Ellies 2019 Finalists Announced

National Geographic, New York magazine and New Yorker top list of nominees; annual awards presentation moves to Brooklyn music venue

NEW YORK, NY (February 7, 2019)—The American Society of Magazine Editors today Twittercast the finalists for the 2019 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. ASME will celebrate the 54th presentation of the Ellie Awards when each of the 114 finalists is honored at the annual awards presentation five weeks from today.

The 2019 winners will be announced during an evening presentation on Thursday, March 14, at Brooklyn Steel, a music venue in Williamsburg, New York. 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 presentation will include the presentation of the 2019 ASME Award for Fiction to Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. The five winners of the 2019 ASME Next Awards for Journalists Under 30 will also be honored.

This year 67 titles were nominated in 22 categories, including one new category, Podcasting. Twenty publications were nominated for the most prestigious honor, General Excellence. They included large-circulation titles like Martha Stewart Living and TIME, special-interest magazines like Audubon and Kazoo, literary journals like Poetry and Virginia Quarterly Review and digital-only publications like The Marshall Project and The Trace.

Twenty-six titles received multiple nominations, led by The New Yorker with nine. National Geographic and New York both received seven nominations; New York’s women’s vertical, The Cut, was also nominated separately. The New York Times Magazine garnered five nominations, followed by The Atlantic, The Marshall Project and ProPublica, each with four.

Atlas Obscura, Bon Appétit, The California Sunday Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine and Topic all received three nominations. Fourteen media organizations were nominated twice: Afar, BuzzFeed News, GQ Style, Harper’s Bazaar, Longreads, Outside, Poetry, Popular Science, Slate, Smithsonian, TIME, Virginia Quarterly Review, W and Wired.

The finalists also included 5280, Allure, Aperture, Audubon, Bloomberg Businessweek, Broadly, Columbia Journalism Review, Cosmopolitan, Deadspin, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Hollywood Reporter, HuffPost Highline, Kazoo, Marie Claire, Martha Stewart Living, Mic, Newsday, Oregon Public Broadcasting, Pacific Standard, Philadelphia, Pitchfork, Politico, Real Simple, Roads & Kingdoms, Rolling Stone, Saveur, Self, Sonoma, Thrillist, The Trace, Type Investigations, Vanity Fair, Vice, Vogue, The Washington Post Magazine, Whisky Advocate, WNYC, WNYC Studios and Women’s Health.

Fifteen media organizations were first-time finalists: Atlas Obscura, Broadly, The Cut, Deadspin, Newsday (nominated with ProPublica), Oregon Public Broadcasting (nominated with Longreads), Roads & Kingdoms, Sonoma, Thrillist, Topic, The Trace, The Washington Post Magazine, Whisky Advocate, WNYC (nominated with ProPublica) and WNYC Studios (nominated with The New Yorker). Digital-first finalists included 20 titles: Atlas Obscura, Broadly, BuzzFeed News, The Cut, Deadspin, HuffPost Highline, Longreads, The Marshall Project, Mic, Pitchfork, Politico, ProPublica, Roads & Kingdoms, Self, Slate, Thrillist, Topic, The Trace, Vice and WNYC Studios.

Eight publications demonstrated sustained excellence by receiving nominations in the same category for the third year in a row or more. Among the repeat finalists were Aperture in General Excellence, four consecutive years and winner of the award in 2018; Bon Appétit in General Excellence, eight consecutive years and winner in 2014 and 2017; Cosmopolitan in Personal Service, six consecutive years and winner in 2014 and 2018; The Marshall Project in General Excellence, three consecutive years and winner in 2017; National Geographic in Website, three consecutive years and winner in 2017; and Saveur in General Excellence, three consecutive years.

Repeat finalists also included New York, nominated in General Excellence four consecutive years and winner in 2016 and in Single-Topic Issue three consecutive years and winner in 2017, and The New Yorker, which has been nominated in Reporting 29 of the last 30 years, receiving a total of 39 nominations and 8 awards. The New Yorker also received its fourth nomination in Public Interest in the last three years and has now garnered 16 nominations and 8 awards in the category since 2000.

