NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS 2012 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Sports Illustrated Editor Terry McDonell to Be Honored at May 3 Gala.

NEW YORK, NY (April 3, 2012)—The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) today announced the finalists for the 2012 National Magazine Awards. Known as the Ellies—for the Alexander Calder stabile “Elephant” given to each award winner—the National Magazine Awards will be presented on Thursday, May 3, at the New York Marriott Marquis.

The May 3 gala will include the presentation of the Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame Award to Terry McDonell, who as Editor of the Time Inc. Sports Group oversees Sports Illustrated. The Hall of Fame was established in 1995 by ASME to recognize the editorial achievements and career-long accomplishments of leading journalists and honors distinguished service to the magazine industry.

New York and The New Yorker Lead 2012 Finalists

The 2012 National Magazine Award finalists include 52 titles in 20 categories. Twenty-six magazines received multiple nominations, led by New York and The New Yorker, both with six.

Magazines receiving multiple nominations include: The Atlantic (3 nominations), Bloomberg Businessweek (3), ESPN The Magazine(2), Esquire (3), Field & Stream (2), Garden & Gun (2), Glamour (2), GQ (5), Harper’s Magazine (3), Interview (2), Los Angeles (2),McSweeney’s Quarterly (2), Men’s Health (2), National Geographic (3), New York (6), The New York Times Magazine  (3), The New Yorker (6), Real Simple (3), Rolling Stone (2), Texas Monthly (2), TIME (3), Vanity Fair (2), Virginia Quarterly Review (3), Vogue (2), W(2) and Wired (4).

Group publishers with multiple nominations include: Atlantic Media Company (3 for The Atlantic); Bloomberg L.P. (3 for Bloomberg Businessweek); Bonnier Corporation (4 for Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and Saveur); Brant Publications (2 for Interview); Conde Nast (24 for Bon Appetit, Glamour, GQ, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, W and Wired); Emmis Communications (4 for Los Angelesand Texas Monthly); Hearst Magazines (10 for Country Living; Esquire; Good Housekeeping; House Beautiful; Marie Claire;  O, The Oprah Magazine; Popular Mechanics and Redbook); National Geographic Society (3 for National Geographic); New York Times Company (3 for The New York Times Magazine); Rodale (3 for Bicycling and Men’s Health); Time Inc. (7 for Real Simple, Sports Illustrated and TIME); and Wenner Media (3 for Men’s Journal and Rolling Stone).

Three magazines were first-time nominees: Country Living, The Fader and Vice—all in General Excellence.

Finalists in the Magazine of the Year category, honoring excellence both in print and on digital platforms, will be announced on Thursday, April 5; the Magazine of the Year finalists will also be honored at the May 3 awards presentation. Finalists and winners in the 11 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media categories were announced earlier this year.

ASME sponsors the National Magazine Awards in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The first award was presented in 1966 to Look; the first award for digital journalism was presented in 1997 to Money. Nearly 270 publications entered the National Magazine Awards this year, submitting 1,804 entries.  The judges included 345 magazine editors, art directors and photography editors as well as journalism educators.

National Magazine Awards 2012 Finalists 

GENERAL EXCELLENCE, PRINT

General-Interest Magazines
Honors large-circulation weeklies, biweeklies and general-interest monthlies

Bloomberg Businessweek; GQ; New York; The New Yorker; Vice

Women’s Magazines
Honors women’s magazines, including health and fitness magazines and family-centric publications

Glamour; More; O, The Oprah Magazine; Real Simple; W

Lifestyle Magazines
Honors food, travel and shelter magazines as well as city and regional publications

Bon Appetit; Country Living; Garden & Gun; House Beautiful; Texas Monthly

Active- and Special-Interest Magazines
Honors magazines serving targeted audiences, including enthusiast titles

The Fader; Field & Stream; Inc.; Men’s Health; Popular Mechanics

Thought-Leader Magazines
Honors literary, scholarly and professional publications as well as small-circulation general-interest magazines

The American Scholar; Aperture; IEEE Spectrum; The New Republic; Virginia Quarterly Review

