ELLIES 2018 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

New York, The New Yorker top list of National Magazine Award nominees; CNN’s Don Lemon to host annual awards lunch on March 13

NEW YORK, NY (February 1, 2018)—The American Society of Magazine Editors today published the list of finalists for the 2018 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. For the fifth year, the finalists were first announced in a 90-minute Twittercast. ASME will celebrate the 53rd presentation of the Ellies when each of the 104 finalists is honored at the annual awards lunch.

The 2018 winners will be announced during a lunchtime presentation on Tuesday, March 13, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The lunch will be hosted by Don Lemon, the anchor of “CNN Tonight With Don Lemon,” airing weeknights at 10. 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.

The awards lunch will include the presentation of the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame Award to the founding editor of Metropolitan Home and Saveur, Dorothy Kalins. 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 2018 ASME Award for Fiction will also be presented 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.

This year 57 media organizations were nominated in 20 categories, including two new categories, Social Media and Digital Innovation. Twenty publications were nominated for the most prestigious honor, General Excellence. They include large-circulation titles like National Geographic and Bon Appétit, regional magazines like San Francisco and Texas Monthly, literary journals like Oxford American and Virginia Quarterly Review and digital-only publications like Eater and The Marshall Project.

Twenty titles received multiple nominations, led by New York with 10 (this is the fifth year in a row that New York has received the most nominations). The New Yorker received eight nominations, followed by The Atlantic and National Geographic, both with five. Other multi-finalists included Bon Appétit, The New York Times Magazine and TIME, each with four, and The California Sunday Magazine, ESPN The Magazine, The Marshall Project, Virginia Quarterly Review and Vogue, each with three.

Seven titles got two nominations: Bicycling, GQ, Harper’s Magazine, Pitchfork, Seventeen, Texas Monthly and Wired.

The finalists also included 5280, Aperture, Backpacker, BuzzFeed News, Columbia Journalism Review, Consumer Reports, Cosmopolitan, Eater, Elle, GQ Style, Grist, HuffPost Highline, Inc., Longreads, Martha Stewart Weddings, Men’s Health, Mother Jones, National Geographic Traveler, The New Republic, The Outline, Outside, Oxford American, Popular Science, San Francisco, Saveur, SB Nation, SELF, Smithsonian, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Teen Vogue, TMC Pulse, Vanity Fair, W and Women’s Health.

One media organization—the nonprofit newsroom ProPublica—was nominated three times for articles published in partnership with print or digital publications, including National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine and NPR. The Investigative Fund was nominated twice for articles published by The California Sunday Magazine and Harper’s Magazine. Mic and Epic Magazine were nominated for partnerships with TIME and Wired, respectively.

Nine media organizations are first-time finalists: Epic Magazine, Grist, the Investigative Fund, Longreads, Mic, NPR, The Outline, SB Nation and TMC Pulse. Digital-first finalists include BuzzFeed News, Eater, Epic Magazine, Grist, HuffPost Highline, Longreads, The Marshall Project, Mic, The Outline, Pitchfork, ProPublica, SB Nation, SELF and Seventeen.

Four publications were nominated twice in the same category: The Atlantic in Feature Writing; New York in Magazine Section; The New York Times Magazine in Reporting; and The New Yorker in Public Interest. The Investigative Fund was nominated twice in Reporting for articles published by The California Sunday Magazine and Harper’s Magazine. ProPublica was also nominated twice in Reporting for partnerships with National Geographic and The New York Times Magazine.

Fifteen publications demonstrated sustained excellence by receiving nominations in the same category for at least the second year in a row. Among the repeat finalists are Bon Appétit, nominated in the General Excellence category seven years in a row and winner of the award in 2014 and 2017; Cosmopolitan, nominated in Personal Service five years in a row and winner in 2014; and The New York Times Magazine, nominated in Feature Writing five years in a row and winner in 2017. Bon Appétit is also a six-time repeat finalist in Design.

Especially noteworthy are the achievements of The New Yorker in the Reporting category and New York in Magazine Section. The New Yorker has been nominated in Reporting every year since 1989 except 2007, for a total of 37 nominations, and has won the award 8 times. New York has been nominated 14 times in Magazine Section since 2005 and has won 8 awards.  New York is also a repeat finalist this year in General Excellence, Single-Topic Issue and Essays and Criticism, as is The New Yorker in General Excellence and Public Interest.

Other repeat finalists include Aperture for the third consecutive year and The Marshall Project and Saveur for the second consecutive year in General Excellence; GQ for the third consecutive year in Design; Seventeen for the second consecutive year in Personal Service; 5280 and Texas Monthly, both for the second consecutive year in Leisure Interests; National Geographic for the third consecutive year in Single-Topic Issue and the second consecutive year in Website; The California Sunday Magazine for the second consecutive year in Single-Topic Issue; and TIME for the second consecutive year in Video.  