“The magazines and websites nominated this year for National Magazine Awards demonstrate the enduring strength of magazine journalism,” said Sid Holt, chief executive of ASME. “Often overlooked in the news coverage of the publishing business is the extraordinary quality of the stories and images magazines regularly produce in print and online—which is just one reason ASME and Columbia are especially proud to honor the 65 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 seventy-nine national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 699 print, 560 digital and 141 multiplatform entries.

The 297 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 2019 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:

Amy DuBois Barnett, Chief Content Officer, theGrio, and Executive Vice President, Digital, ESGlobalMedia; Maile Carpenter, Editor in Chief, Food Network Magazine and The Pioneer Woman Magazine; Jonathan Dorn, Group President, Active Interest Media; Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief, The Atlantic; Ben Goldberger, Executive Editor, TIME; Christopher Keyes, Vice President, Editor, Outside; Amanda Kludt, Editor in Chief, Eater; Cindi Leive, Journalist; Janice Min, Senior Content Executive, Quibi; Stephen Orr, Group Editorial Director, Meredith Corporation, and Vice President, Editor in Chief, Better Homes and Gardens; Alison Overholt, Vice President, Editor in Chief, ESPN The Magazine, espnW and The ESPYs; Paul Reyes, Editor, Virginia Quarterly Review; Brooke Siegel, Vice President, Content, Hearst Digital Media; Jake Silverstein, Editor in Chief, The New York Times Magazine; Debra Adams Simmons, Executive Editor, Culture, National Geographic; Sally Singer, Creative Director, Vogue; Susan Spencer, Editor in Chief, Woman's Day; Nicholas Thompson, Editor in Chief, Wired; Duy Linh Tu, Professor and Director, Digital Media Center, Columbia School of Journalism; Liz Vaccariello, Editor in Chief, Vice President, Content, Parents; Charles Whitaker, Dean, Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism; and Ben Williams, Editor, Digital, New York Magazine.

Tickets to the 2019 Ellie Awards go on sale tomorrow, February 8. 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 dean, the scholarship is awarded to students who intend to pursue careers in magazine journalism. To purchase tickets, email [email protected] or call Wise & Company at 212.938.1032.

Ellie Awards 2019 Finalists

General Excellence

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

           The Marshall Project; National Geographic; New York; TIME; Wired

Service and Lifestyle
Honors publications covering fashion, food, travel and design as well as health, parenting, personal finance and active sports

Afar; Bon Appétit; Martha Stewart Living; Saveur; T: The New York Times Style Magazine

Special Interest
Honors publications serving highly defined reader communities, including city and regional magazines

Audubon; Columbia Journalism Review; The Hollywood Reporter; Kazoo; Smithsonian

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

Aperture; Poetry; Popular Science; The Trace; Virginia Quarterly Review

Design and Photography

News and Opinion
Honors the visual excellence of print and digital magazines covering politics, business, technology and entertainment

The California Sunday Magazine; National Geographic; New York; The New York Times Magazine; Wired

Service and Lifestyle
Honors the visual excellence of print and digital magazines covering fashion, food, travel and design

Afar; Bon Appétit; GQ Style; T: The New York Times Style Magazine; W

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

• GQ Style for “Three Days in Dakar,” photographs by Fanny Latour-Lambert, Fall
• National Geographic for “Frenzy,” photographs by Laurent Ballesta, May
• New York for “The Class of 1946-2018,” photographs by Michael Avedon, October 29–November 11
• Rolling Stone for “The Survivors,” photographs by Patrick Brown, August
• W for “Cate,” photographs by Cass Bird, Rineke Dijkstra, Dominique Issermann, Shirin Neshat, Jackie Nickerson, Sharna Osborne, Alex Prager, Viviane Sassen and Sam Taylor-Johnson, September

Website

News and Opinion
Honors magazine websites covering politics, business, technology and entertainment

The Marshall Project; National Geographic; The New Yorker; Pitchfork; Topic

Service and Lifestyle
Honors magazine websites covering fashion, food, travel and design

Atlas Obscura; The Cut; Outside; Roads & Kingdoms; SELF

Digital Innovation
Honors the outstanding use of digital technology in magazine storytelling