DESIGN

Bloomberg Businessweek; GQ; Interview; New York; Wired

PHOTOGRAPHY

GQ; Interview; National Geographic; Virginia Quarterly Review; Vogue

NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY

Harper’s Magazine for “Juvenile Injustice,” October
Harper’s Magazine for “Uncertain Exodus,” July
National Geographic for “Too Young to Wed,” June
The New York Times Magazine for “From Zero to 104,” September 4
TIME for “Birds of Hope,” January 17

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

National Geographic for “Taming the Wild,” March
The New York Times Magazine for “Touch of Evil,” December 11
TIME for “Portraits of Resilience,” September 19
Vogue for “Lady Be Good,” March
W for “Planet Tilda,” August

SINGLE-TOPIC ISSUE

Bloomberg Businessweek for “Steve Jobs,” October 10-16
ESPN The Magazine for “NFL Preview: The Vick Issue,” September 5
Garden & Gun for “Southern Food,” October/November
New York for “The Encyclopedia of 9/11,” September 5-12
Wired for “Underworld,” February

MAGAZINE SECTION

Bicycling for “Know/How”
Esquire for “Man at His Best”
New York for “Strategist”
Real Simple for “Food”
Wired for “Start”

PERSONAL SERVICE

Glamour for “The Secret That Kills Four Women a Day,” June
Good Housekeeping for “Fractured,” July
Real Simple for “Your Holiday-Spending Survival Guide,” November
Redbook for “Would You Get a ‘Mommy Tuck’?” April
San Francisco for “The New School of Fish,” February

LEISURE INTERESTS

New York for “The Urbanist’s Guide To . . . ,” April 25
Outdoor Life for “Sniper School,” March
Saveur for “Italian American,” December
Texas Monthly for “Home Plates,” April
Wired for “The Wired Travel Optimizer,” October 

PUBLIC INTEREST

5280 Magazine for “Direct Fail,” December
Harper’s Magazine for “Tiny Little Laws,” February
Marie Claire for “The Big Business of Breast Cancer,” October
Men’s Health for “The Signature Wound,” November
The New Yorker for “The Invisible Army,” June 6

REPORTING

The Atlantic for “Our Man in Kandahar,” November
Los Angeles for “What Happened to Mitrice Richardson?” September
The New Yorker for “The Apostate,” February 14 & 21
The New Yorker for “Getting bin Laden,” August 8
Vanity Fair for “Echoes From a Distant Battlefield,” December

FEATURE WRITING

Esquire for “Heavenly Father!” October
GQ for “The Man Who Sailed His House,” October
The New York Times Magazine for “You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey!” June 12
The New Yorker for “A Murder Foretold,” April 4
Rolling Stone for “Arms and the Dudes,” March 31 

PROFILE WRITING

D Magazine for “He Is Anonymous,” April
ESPN The Magazine for “Game of Her Life,” January 10
Men’s Journal for “The Blind Man Who Taught Himself to See,” March
Rolling Stone for “Santiago’s Brain,” December 8
Sports Illustrated for “Dewayne Dedmon’s Leap of Faith,” November 14

ESSAYS AND CRITICISM

Esquire for “The Loading Dock Manifesto,” May
GQ for “Too Much Information,” May iPad Edition
New York for “Paper Tigers,” May 16
The New Yorker for “The Aquarium,” June 13 & 20
Slate for “The Stutterer: How He Makes His Voice Heard,” February 22

COLUMNS AND COMMENTARY

The Atlantic for columns by James Parker
Field & Stream for columns by Bill Heavey
Los Angeles for reviews by Steve Erickson
TIME for columns by Joel Stein
Vanity Fair for columns by Christopher Hitchens

FICTION

The Atlantic for “Scars,” Summer 2011
McSweeney’s Quarterly for “Ambition,” April
McSweeney’s Quarterly for “The Northeast Kingdom,” August
Virginia Quarterly Review for “La Moretta,” Fall
Zoetrope: All-Story for “The Hox River Window,” Fall

All publication dates 2011 unless otherwise indicated

The American Society of Magazine Editors is the principal organization for magazine journalists in the United States. ASME members include the editorial leaders of most major consumer and business magazines published in print and online. 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 University Graduate School of Journalism and publishes the ASME Guidelines for Editors and Publishers.