The work of Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah is nominated twice this year. Her story “A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof” for GQ is nominated in Feature Writing, and her article “Her Eyes Were Watching the Stars” for Elle is nominated in Essays and Criticism. Ghansah was previously nominated in Essay and Criticism in 2014 for her article “If He Hollers Let Him Go” for The Believer.

The work of the photographer Lynsey Addario is also nominated twice this year: in Feature Photography for her contribution to “American Women” for Vogue and in Digital Innovation for “Finding Home: 3 Babies, 3 Families, 1 Year” for TIME. Addario was previously nominated for her work for Harper’s Magazine in 2009 and for National Geographic and TIME, both in 2011.

The nomination in Feature Photography of James Nachtwey’s “Death Reigns on the Streets of Duterte’s Philippines” for TIME is the seventh nomination or award for Nachtwey’s work. He was previously an Ellie finalist in 2004, 2009 and 2012 for TIME and for National Geographic and Vanity Fair, both in 2007. His photo essay “The Tragedy of Sudan” won the National Magazine Award for TIME in 2005. Nachtwey also received the Creative Excellence Award for lifetime achievement at the 2015 National Magazine Awards dinner.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose story “My President Was Black” for The Atlantic is nominated in Feature Writing, previously won the award for Essays and Criticism for the same magazine in 2013. His work for The Atlantic was nominated in Columns and Commentary in 2014 and Essays and Criticism in 2015. Caitlin Flanagan, whose story “A Death at Penn State” for The Atlantic is also nominated in Feature Writing, previously won the award for Reviews and Criticism for the same magazine in 2008. Her work for The Atlantic was nominated in Reviews and Criticism in 2002, 2003 and 2004 and in Essays in 2005.

The nomination of New York’s Rebecca Traister in Columns and Commentary is the third time in the last four years her work has received recognition. She was nominated in Feature Writing for New York last year and in Columns and Commentary for The New Republic in 2015. Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, who also write for New York, are nominated this year in Leisure Interests for “The Encyclopedia of Vegan Food.” Raisfeld and Patronite won Leisure Interests with Michael Idov for New York in 2010 for “The Great New York Neoclassical Neapolitan Pizza Revolution”; Patronite with Idov won the same award for New York in 2008 for “Cartography: The Complete Road Map to New York City Street Food.”

Writers who have been previously honored also include Howard Bryant (finalist in Columns and Commentary), whose work for ESPN The Magazine was nominated in Columns and Commentary in 2016; Ian Frazier (finalist in Essays and Criticism), whose work for Outside was nominated in Feature Writing in 2003; Jeanne Marie Laskas (finalist in Feature Writing), whose work for GQ was nominated in Feature Writing in 2008; Michael Lewis (finalist in Public Interest), whose work for Vanity Fair was nominated in Feature Writing in 2010; Nina Martin (finalist in Public Interest), whose work for San Francisco was nominated in Public Interest in 2005; and Kathryn Schulz (finalist in Essays and Criticism), whose story “The Really Big One” won Feature Writing for The New Yorker in 2016.

Photographers who have been previously honored include Mark Peterson (finalist in Feature Photography), whose portfolio “Front Row at the Political Theater” won Feature Photography for Politico in 2016, and Jonas Bendiksen (finalist in Feature Photography), whose portfolio “Kibera (Winter)” won Photojournalism for The Paris Review in 2007.

“Despite financial challenges and political hostility to any kind of factual reporting, magazine journalism both in print and online is truly better than ever,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of ASME. “The stories and images nominated this year rank with the finest achievements in the long history of the National Magazine Awards. ASME is proud to recognize the 57 publications nominated this year for Ellies.”

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. Each winner receives an “Ellie,” modeled on the symbol of the awards, Alexander Calder’s stabile “Elephant.”

Two hundred eighty-one national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 1,368 print and digital entries.

The 269 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 2018 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:

Rachel Barrett, Editor in Chief, Country Living; David Brindley, Managing Editor, National Geographic; Maile Carpenter, Editor in Chief, Food Network Magazine and The Pioneer Woman Magazine; Bob Cohn, President, The Atlantic; Jonathan Dorn, Chief Innovation Officer, Active Interest Media; Bethany Heitman, Editor in Chief, PeopleStyle; Mark Jannot, Vice President, Content, National Audubon Society; Clara Jeffery, Editor in Chief, Mother Jones; Amanda Kludt, Editor in Chief, Eater; Cindi Leive, Editor in Chief, Glamour; Janice Min, Strategist, Eldridge Industries; James Oseland, Editor in Chief, World Food; Alison Overholt, Vice President and Editor in Chief, ESPN The Magazine and espnW; Jessie Price, Editor in Chief, EatingWell; Jake Silverstein, Editor in Chief, The New York Times Magazine; Susan Spencer, Editor in Chief, Woman’s Day; Nicholas Thompson, Editor in Chief, Wired; Duy Linh Tu, Director, Digital Media Program, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism; Julia Turner, Editor in Chief, Slate; and Charles F. Whitaker, Associate Dean, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.