• The Marshall Project in partnership with Longreads for “Banished” by Beth Schwartzapfel and Emily Kassie, October 3 at themarshallproject.org
• Mic for “The Black Monuments Project,” February 1
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Voyages Issue,” September 21 at nytimes.com and on the New York Times mobile app and September 23 in print
• The New Yorker for “Touchstones,” November 20
• ProPublica and WNYC for “The Waiting Game,” April 23 at propublica.org

Social Media
Honors the outstanding use of social accounts by magazine websites and digital-only magazines

Atlas Obscura; Bon Appétit; Harper’s Bazaar; National Geographic; ProPublica

Podcasting
Honors the outstanding use of audio content by magazine websites and digital-only magazines

• Broadly for three episodes of “Queerly Beloved”: “The Past Lovers,” September 12, “The Siblings,” September 26, and “The Artists,” October 30
• Longreads in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting for three episodes of “Bundyville”: “The Battle,” “The Bomb” and “The Prophecy,” May 15
• The New Yorker and WNYC Studios for two episodes of “The New Yorker Radio Hour”: “The Long-Distance Con, Part 1,” September 28, and “The Long-Distance Con, Part 2,” October 5
• Poetry for three episodes of “The Poetry Magazine Podcast”: “Hera Lindsay Bird Reads ‘Pyramid Scheme,’” February 19, “Danez Smith Reads ‘How Many of Us Have Them?,’” March 12, and “Martín Espada Reads ‘Letter to My Father,’” March 26
• Slate for three episodes of “Slow Burn”: “Deal or No Deal,” August 8, “Tell-All,” September 18, and “Move On,” October 17

Video

News and Opinion
Honors coverage of politics, business, technology and entertainment

• The Atlantic for “The Separated,” video by Jeremy Raff, September 7
• Deadspin for “How America's Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers in Trump's War on the Media,” video by Timothy Burke, March 31
• National Geographic for “Last Prom,” video by Jessica Dimmock and Zackary Canepari, July
• Topic for “Black 14,” directed by Darius Clark Monroe, March 6
• Vanity Fair for “Billie Eilish: Same Interview, One Year Apart,” November 6

Service and Lifestyle
Honors coverage of fashion, food, travel and design

• Atlas Obscura for “Meet a Bug Whisperer and His Traveling Insect Zoo,” video by John Picklap and Olivia Loomis Merrion, November 6
• BuzzFeed News for “My Mom Took Care of Me for Top Surgery,” video by Branson LB, August 3, “How to Prepare for Top Surgery,” video by Sarah Karlan, September 2, and “Recovering From Top Surgery,” video by Sarah Karlan, September 5
• Harper’s Bazaar for “The Real Crazy Rich Asians,” August 15
• Topic for “Noodle School,” video by Jia Li, September 10
• Vogue for “You’re So Vain . . . ,” video by Charlotte Wales, March 1, “Praise Be! The 28 Best Looks From the Paris Collections,” video by Gordon von Steiner, March 22, and “Hadid, Hadid, Hadid!,” video by Bardia Zeinali, September 24

Single-Topic Issue
Honors publications that have devoted a single print issue or a major digital package to the comprehensive examination of one subject

• Allure for “The Culture of Hair,” March
• New York for “Women and Power,” October 14 at thecut.com and October 15-28 in print
• Popular Science for “The Tiny Issue,” Fall
• Sonoma for “The Fire Issue,” January/February
• T: The New York Times Style Magazine for “New York City: 1981-1983,” April 22

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

• 5280 for “The Art of Dying Well,” edited by Kasey Cordell and Lindsey B. Koehler, October
• Cosmopolitan for “Birth Control: Will It Become the Ultimate Luxury?," by Jennifer Gerson and Ashley Oerman, October 16 at cosmopolitan.com and November in print
• Marie Claire for “Marie Claire's Guide to Having a Baby,” October in print and October 1 at marieclaire.com
• Outside for "Rewilding the American Child," September
• Women’s Health for “You've Got This, Mama,” by Kelly Mickle, November

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

• Field & Stream for “One Wild Summer,” June-July
• New York for “How to Be an Artist,” by Jerry Saltz, November 26–December 9
• Real Simple for “Backyard Bliss,” July
• Thrillist for “Pizzafied”
• Whisky Advocate for “The Smoke Lovers' Issue,” Fall

