One of the publishing industry’s most prestigious prizes, the American Society of Magazine Editors unveiled its list of nominations for the 2017 awards this afternoon. The winners will be revealed at a lunchtime ceremony hosted by Lester Holt at Cipriani Wall Street on Feb. 7.
Winning an “Ellie,” as the awards are known, after the Alexander Calder designer elephant-shaped trophy, gives media organizations the chance to brag about achievements that have nothing to do with page views or revenue.
“For more than half a century the National Magazine Awards have celebrated the best of American journalism,” ASME chief executive Sid Holt said in a statement. “Whether it’s self-help packages or long-form reporting, luscious photography or bigly videos, magazines are the go-to source for information and entertainment for the more than 200 million adults who read magazines every year.
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This year, 64 media outlets were nominated in 20 categories. New York magazine, a perennial favorite, got 10 nominations, once again leading the pack. Last year, the publication got nine ASME nods. Both The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker got the same number of nominations as last year (seven and five, respectively). Both The California Sunday Magazine and National Geographic were finalists in for four awards, while Bloomberg Businessweek, GQ and Mother Jones each netted three. Aperture, Audubon, Bon Appetit, Cosmopolitan, Eater, The Huffington Post Highline, Modern Farmer, Popular Mechanics, Powder, Saveur and Texas Monthly were all finalists for two awards.
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Publications new to the list include GQ Style, MTV News and The Texas Tribune. Both print and digital magazines are eligible for consideration. Digital-first publications on the list include The Atavist, Eater, The Huffington Post Highline, The Intercept, The Marshall Project, MTV News, STAT and Refinery29 (which was nominated for feature photography in “11 Images That People With Anxiety Will Understand”). This year, collaboration between outlets was rewarded — BuzzFeed News and BBC was a finalist in the reporting category, and a joint project between ProPublica and The Texas Tribune made the list for multimedia.
One category absent from this round is fiction, which, as WWD reported in September, ASME decided to suspend the award category for 2017.
In 2014, Cosmopolitan snagged its first-ever ASME win, for its recurring column “Your Cosmo Guide to Contraception” in the category of personal service. Now, the Hearst title is a contender in the most coveted category — magazine of the year, a prize that went to The Atlantic last year. The four other titles nominated for the big award are The New Yorker, New York, The California Sunday Magazine and Mother Jones. If Cosmo wins that award, it would be a big coup for Joanna Coles, who was the editor in chief of the publication until September, when she was named chief content officer at Hearst.
But of course, it’s an honor just to be nominated.
Full list below:
Ellie Awards 2017 Finalists
General Excellence
News, Sports and Entertainment
Honors publications covering politics, business and technology as well as pop culture and leisure interests
Bloomberg Businessweek; ESPN The Magazine; GQ; New York; The New Yorker
Service and Lifestyle
Honors publications covering health and fitness as well as fashion, design, food and travel
Bon Appétit; Elle; GQ Style; Marie Claire; Saveur
Special Interest
Honors publications serving highly defined reader communities, including city and regional magazines and active-interest titles
Chicago; The Hollywood Reporter; Kazoo; Modern Farmer; Powder
Literature, Science and Politics
Honors smaller-circulation general-interest magazines as well as publications covering the arts
Aperture; Foreign Affairs; The Marshall Project; Mother Jones; Poetry
Design
Honors overall excellence in magazine design
Bon Appétit; The California Sunday Magazine; GQ; New York; The Pitchfork Review
Photography
Honors overall excellence in magazine photography
AFAR; Aperture; The California Sunday Magazine; Powder; WSJ. Magazine
Feature Photography
Honors the use of photography in a feature story, photo-essay or photo portfolio
- National Geographic for “Bloody Good,” photographs by Charlie Hamilton James, January
- National Geographic for “Every Last One: The Photo Ark,” photographs by Joel Sartore, April
- The New York Times Magazine for “Voyages: Danakil,” photographs by Andrea Frazzetta, Sept. 25 at nytimes.com
- Pacific Standard for “Adrift,” photographs by Francesco Zizola, July/August
- Refinery29 for “11 Images That People With Anxiety Will Understand,” photographs by Sam Cannon, July 8 at refinery29.com
Magazine Section
Honors the editorial direction of print or digital departments or sections
- Food Network Magazine for “Fun Cooking”
- Garden & Gun for “Talk of the South”
- New York for “The Culture Pages”
- Popular Mechanics for “Know-How”
- Women’s Health for “Discuss!”
