020 Ellie Awards are now on sale. Ellie Awards 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, ASME president and Columbia Journalism School dean, the scholarship is awarded to students who intend to pursue careers in magazine journalism. To purchase tickets, email [email protected] or call 212.938.1032. 

Visit asme.media for more information about Ellie Awards 2020 honorees, including links to content. 

National Magazine Awards 2020 Finalists

General Excellence, News, Sports and Entertainment

  • The California Sunday Magazine
  • ESPN The Magazine and ESPN Cover Story
  • The Marshall Project
  • New York
  • The New York Times Magazine

General Excellence, Service and Lifestyle

  • Bon Appétit
  • Cosmopolitan
  • National Geographic Traveler
  • SELF
  • T: The New York Times Style Magazine

General Excellence, Special Interest

  • Atlanta
  • Audubon
  • The Hollywood Reporter
  • National Parks
  • The Trace

General Excellence, Literature, Science and Politics

  • Aperture
  • Oxford American
  • Quanta
  • Stranger’s Guide
  • Virginia Quarterly Review

Design

  • 1843
  • Bon Appétit
  • Fast Company
  • GQ
  • New York

Photography

  • Aperture
  • GQ
  • National Geographic
  • TIME
  • WSJ. The Wall Street Journal Magazine

Feature Design

Feature Photography

Website

  • Emergence
  • The Marshall Project
  • New York
  • SELF
  • Vox

Digital Innovation

  • The Believer with support from the Tran Thi Oanh Black Mountain Institute Fund for “Cabramatta,” by Matt Huynh
  • Emergence in partnership with the Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival for “Language Keepers,” by Adam Loften and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
  • The Marshall Project in partnership with the Guardian for “Detained,” by Emily Kassie
  • National Geographic for “The Atlas of Moons”
  • ProPublica in partnership with the Charleston Gazette-Mail for “A Guide to Every Permitted Natural Gas Well in West Virginia,” by Al Shaw, ProPublica, and Kate Mishkin, The Charleston Gazette-Mail

Social Media

  • Bon Appétit for “Thanksgiving”
  • Mother Jones for “Disinformation”
  • National Geographic for “Wildlife Tourism”
  • The New Yorker for “The Food Issue”
  • SELF for “Reproductive Healthcare”

Podcasting

Video

Single-Topic Issue

  • Bloomberg Businessweek for “The Elements
  • MIT Technology Review for  “The China Issue”
  • National Geographic for “A World on the Move
  • Popular Science for “Make It Last”
  • The Washington Post Magazine for “Prison

Personal Service

Leisure Interests

  • 5280 for “Sheer Beauty,” by Lindsey B. King
  • Bon Appétit for “Absolutely Perfect,” by Alex Beggs, and “Making Perfect: Thanksgiving
  • New York for “The Great Pod Rush Has Only Just Begun”
  • Texas Monthly for “Long Live Honky Tonks!” by Christian Wallace
  • Whisky Advocate for “The World’s Greatest Whisky Cities”

Reporting

Feature Writing

Profile Writing

Essays and Criticism

Columns and Commentary

Public Interest

ASME Award for Fiction

Winner 

The Paris Review for “Under the Ackee Tree,” by Jonathan Escoffery; “Foxes,” by Kimberly King Parsons; and “Howl Palace,” by Leigh Newman

Finalists 

  • Ecotone for “Horse,” by Dawna Kemper; “Organ Cave,” by Mesha Maren; and “Waltz,” by Erin Somers
  • The New Yorker for “Javi,” by Han Ong; “God’s Caravan,” by Tiphanie Yanique; and “The Trip,” by Weike Wang
  • Timothy McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern for “Ghost Lover,” by Lisa Taddeo; “After the Birds,” by Ope Adedeji; and “The Woman in the Closet,” by Mimi Lok
  • Zoetrope: All-Story for “24, Alhaji Williams Street,” by ’Pemi Aguda; “The Grotesques,” by Sarah Hall; and “Downstream,” by Thomas Pierce

ASME NEXT Awards for Journalists Under 30

The ASME NEXT Awards were established in 2016 to support the development of print and digital media by honoring magazine journalists of extraordinary promise. 

ASME NEXT Awards 2020 Recipients 

  • Tyler Foggatt, Associate Editor, The New Yorker
  • Jazmine Hughes, Staff Editor, The New York Times Magazine
  • Miles Kohrman, Special Projects Editor, The Trace
  • Natalie Krebs, Senior Editor, Outdoor Life and Field & Stream
  • Sarah Esther Maslin, Brazil Correspondent, The Economist

Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame

The Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame was established in 1995 by the American Society of Magazine Editors to recognize the editorial achievements and career accomplishments of leading journalists. 

Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame 2020 Honoree 

David Granger
Award presented by Tom Junod

About ASME

The American Society of Magazine Editors is the principal organization for the editorial leaders of magazines and websites published in the United States. Founded in 1963, ASME strives to safeguard the First Amendment, support the development of journalism and defend the editorial integrity of print and digital publications. ASME sponsors the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media in association with the Columbia Journalism School, conducts training programs for reporters and editors 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 

Erin Haworth
[email protected]
212-918-2044