Last night the 40th annual National Magazine Awards were held in New York City, and love was in the air. It's true, most awards shows are filled with heartfelt speeches and thank-yous (and, in the case of the Oscars, shout-outs to agents and lawyers), but last night's winners displayed a touching and very real affection for their staff, contributors, rivals and the giants of the industry, on whose shoulders they readily acknowledged they stood.
For the uninitiated, a primer: Though the "Ellies" - so named for the Alexander Calder-designed statuette awarded to winners, the "Elephant" pictured above - have been referred to as 'the magazine world's Oscars', there is a big difference between the two industries. Movie studios release separate, unrelated films that speak to a specific audience individually. Magazines release issue after issue for their readers, building on previous material with regular features and establishing a very real relationship with the their readers over time. You don't say "oh, I love Universal Studios" the way you say, "oh, I love the New Yorker." Naturally, there is fierce competition for these readers, particularly between similar titles like Time and Newsweek, GQ and Esquire, Glamour and Cosmo, New York and the New Yorker. But just as naturally, in the mag world (with plenty of overlap in print and, yes, blogging these days), writers and editors move freely between publications, cross-pollinating personal and professional loyalties between titles.
It was that cross-pollination of loyalty and affection that was so evident last night as winning editor after winning editor gave credit to everyone else. New York editor Adam Moss accepted his magazine's award for General Excellence by thanking his staff, saying "It's ridiculous for me to be up here by myself," and then laying credit at the door of founding editor (and media legend) Clay Felker. Esquire editor David Granger accepted his magazine's General Excellence Ellie with a short speech that singled out longtime Harper's editor (and fellow GE Ellie winner) Lewis Lapham for praise, thanking Lapham for inspiring the rest of the room with his "love of words." Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner accepted both his awards beaming and wearing a lapel-pin featuring the gonzo insignia of late RS contributor Hunter S. Thompson.
The big winner of the night though seemed to be Jim Kelly's Time , which took the top award in the highest circ category as well as single-issue honors for "An American Tragedy," which came out in the week following Hurricane Katrina. Time seemed to be a fan favorite as the front of the orchestra section erupted in applause when the top award was announced. Of particular irony was that award's presenter: outgoing ASME president Mark Whitaker, who also happens to be the Editor-in-Chief of arch-rival Newsweek, which was not nominated this year save in the online category. Whitaker smiled broadly (if a touch ruefully) as he welcomed Kelly to the podim saying "Time keeps reinvigorating its role as a newsweekly and demonstrates its relevance and importance in a changing media world." Whatever rivalry their magazines have, the two men greeted each other warmly onstage as Whitaker handed Kelly his award. Kelly returned the graciousness, recalling that when Newsweek had won the GE award in 2004 Whitaker had said that the Time-Newsweek rivalry made both magazines better, and Kelly reiterated that and gave his rival his due. Kelly's voice seemed to almost-break a bit during his final speech, especially as he thanked a slew of people at Time, including former Time Group president Eileen Naughton and former PR stalwart Diana Pearson, both of whom were laid off by Time Inc. in December.
Small by comparison in history, circ and scope, the Virgina Quarterly Review revealed itself to be a tiny powerhouse, garnering a whopping six nominations and two wins, one for Fiction and one for General Excellence in its circulation category (for circulation under 100,000 - its circulation is 7,000). Editor Ten Genoways seemed dazed as he stood at the microphone and recalled coming to New York years ago with his college paper and visiting the offices of the New Yorker and Spy (which garnered an appreciative rumble from the crowd - Spy is very fondly remembered by this group). He thanked every member of his staff - "it won't take long" he said, and it didn't, because there are four of them.
