The New Yorker led the pack of nominees for the 2009 National Magazine Awards, garnering 10 nominations in categories including General Excellence, Reporting and Feature Writing. Condé Nast cousin GQ came in a close second with eight nominations, including two for reporting. New York magazine received six nominations, including for General Excellence both in print and online. Esquire and National Geographic received five nominations each.
Ironically, Best Life, recently shuttered by Rodale, was nominated for an award for best magazine section.
The awards are presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors in conjunction with Columbia Journalism School. Winners will be announced on April 30. The full list of nominees appears below.
GENERAL EXCELLENCE: Recognizes overall excellence in magazines in six circulation categories. The award honors the effectiveness with which writing, reporting, editing and design work together to command readers attention and fulfill the magazine's unique editorial mission.
Circulation under 100,000
The American Scholar; Aperture; Bidoun; Print; The Virginia Quarterly Review
Circulation 100,000 - 250,000
Foreign Policy; Los Angeles Magazine; Mother Jones; Paste; Time Out New York
Circulation 250,000 - 500,000
The Atlantic; Backpacker; New York; Texas Monthly; W
Circulation 500,000 1,000,000
The Economist; Fast Company; GQ; Runner's World; Wired
Circulation 1,000,000 2,000,000
Bon Appétit; Field & Stream; The New Yorker; Popular Science; Vogue
Circulation over 2,000,000
Martha Stewart Living; National Geographic; Reader's Digest; Real Simple; Time
SINGLE-TOPIC ISSUE: This category recognizes magazines that have devoted an issue to an in-depth examination of one topic. The award honors the ambition, comprehensiveness and imagination with which a magazine treats its subject.
Atlanta Magazine; IEEE Spectrum; New York; Newsweek; Saveur
MAGAZINE SECTION: This category recognizes the excellence of a regular, cohesive section of a magazine, either front- or back-of-book, and composed of a variety of elements, both text and visual. The award honors the section's voice, originality, and unified design and packaging.
Best Life; Golf Digest; Newsweek; O, The Oprah Magazine; Wired
REPORTING: This category recognizes excellence in reporting. It honors the enterprise, exclusive reporting and intelligent analysis that a magazine exhibits in covering an event, a situation or a problem of contemporary interest and significance.
Fast Company; GQ (2 nominations); The New York Times Magazine; The New Yorker
PUBLIC INTEREST: This category recognizes journalism that sheds new light on an issue of public importance and has the potential to affect national or local debate or policy.
Bicycling; BusinessWeek; Mother Jones; Newsweek; Vanity Fair
FEATURE WRITING: This category recognizes excellence in feature writing. The award honors the stylishness, flair and originality with which the author treats his or her subject.
The Atlantic; Esquire; GQ; Harper's Magazine; The New Yorker
PROFILE WRITING: This category recognizes excellence in profile writing. The award honors the vividness and perceptiveness with which the writer brings his or her subject to life.
Esquire; GQ; The New York Times Magazine; Rolling Stone; Vanity Fair
ESSAYS: This category recognizes excellence in essay writing on topics ranging from the personal to the political. Whatever the subject, the award honors the author's eloquence, perspective, fresh thinking and unique voice.
The Antioch Review; Backpacker; Glamour; Harper's Magazine; The New Yorker
COLUMNS and COMMENTARY: This category recognizes excellence in short-form political, social, economic or humorous commentary. The award honors the eloquence, force of argument and succinctness with which the writer presents his or her views.
Automobile; The Nation; The New Republic; The New Yorker; Sports Illustrated
REVIEWS and CRITICISM: This category recognizes excellence in criticism of art, books, movies, television, theater, music, dance, food, dining, fashion, products and the like. The award honors the knowledge, persuasiveness and original voice that the critic brings to his or her reviews.
The Atlantic; The Nation; New York (2 nominations); The New Yorker
FICTION: This category recognizes excellence in magazine fiction writing. The award honors the quality of a publication's literary selections.
The American Scholar; The New Yorker (2 nominations); The Paris Review;
The Virginia Quarterly Review
PERSONAL SERVICE: This category recognizes excellence in service journalism. The advice or instruction presented should help readers improve the quality of their personal lives in areas that are core to their personal well-being.
Esquire; Family Circle; Health; More; Prevention
LEISURE INTERESTS: This category recognizes excellent service journalism about leisure-time pursuits. The practical advice or instruction presented should help readers enjoy hobbies or other recreational interests.
Esquire (2 nominations); Field & Stream; The New Yorker; Texas Monthly
DESIGN: This category recognizes excellence in magazine design. The award honors the effectiveness of overall design, artwork, graphics and typography in enhancing a magazines unique mission and personality.
Bon Appétit; Good; GQ; New York; Wired
PHOTOGRAPHY: This category recognizes excellence in magazine photography. The award honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo illustration in enhancing a magazines unique mission and personality.
Bon Appétit; GQ; National Geographic; T, The New York Times Style Magazine; W
PHOTOJOURNALISM: This category recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject in real-time.
Harper's Magazine; National Geographic; The New York Times Magazine (2 nominations); Time
PHOTO PORTFOLIO: This category honors creative photography and photo illustration (including portraiture or specially produced layouts on fashion, food, decorating, travel, design, the arts, etc.).
Bon Appétit; GQ; Gourmet; The New Yorker; W
GENERAL EXCELLENCE ONLINE: This category recognizes excellence in magazine websites, as well as online-only magazines that publish original content. The award honors sites that convey a distinct editorial identity and create a unique magazine environment on the Web.
1,000,000 and above average monthly unique visitors
BusinessWeek.com; Chow.com; National Geographic Magazine Online (ngm.com);
New York Magazine Online (nymag.com); Time.com
Less than 1,000,000 average monthly unique visitors
Backpacker.com; MotherJones.com; Parenting.com; RunnersWorld.com; Triple
Canopy (www.canopycanopycanopy.com)
PERSONAL SERVICE ONLINE: This category recognizes excellent service journalism on the Web. The practical advice or instruction presented should help readers improve the quality of their personal lives or enjoy recreational pursuits. The category honors a site's effective use of multimedia technology to deliver information that users can act on.
Backpacker.com; CNNMoney.com; Gourmet.com; Health.com; RunnersWorld.com
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: This category recognizes an outstanding feature or section of a website that uses multimedia technology, tools, community platforms or other interactive formats to deliver or share content such as news, information and entertainment, rather than practical instruction or advice.
AARP The Magazine Online (aarpmagazine.org); Epicurious.com; National Geographic
Magazine Online (ngm.com); Salon.com; Wired.com