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

• The Atlantic for “American Hustler,” by Franklin Foer, March
• Bloomberg Businessweek for "I Hereby Confess Judgment," by Zachary R. Mider and Zeke Faux, November 26
• The California Sunday Magazine in partnership with Type Investigations for “Whatever’s Your Darkest Question, You Can Ask Me,” by Lizzie Presser, April 1
• The New Yorker for “Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse,” by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer, May 7, at newyorker.com, “Trouble at the Top,” by Ronan Farrow, August 6 & 13, and “As Leslie Moonves Negotiates His Exit From CBS, Six Women Raise New Assault and Harassment Claims,” by Ronan Farrow, September 9, at newyorker.com
• The New Yorker for "Shallow Graves," by Ben Taub, December 24 & 31
• Politico for “The Genocide the U.S. Didn't See Coming,” by Nahal Toosi, March/April
• ProPublica and TIME for “Unprotected,” by Finlay Young, October 11 at propublica.org

Feature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling

• BuzzFeed News for “We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage,” by Christine Kenneally, August 27
• The California Sunday Magazine for “A Kingdom From Dust,” by Mark Arax, February 4
• Esquire for “This Place Is Crazy,” by John J. Lennon, Summer
• New York for “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” by Kerry Howley, November 12–25
• The New Yorker for “A Theory of Relativity,” by Elif Batuman, April 30
• Smithsonian for “Taming the Lionfish,” by Jeff MacGregor
• The Washington Post for “What Do We Owe Her Now?,” by Elizabeth Bruenig, August 19 at washingtonpost.com

Essays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism

• The Atlantic for “A Warning From Europe,” by Anne Applebaum, October
• The New York Times Magazine for “Getting Out,” by Reginald Dwayne Betts, October 21
• The New Yorker for three articles by Jill Lepore: “It’s Still Alive,” February 12 & 19, “The Shorebird,” March 26, and “Misjudged,” October 8
• Pacific Standard for “Silence Breaking Woman,” by Terese Marie Mailhot, May
• Virginia Quarterly Review for “The Breakup Museum,” by Leslie Jamison, Spring

Columns and Commentary
Honors departments and features that exemplify the editorial mission of the publication

• The Atlantic for three articles by Caitlin Flanagan: “The First Porn President,” May 3 at theatlantic.com, “I Believe Her,” September 17 at theatlantic.com, and “The Abandoned World of 1982,” September 25 at theatlantic.com
• The Marshall Project in collaboration with Vice for three “Life Inside” columns: “Death Row’s First Ever Talent Show,” by George T. Wilkerson, March 22, “Getting Out of Prison Meant Leaving Dear Friends Behind,” by Robert Wright, May 31, and “What It's Like to Be a Cutter in Prison,” by Deidre McDonald, August 16, at themarshallproject.org
• The New Yorker for three articles by Doreen St. Félix: “The National Geographic Twins and the Falsehood of Our Post-Racial Future,” March 14 at newyorker.com, “The Profound Presence of Doria Ragland,” May 21 at newyorker.com, and “The Ford-Kavanaugh Hearing Will Be Remembered as a Grotesque Display of Patriarchal Resentment,” September 27 at newyorker.com
• Philadelphia for three “Crankcase” columns by Sandy Hingston: “Alexa. That Bitch,” March, “The White Stuff,” August, and “Hair Piece,” October
• Slate for three “Jurisprudence” columns by Dahlia Lithwick: “He Made Us All Victims and Accomplices,” December 13, 2017, “Rob Porter’s History of Domestic Abuse Wasn’t a Secret. It’s Just That No One Cared,” February 8, and “Our System Is Too Broken to Assess the Sexual Assault Claim Against Kavanaugh,” September 14

Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance

• HuffPost Highline for “The Best Way to Save People From Suicide,” by Jason Cherkis, November 15
• National Geographic for “We Made It. We Depend on It. We’re Drowning in It. Plastic,” by Laura Parker, June
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Hidden Toll,” by Linda Villarosa, April 15
• The New Yorker for “No Refuge,” by Sarah Stillman, January 15
• ProPublica for three articles by Hannah Dreier: “A Betrayal,” co-published with New York, April 2, “The Disappeared,” co-published with Newsday, September 20, and “He Drew His School Mascot—and ICE Labeled Him a Gang Member,” in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, December 27

All publication dates 2018 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