Esquire Among Winners Of National Magazine Awards For Digital Media

NEW YORK - The American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism announced the winners of the 2011 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media. More than 400 editors, publishers and guests attended a lunch at the Hilton New York to honor the 60 finalists and 12 winners. This year’s awards presentation included the first National Magazine Award for an iPad magazine.

The 2011 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media were presented in conjunction with “MPA Digital: E-Reading,” the premier e-reading conference for magazine-media leaders. The awards were sponsored by Adobe.

“What we saw today was a demonstration of the power of magazine journalism on digital platforms,” said Sid Holt, Chief Executive of ASME. “Whether it’s the Internet or on tablets, there has never been a more exciting time to be working in magazine media. For magazine readers, that means blogs, multimedia storytelling, mobile apps, video—in other words, great content on any device any time they want it.”

The winners of the Digital Ellies—named for the Alexander Calder stabile “Elephant,” which is presented to National Magazine Award winners—included 11 titles. Epicurious, the 15-year-old Conde Nast website, won two awards: General Excellence for Service and Lifestyle publications and Interactive Tool.

Besides Epicurious, three other online-only titles also won awards: LIFE.com for Photography, Digital Media; Slate for General Excellence for News and Opinion publications; and Tablet Magazine for Blogging. Esquire won the award for Mobile Edition for its iPad app. The other award winners were Fast Company; Foreign Policy; The New York Times Magazine; Poetry; The Oxford American; and Virginia Quarterly Review.

One hundred magazine websites and online-only magazines entered the Digital Ellies this year, and 94 editorial leaders served as judges. Thirty-nine titles were nominated. Among the titles that received multiple nominations were National Geographic (4); Slate (4); The Daily Beast (3); Foreign Policy (3); New York (3); The New York Times Magazine (3); Sports Illustrated (3); The Chronicle of Higher Education (2); Epicurious (2); Fast Company (2); The New Yorker (2); and Tablet Magazine (2). Nine online-only publications were nominated: Chow; CNET; The Daily Beast; Epicurious; LIFE.com; Salon; Slate; Tablet Magazine; and Yale Environment 360.

Media companies with multiple nominations include Time Inc. (9, for Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, LIFE.com, Real Simple, Sports Illustrated, Sunset and TIME); Condé Nast Publications (7, for Epicurious, The New Yorker, SELF, Vogue and Wired.com); the Slate Group (7, for Foreign Policy and Slate); Hearst Magazines (3, for Esquire, Marie Claire and Popular Mechanics); and CBS Interactive (2, for Chow and CNET). Condé Nast Publications (for Epicurious) and the Slate Group (for Foreign Policy and Slate) both won two awards. Time Inc. (for LIFE.com) and Hearst (for Esquire) both won one.

Publications that repeated as Digital Ellies winners from last year included Epicurious (which won the award for Interactive Tool in 2010); Foreign Policy (Blogging); Tablet Magazine (Podcasting); and Virginia Quarterly Review (News Reporting). Slate also won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2003.

Sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the National Magazine Awards were established in 1966 and are the preeminent awards for magazine journalism. The National Magazine Awards are presented at two events: the Digital Ellies and the Annual Gala, when print magazines are honored. This year the Annual Gala will be at 583 Park Avenue on May 9.

The categories and winners for the 2011 National Magazine Awards for Digital Media are:

General Excellence, Digital Media, Service and Lifestyle
Honors the best fashion, service and lifestyle magazines published on digital platforms

Epicurious
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General Excellence, Digital Media, News and Opinion
Honors the best general-interest magazines published on digital platforms

Slate
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Mobile Edition
Honors the best magazines created for mobile device, including tablets

Esquire
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Design, Digital Media
Honors overall excellence in the design of magazine websites and online-only magazines

The New York Times Magazine
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Photography, Digital Media
Honors the use of photography that demonstrates the unique capabilities of digital media

LIFE.com
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News Reporting
Honors the timeliness, accuracy and skill with which news and information are gathered and presented by magazine published on digital platforms

Foreign Policy
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Blogging
Honors excellence in online reporting and commentary and criticism published as a blog

Tablet Magazine
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Online Department
Honors a regularly updated, clearly branded department or channel

Fast Company
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Multimedia Package
Honors the use of interactivity and multimedia in the coverage of a single story

Virginia Quarterly Review
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Interactive Tool
Honors single-purpose interactive utilities that help users perform tasks or manage content

Epicurious
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Podcasting
Honors outstanding audio podcasts on a magazine website or online-only magazine

Poetry
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Video
Honors the outstanding use of video by a magazine website or online-only magazine

The Oxford American


To view the expanded list of winners and finalists, including links to nominated content, please click here: http://magazine.org/asme/about_asme/asme_press_releases/nma-digital-2011-winners.aspx

The American Society of Magazine Editors is the principal organization for magazine journalists in the United States. The members of ASME 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.