ASME ANNOUNCES 2011 "MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR" FINALISTS

Katie Couric to Host National Magazine Awards Annual Gala on May 9

NEW YORK, NY (April 12, 2011)—Sid Holt, Chief Executive of the America Society of Magazine Editors, today announced the 2011 Magazine of the Year finalists. Mr. Holt also announced that the presentation of the 2011 National Magazine Awards will be hosted by Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News.

“The National Magazine Awards introduced the Magazine of the Year category just last year to honor magazines that have achieved distinction in print, online and on tablets and smartphones,” said Mr. Holt. “This year’s five finalists include The Atlantic and National Geographic—magazines that generations of readers have enjoyed in print and now on digital platforms—and BackpackerForeign Policy and Wired, titles that show why media consumers turn first to magazines to satisfy their wide-ranging interests.

“The members of ASME are especially proud to be sharing this celebration of our best work with two of the best-known journalists in America, Katie Couric and Tom Wolfe,” said Mr. Holt. “Katie Couric will be hosting our annual gala—a first for ASME—and we’ll be honoring Tom Wolfe with a special award for his legendary work as a magazine journalist.”

 “I’m turning this job over to somebody who really knows how to do it,” said Larry Hackett, managing editor of People and president of ASME, explaining why he will not be hosting the awards this year. “Katie Couric is one of the most accomplished journalists in America—she proved that for 15 years on Today and is still proving it after 6 years on CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes.  I’m delighted that she’s accepted my invitation to host this year’s awards presentation.”

The 2011 National Magazine Awards will include the presentation of the Creative Excellence Award to Tom Wolfe by the ASME Board of Directors.

The 2011 National Magazine Awards also mark the first time that ASME will host a dinner to present the awards. Known as the Ellies—for the Alexander Calder stabile “Elephant” given to each award winner—the National Magazine Awards Annual Gala will be held on Monday, May 9, at 583 Park Avenue in New York City.

Magazine of the Year Finalists

The 2011 National Magazine Award finalists in the Magazine of the Year category, honoring publications that have achieved excellence both in print and on digital platforms, are:

  • The Atlantic
  • Backpacker
  • Foreign Policy
  • National Geographic
  • Wired

Each of the Magazine of the Year finalists was also nominated in one or more additional National Magazine Award categories. The other categories in which the finalists were nominated were:

  • The Atlantic for General Excellence, Digital Media; Public Interest; Feature Writing; Profile Writing; and Fiction
  • Backpacker for General Excellence, Print
  • Foreign Policy for Photography, Digital Media; News Reporting (winner of the 2011 National Magazine Award in this category); and Online Department
  • National Geographic for Photography, Digital Media; News Reporting; Online Department; Multimedia Package; Photography, Print; News and Documentary Photography; Feature Photography; and Single-Topic Issue
  • Wired for General Excellence, Digital Media; Design, Print; Magazine Section; and Personal Service

Finalists in the 21 National Magazine Award categories honoring print magazines were announced last week. The print finalists along with the Magazine of the Year finalists will be honored at the National Magazine Awards Annual Gala on May 9. Finalists and winners in the 12 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media categories were announced earlier this year.

77 Publications Nominated for 2011 National Magazine Awards

Including the Digital Ellie and Magazine of the Year finalists, 77 magazines were nominated for National Magazine Awards this year. Thirty-four magazines received multiple nominations, and six publications were nominated for the first time. Nine online-only publications were also nominated.

Magazines receiving multiple nominations this year were The Atlantic (6 nominations), Backpacker (2), The Chronicle of Higher Education (2), The Daily Beast (3), Epicurious (2), Esquire (4), Fast Company (3), Foreign Policy (4), GQ (5), Harper’s Magazine (2), Los Angeles (3), Marie Claire (2), Martha Stewart Living (2), Men’s Journal (2), National Geographic (9), New York (9), The New York Times Magazine  (9), The New Yorker (11), The Paris Review (2), Poetry (2), Popular Mechanics (2), Real Simple (4), Runner’s World (2), Scientific American (2), Slate (4), Sports Illustrated (3), Tablet (2), Texas Monthly (2), TIME (3), Vanity Fair (2), Virginia Quarterly Review (7), Vogue (2), W (3) and Wired (5).

The six never-before-nominated titles were Cooking LightHouse Beautiful, Lapham’s QuarterlyOnEarthPoetryThe Sun and Women’s Health. The nine online-only finalists were Chow, CNET, The Daily Beast, Epicurious, LIFE.com, Salon, Slate, Tablet and Yale Environment 360.

The 2011 finalists also included AARP The Magazine; The American Scholar; The Antioch Review; AudubonBloomberg BusinessweekBloomberg MarketsConde Nast TravelerDiscover MagazineEntertainment WeeklyESPN The MagazineEssence; Field & StreamFortuneGarden and GunGolf DigestGood HousekeepingHarvard Business ReviewIEEE Spectrum; InStyleMen’s HealthMother JonesO, the Oprah MagazineThe Oxford AmericanPeoplePOZ; Reason.com and Reason.TV; Rolling StoneSan FranciscoSaveurSELFSunset; and Time Out New York.

Group publishers with multiple nominations included Active Interest Media (2 for Backpacker); Bloomberg L.P. (2 for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets); Bonnier (2 for Field & Stream and Saveur); CBS Interactive (2 for Chow and CNET); Conde Nast (33 for Conde Nast TravelerEpicuriousGolf DigestGQThe New YorkerSELFVanity FairVogueW  and Wired); Emmis Communications (5 for Los Angeles and Texas Monthly); Hearst Magazines (11 for EsquireGood Housekeeping; House Beautiful; Marie ClaireO, The Oprah Magazine; and Popular Mechanics); Mansueto Ventures (3 for Fast Company); Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (2 for Martha Stewart Living); National Geographic Society (9 for National Geographic); Rodale (4 for Men’s HealthRunner’s World and Women’s Health); The Slate Group (8 for Foreign Policy and Slate); Time Inc. (18 for Entertainment WeeklyCooking LightEssenceFortuneInStyle, LIFE.com, PeopleReal SimpleSports IllustratedSunset and TIME); and Wenner Media (3 for Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone).

The preeminent awards for magazine journalism in the United States, the National Magazine Awards were established in 1966 and are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Nearly 270 publications entered the National Magazine Awards this year, submitting 1,673 entries.  The judges included 359 magazine journalists and journalism educators. The finalist this year with the largest print circulation (22 million) is AARP The Magazine; the finalist with the smallest (3,000) is The Antioch Review.

Mirasol
Exclusive Sponsor of the National Magazine Awards 2011 Gala