Personal Service
Honors magazine journalism that serves readers’ needs and aspirations
- Cosmopolitan for “How to Have a Safe Abortion,” by Amanda Robb and Caitlin Moscatello, April
- Oz The Good Life for “Your Heart: The Inside Story,” by Sari Harrar, November
- GOOD for “What Can He Really Do? What Can We Do About It?,” Winter
- The New York Times Magazine for “Doctors Without Borders,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee, “Written on the Body,” by Ryan Bradley, and “The Shark and the Lightning,” by Melanie Thernstrom, May 15
- Seventeen for “Oh, Zit!,” by Kelsey Castañon, December 2016/January 2017
Leisure Interests
Honors magazine journalism that provides practical information about recreational activities and special interests
- 5280 for “Earth, Wind and Water,” by Lindsey B. Koehler, May
- Eater for “The Eater Guide to Paris,” by Eater Staff, October 19 at eater.com
- Modern Farmer for “How to Raise Chickens for Farm-Fresh Eggs,” by Lucie B. Amundsen, Spring
- Texas Monthly for “Knives Out,” by Courtney Bond, Abby Johnston, June Naylor, Katharyn Rodemann, Patricia Sharpe and Daniel Vaughn, December
- Wired for “What to Eat Today,” August
Single-Topic Issue
Honors print magazines that have devoted a single issue to the comprehensive examination of one subject
- The California Sunday Magazine for “Listen,” October 2 print issue and californiasunday.com
- Los Angeles for “Immigration: A Special Issue,” October
- National Geographic for “Yellowstone: The Battle for the American West,” May print issue and nationalgeographic.com
- New York for “Eight Years in America,” October 3-16 print issue and nymag.com
- Saveur for “The Origins Issue,” October/November
Website
Honors magazine websites and online-only magazines
Audubon; Bloomberg Businessweek; Eater; The Intercept; National Geographic
Multimedia
Honors digital storytelling and the integration of magazine media
- Huffington Post Highline for “The 21st Century Gold Rush,” by Malia Politzer and Emily Kassie, December 21 at highline.huffingtonpost.com
- New York for “The Year in Memes,” by Madison Malone Kircher, Brian Feldman and Max Read, December 14 at nymag.com
- The New York Times Magazine for “25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going,” nytimes.com and March 13 print issue
- ProPublica and The Texas Tribune for “Hell and High Water,” by Neena Satija for the Texas Tribune and Reveal, Kiah Collier for the Texas Tribune, and Al Shaw and Jeff Larson for ProPublica, March 3 at propublica.org
- Vanity Fair for “The Break Out Bunch,” September 13 at Snapchat Discover
Video
Honors the outstanding use of video in magazine media
- ESSENCE for “Black Girl Magic: Sage Adams,” directed by Laurie Thomas, “Black Girl Magic: Ammarah Haynes,” directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, and “Black Girl Magic: Berneisha Hooker,” directed by Nailah Jefferson, at essence.com
- New York With Narrative 4 for “Guns & Empathy,” December 26 at nymag.com
- STAT for “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 1,” March 25, “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 5,” March 31, and “Science Happens! With Carl Zimmer: Episode 8,” August 25, at statnews.com
- Teen Vogue for “Guys Read: Sexual Assault—Jason and Yahdon,” “Guys Read: Sexual Assault—Spencer and Anthony” and “Guys Read—Sexual Assault: Andrew and Alex,” April 29 at teenvogue.com
- TIME for “100 Photographs: Untitled (Cowboy),” “100 Photographs: A Portrait of Domestic Violence” and “100 Photographs: The Falling Man,” November 17 at 100photos.time.com
Reporting
Honors reporting excellence as exemplified by one article or a series of articles
- The Atlantic for “The Obama Doctrine,” by Jeffrey Goldberg, April
- Bloomberg Businessweek for “Walmart’s Crime Problem,” by Shannon Pettypiece and David Voreacos, August 22-28
