from magazine.org
Yesterday, the American Society of Magazine Editors chose the winners for its first-ever magazine cover competition, except there really was no contest: First place was taken easily by this September 19, 2005 New Yorker cover by Barry Blitt, which satisfied the need for Bush administratio comeuppance after the horrific bungling of Hurricane Katrina (I still remember the kind of savage pleasure it gave me when I first saw it). Expertly capitalizing on the anger in the country following that misspun and mismanaged tragedy, it tapped into a sense of righteousness yet remained tragic because of how close to reality it came in depicting rising floodwaters. That's ETP's feeling; ASME said "As the Oval Office is slowly submerged, the reader gets a release that goes beyond the first laugh and unleashes the floodgates of the nation's collective anger." Incredibly, it still applies now as a metaphor for the mismanagement of the Bush administration (July 10, 2001, anyone?). Well, at least they're consistent.
In any case, for these and other reasons the New Yorker cover beat out the second and third place winners: Rolling Stone's 1,000th issue 3-D ensemble-shot cover and The Economist's depiction of a nuclear Kim Jong Il as a literal "Rocket Man" blasting into space over the July 4th weekend. The RS cover, while impressive in having "stretched the form," was visually not that attractive and kinda made you dizzy to look at for too long, and while the Economist cover was a strong, effective image not a whole lot about Kim Jong Il says "aesthetically pleasing" (if it were Men's Health, at least we could have seen his abs).
Other awards include Scarlett Johannson taking two runner-up nods in Best Celebrity Cover (for Life and New York); more honors for Rolling Stone (special props for the Bush-as-dunce cover, which is much easier on the eyes than the 1,000th issue monstrosity) and the New Yorker (a fashion win, which somehow seems like Andy getting to go to Paris instead of Emily, and a cover combining the Cheney shooting, the codependent Bush/Cheney relationship and Brokeback Mountain into one lasting, erotic image); and, giving credence to the category, not one but two Best Service entries featuring the abs that Kim Jong Il so heartlessly deprived us of (note strategically-placed "L" on the National Geographic entry). Oops, we just read that the dude on the cover of National Geographic is 84. Ah well, we'll take our abs where we may find them.
— Rachel Sklar