Ellie Awards Annual Luncheon 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 dean, the scholarship is awarded to students who intend to pursue careers in magazine journalism.

Tickets to the 2018 Ellie Awards lunch go on sale tomorrow, February 2. To purchase tickets, visit ellieawards.org or call Wise & Company at 212.938.1032. 

Ellie Awards 2018 Finalists

General Excellence

News, Sports and Entertainment
Honors publications covering politics, business and technology as well as culture and society

The Atlantic; The California Sunday Magazine; National Geographic; New York; The New Yorker

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

Bon Appétit; Eater; Saveur; Teen Vogue; T: The New York Times Style Magazine

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

Bicycling; Inc.; Outside; San Francisco; Texas Monthly

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

Aperture; The Marshall Project; Oxford American; Popular Science; Virginia Quarterly Review

Design
Honors overall excellence in magazine design

Bon Appétit; ESPN The Magazine; GQ; Men’s Health; Wired

Photography
Honors overall excellence in magazine photography

GQ Style; National Geographic; New York; Virginia Quarterly Review; W

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

• The New Republic for “Charlottesville’s Faces of Hate,” photographs by Mark Peterson, August 14 at newrepublic.com
• New York for “The 43-Day Fashion Shoot,” photographs by Holly Andres, August 20 at thecut.com
• The New Yorker for “Faces of an Epidemic,” photographs by Philip Montgomery, October 30 at newyorker.com
• TIME for “Death Reigns on the Streets of Duterte’s Philippines,” photographs by James Nachtwey, January 16
• Vogue for “American Women,” photographs by Lynsey Addario, Evgenia Arbugaeva, Daniel Arnold, Jonas Bendiksen, Cass Bird, Charlie Engman, Alex Majoli, Bella Newman, Jackie Nickerson, Benjamin Rasmussen, Stefan Ruiz, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Lorna Simpson, Deanna and Ed Templeton and Mayan Toledano, March 8 at vogue.com

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

• Backpacker for “The Play List”
• Bon Appétit for “Starters”
• Martha Stewart Weddings for “Planner”
• New York for “The Culture Pages”
• New York for “The Strategist”

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

• Consumer Reports for “Too Many Meds? America's Love Affair With Prescription Medication,” by Teresa Carr, August 3 at consumerreports.org
• Cosmopolitan for “How to Run for Office,” reporting by Laura Brounstein, Meredith Bryan, Jessica Goodman, Emily C. Johnson, Tess Koman, Rachel Mosely, Rebecca Nelson and Helen Zook, October 10 at cosmopolitan.com and November print issue
• Grist for “Ask Umbra's 21-Day Apathy Detox,” by Umbra Fisk, April 17 at grist.org
• Seventeen for “This Is a Story About Suicide,” by Andrea Stanley, November/December
• Women’s Health for the article “Wakey Wakey!” by Malia Jacobson, December print issue; “Sleep Center,” December 11 on womenshealthmag.com; and the video “Wakey Wakey!,” December 11 on facebook.com/womenshealthmagazine

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

• 5280 for “The 5280 Guide to Four Corners,” by Kasey Cordell, September
• Bicycling for “How Cycling Works,” October
• Bon Appétit for “A Simple Roast Chicken,” by Amiel Stanek, October
• New York for “The Encyclopedia of Vegan Food,” by Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, November 13-26
• Texas Monthly for “The Golden Age of BBQ,” by Daniel Vaughn, June

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

• The California Sunday Magazine for “A Teenage Life,” December 3
• Columbia Journalism Review for “The Trump Issue,” Fall
• National Geographic for “Gender Revolution,” January
• New York for “My New York,” October 16-29
• The New York Times Magazine for “The New York Issue,” June 4

Website
Honors magazine websites and online-only magazines

The Marshall Project; National Geographic; New York; Pitchfork; Vogue

Social Media
Honors overall excellence in the use of social media by magazine websites and digital-only magazines

Mother Jones; The New Yorker; SELF; Seventeen; TIME

Video
Honors the outstanding use of video in magazine media

• The Atlantic for “What Will Happen to Undocumented Doctors?,” video by Jeremy Raff, February 2
• The New Yorker for “A Fever Dream at Beautycon,” video by Tim Hussin, September 18
• The Outline for “The Republican Who Quit the Party Because of Trump,” March 22
• TIME and Mic for “Life After Addiction,” video by Aja Harris and Paul Moakley, November 8 at time.com
• Vogue for “We Are All Fabulous . . . ,” video by Oliver Hadlee Pearch, February 24; “Paris, Je T’aime,” video by Gordon von Steiner, July 20; and “Workin’ 9 to 5 . . . Inside the Vogue Office!,” video by Charlotte Wales, September 25