- BuzzFeed News and BBC for “The Tennis Racket,” January 17, and “The Italian Job,” March 15, by Heidi Blake and John Templon, at buzzfeed.com
- Foreign Policy for “Present at the Creation,” August 16, “How the Islamic State Seized a Chemical Weapons Stockpile,” August 17, and “The Greatest Divorce in the Jihadi World,” August 18, by Harald Doornbos and Jenan Moussa, at foreignpolicy.com
- Mother Jones for “My Four Months as a Private Prison Guard,” by Shane Bauer, July/August print issue; June 23 at motherjones.com and youtube.com
- New York for “Sources: Megyn Kelly Told Murdoch Investigators That Roger Ailes Sexually Harassed Her,” July 19 at nymag.com, “Former Fox News Booker Says She Was Sexually Harassed and ‘Psychologically Tortured’ by Roger Ailes for More Than 20 Years,” July 29 at nymag.com, and “The Revenge of Roger’s Angels,” September 5-18 print issue, by Gabriel Sherman
- The New Yorker for “The Assad Files,” April 18, and “The Shadow Doctors,” June 27, by Ben Taub
Feature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling
- Audubon for “Delusion Is the Thing With Feathers,” by Mac McClelland, May/June
- New York for “A Woman Running for President,” by Rebecca Traister, May 30-June 12
- The New York Times Magazine for “I Have No Choice but to Keep Looking,” by Jennifer Percy, August 2 at nytimes.com
- The New York Times Magazine for “The Mysterious Metamorphosis of Chuck Close,” by Wil S. Hylton, July 13 at nytimes.com
- The New Yorker for “Trump Days,” by George Saunders, July 11 and 18
- Popular Mechanics for “Climb Aboard, Ye Who Seek the Truth,” by Bronwen Dickey, September
- Texas Monthly for “The Reckoning,” by Pamela Colloff, April
Essays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism
- GQ for “My Son, the Prince of Fashion,” by Michael Chabon, October
- The Hedgehog Review for “Ladies in Waiting,” by Becca Rothfeld, Fall
- New York for “Democracies End When They Are Too Democratic,” by Andrew Sullivan, May 2-15
- The New York Times Magazine for “David’s Ankles,” by Sam Anderson, August 21
- Oxford American for “Listening for the Country,” by Zandria F. Robinson, Winter
Columns and Commentary
Honors political and social commentary; news analysis; and reviews and criticism
- The Economist for three obituaries by Ann Wroe: “Manohar Aich: Raising the Temple,” June 18-24, “Elie Wiesel: Unanswerable Questions,” July 9-15, and “Qusai Abtini: From Child to Man,” August 13-19
- Esquire for three columns by Dwight Garner: “Second Only to Sex,” September, “Drinking Games,” November, and “Name Dropping,” December 2016/January 2017
- Harper’s Magazine for three columns by Rebecca Solnit: “Bird in a Cage,” March, “The Ideology of Isolation,” July, and “Giantess,” September
- MTV News for three columns by Doreen St. Félix: “Diamond ‘Lavish’ Reynolds, Public Witness,” July 7, “The Images We Can’t Unsee,” July 19, and “New Tongues,” August 29, at mtv.com/news
- Rolling Stone for three columns by Matt Taibbi: “President Trump, Seriously,” March 10, “Appetite for Destruction,” August 11, and “The Fury and Failure of Trump,” November 3
Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance
- The Atavist for “A Family Matter,” by Jessica Weisberg, August 16 at magazine.atavist.com
- Huffington Post Highline for “Out Here, No One Can Hear You Scream,” by Kathryn Joyce, video and photographs by Emily Kassie, March 16 at highline.huffingtonpost.com
- The New York Times Magazine for “Worlds Apart,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, June 12
- The New Yorker for “The List,” by Sarah Stillman, March 14
- Scientific American for “The Looming Threat of Factory-Farm Superbugs,” by Melinda Wenner Moyer, December
Magazine of the Year
Honors magazines for print and digital editorial excellence; audience engagement; and the success of branded content and services, including conferences and events
The California Sunday Magazine; Cosmopolitan; Mother Jones; New York; The New Yorker