Perhaps the funniest acknowledgement came from Backpacker editor Jon Dorn, whose book won in the "Magazine Section" category for best recurring feature. He, too, was happy to acknowledge the source of his inspiration, saying that the Backpacker "Basecamp" section had been modeled on the "Malegrams" section of fellow Rodale mag Men's Health. Dorn also seemed, er, inspired by colleague and Men's Health editor David Zinczenko, reminiscing about running into Zinczenko in the Rodale gym and noting that his colleage had broad shoulders, a flat stomach and "the best ass at Rodale." Not a bad consolation prize for Zinczenko, whose magazine was nominated for three Ellies. (NB: Though Zinczenko-as-editor was no doubt disappointed to be shut out, he is also Senior Vice-President of Rodale, and the Backpacker win is actually a great thing for the company as a whole: Men's Health is already doing great on brand awareness, and now there are a whole lot of people who are suddenly going to be looking very closely at Backpacker, too.)
Other nice moments at the podium: supermodel Alek Wek smiled hugely and seemed delighted to be there; she was a bit stymied by the teleprompter, and said a number of times that she was nervous. Aw. Meg Ryan's presence there was a semi-mystery (I don't think she's even played a reporter in anything), but she did look terrific (though the same kind of terrific that she looked ten years ago, prompting my neighbor on both my left and my right to lean in and whisper plastic surgery-related comments). She let out an excited little yelp of "Jann!" upon awarding the Photo Essay prize to Rolliing Stone. Martha Stewart also lent star power as a presenter (as a winner last year, and nominee this year), as did CNN poster-boy Anderson Cooper, who interspersed furrowed-brow ruminations on the importance of reporting with a joke or two about Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. (NB: That 'joke' played out in deadly earnest later on in the night with a nomination for W Magazine's infamous 60-page Brangelina photo spread by Steven Klein). Self finally won an Ellie on its tenth nomination ("We're the Susan Lucci of the Ellies!" senior features editor Sarah Austin told me before the ceremony), for its thrice-nominated "Healthy Breasts for Life" package, and Golf magazine's win for Leisure Interests had its contingent cheering wildly from the upper balcony. Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter (not in a tux, as Gawker noticed, but from where I sat it looked like he might actually be wearing dark jeans. Anyone know for sure?) had a somber and touching acceptance speech about Marjorie Williams, whose "A Matter of Life And Death" about her struggle with cancer was published posthumously in the magazine. American Scholar editor Robert Wilson revealed that the feature-writing winner, Priscilla Long's twenty-three chapter "Genome Tome was plucked from the unsolicited-manuscripts slush pile, and New Yorker editor David Remnick thanked "Public Interest" winning author Elizabeth Kolbert for her comprehensive series on global warming as well as the editor and fact-checker who had worked on the piece.
Remnick also veered into the political for a moment, saying that the past six years have "miserable" for the country but that the byproduct had been "a boon for commentary." Remnick was talking specifically about the Commentary Ellie for Hendrik Hertzberg, but it occurred to me last night, on the year anniversary of the Huffington Post, that Remnick's comment was especially applicable to the blogosphere. Which leads me to my next observation: National Geographic won this year's award for General Excellence Online. Well-deserved, to be sure but more than any other category, that one will be positively reinvented next year as magazines get their acts together on the internet (fortunately, they've had some good advice).
It was even a good night for the Atlantic Monthly, despite being shut out of all eight of its nominations; after all, they did get EIGHT nominations. Despite that upset (at least by this media pundit's ballot in the Gawker Ellies pool), the magazine and its various nominated pieces scrolled again and again across the big screen at the front of the stage and no one in the room was in doubt about its quality and contributions. Backpacker editor John Dorn also gave props to departing Atlantic acting-editor Cullen Murphy, but fortunately did not wax eloquent on the state of his ass.
On the whole it was an entertaining, edifying and surprisingly warm evening wherein the genuine affection of these people for their work and their colleagues was strongly felt. Plus, let's face it: everyone looks great all dressed up. See photos of the finery at FishbowlNY here and Gawker's snaps here. A final note on the Ellie itself: last year when I was at FishbowlNY, I noted that it looked less like an Elephant than a big scary spider, but in this photo below (also from Fishbowl), I think they look rather like a flock of pterodactyls.