Digital Innovation
Honors the outstanding use of digital media by magazine websites and digital-only magazines

• HuffPost Highline for “FML,” by Michael Hobbes, December 14
• The Marshall Project With Condé Nast Entertainment and Participant Media for “We Are Witnesses,” by Jenny Carchman, October 26 at themarshallproject.org
• National Geographic Traveler for “North: An Illustrated Travelogue,” by Christoph Niemann, April 4
• SB Nation for “17776: An American Football Story,” by Jon Bois, July 5
• TIME for “Finding Home: 3 Babies, 3 Families, 1 Year,” photographs by Lynsey Addario, reporting by Aryn Baker,  video by Francesca Trianni, December 18

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

• The California Sunday Magazine with the Investigative Fund for “Below Deck,” by Lizzie Presser, February 5
• ESPN The Magazine for “Sin City or Bust,” April 24, “Standing Down,” November 13, and “Roger Goodell Has a Jerry Jones Problem,” December 4, by Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham
• Harper’s Magazine with the Investigative Fund for “Ghost Nation,” by Nick Turse, July
• National Geographic and ProPublica for “How the U.S. Triggered a Massacre in Mexico,” by Ginger Thompson, June 12 at propublica.org
• The New York Times Magazine With ProPublica for “Kushnerville,” by Alec MacGillis, May 28
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Uncounted,” by Azmat Khan and Anand Gopal, November 19
• The New Yorker for “On the Brink,” by Evan Osnos, September 18

Feature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling

• The Atlantic for “My President Was Black,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, January/February
• The Atlantic for “A Death at Penn State,” by Caitlin Flanagan, November
• GQ for “A Most American Terrorist: The Making of Dylann Roof,” by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, September
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Mailroom,” by Jeanne Marie Laskas, January 22
• TMC Pulse for “Alan Dickson's Final Days,” by Alexandra Becker, July
• Virginia Quarterly Review for “The Useful Village,” by Ben Mauk, Spring
• Wired With Epic Magazine for “Love in the Time of Robots,” by Alex Mar, November

Essays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism

• The Atlantic for “Lola’s Story,” by Alex Tizon, June
• Elle for “Her Eyes Were Watching the Stars,” by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, June
• New York for “The Uninhabitable Earth,” by David Wallace-Wells, July 10-23
• The New Yorker for “Losing Streak,” by Kathryn Schulz, February 13 and 20
• Smithsonian for “What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution?” by Ian Frazier, October

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

• BuzzFeed News for three columns by Bim Adewunmi: “How the Oscar Flub Demonstrates the Limits of Black Graciousness,” March 1, “How Oprah Got Her Acting Groove Back,” April 10, and “Maria Sharapova's Rivalry With Serena Williams Is in Her Head,” September 9
• ESPN The Magazine for three columns by Howard Bryant: “The Williams Movement,” February 27, “Power Play,” April 24, and “How Is This Still a Debate?” December 4
• Longreads for three columns by Laurie Penny: “The Horizon of Desire” October 10, “We’re All Mad Here: Weinstein, Women, and the Language of Lunacy,” October 23, and “The Unforgiving Minute,” November 7
• New York for three columns by Rebecca Traister: “Why the Harvey Weinstein Sexual-Harassment Allegations Didn’t Come Out Until Now,” October 5, “Your Reckoning. And Mine.,” November 12, and “This Moment Isn’t (Just) About Sex. It’s Really About Work,” December 10, at thecut.com
• Pitchfork for three columns by Jayson Greene: “Is Rihanna the Most Influential Pop Singer of the Past Decade?” April 5, “Can Music Heal Trauma? Exploring the Therapeutic Powers of Sound,” September 20, and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Guitars? Exploring the Future of Musical A.I.,” June 12

Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance

• Harper’s Magazine for “Where Health Care Won’t Go,” by Helen Ouyang, June
• The New Yorker for “The Takeover,” by Rachel Aviv, October 9
• The New Yorker for “Abuses of Power,” October 23 print issue, “Weighing the Costs of Speaking Out About Harvey Weinstein,” October 27 at newyorker.com, and “Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies,” November 6 at newyorker.com, by Ronan Farrow
• ProPublica and NPR for “The Last Person You’d Expect to Die in Childbirth,” by Nina Martin, ProPublica, and Renee Montagne, NPR, May 12, “Lost Mothers,” by Nina Martin, Emma Cillekens and Alessandra Freitas, July 17, and “Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth,” by Nina Martin, ProPublica, and Renee Montagne, NPR, December 7, at propublica.org
• Vanity Fair for “The 5th Risk,” September, and “Made in the U.S.D.A.,” December, by Michael Lewis

All publication dates 2017 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