The National Magazine Awards continue to evolve with the media industry, recognizing podcasting with its own award this year.
Better known by the name of its elephant-shaped award, the “Ellie,” the American Society of Magazine Editors and Columbia University-sponsored event revealed its shortlist of 67 finalists in 22 categories, five of which made it in for podcasts, an increasingly popular venue for news, long-form journalism and commentary. Outlets in the inaugural category include The New Yorker with WNYC and Slate.
The addition comes a year after the Ellies decided to do away with the most prestigious Magazine of the Year award and the Multimedia award, which focused on a print magazine’s success with digital integration. But with the new segment, the number of nominees increased to 67 from last year’s 57, so at least there are more chances for work to be recognized. And the new top category of General Excellence is expanded to include 20 finalists, with a mix of print magazines, special interest and digital-only outlets making the cut, like Time, Martha Stewart Living, Audubon, Virginia Quarterly Review and The Marshall Project.
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“The magazines and web sites nominated this year for National Magazine Awards demonstrate the enduring strength of magazine journalism,” Sid Holt, chief executive of ASME, wrote in a statement. “Often overlooked in the news coverage of the publishing business is the extraordinary quality of the stories and images magazines regularly produce in print and online — which is just one reason ASME and Columbia are especially proud to honor the 65 publications nominated this year for Ellies.”
There were several first-time finalists in various categories, like The Cut, a vertical out of New York Magazine; Thrillist, which mainly covers food; Washington Post Magazine and Atlas Obscura. But most of the dominate outlets made expected, repeat appearances.
The New Yorker again led the pack with nine nominations, one of which was for reporting by Ronan Farrow, followed by New York Magazine and National Geographic, which each received seven. Rounding out the top is The New York Times Magazine with five nominations and four nominations each for The Atlantic, The Marshall Project and ProPublica. Last year’s winners were led by The New Yorker and New York Magazine.
Winners for this year will be revealed the evening of March 14 at Brooklyn music venue Brooklyn Steel, another change from last year’s luncheon in Manhattan, hosted by CNN’s Don Lemon. A host for this year is expected to be revealed soon.
See below for the full list of the 2019 Ellie nominees:
General Excellence
News, Sports and Entertainment:
The Marshall Project
National Geographic
New York Magazine
Time
Wired
Service and Lifestyle:
Afar
Bon Appétit
Martha Stewart Living
Saveur
T: The New York Times Style Magazine
Special Interest:
Audubon
Columbia Journalism Review
The Hollywood Reporter
Kazoo
Smithsonian
Literature, Science and Politics:
Aperture
Poetry
Popular Science
The Trace
Virginia Quarterly Review
Design and Photography
News and Opinion:
The California Sunday Magazine
National Geographic
New York Magazine
The New York Times Magazine
Wired
Service and Lifestyle:
Afar
Bon Appétit
GQ Style
T: The New York Times Style Magazine
W
Feature Photography
GQ Style for “Three Days in Dakar,” shot by Fanny Latour-Lambert
National Geographic for “Frenzy,” shot by Laurent Ballesta
New York for “The Class of 1946-2018,” shot by Michael Avedon
Rolling Stone for “The Survivors,” shot by Patrick Brown
W for “Cate,” shot by Cass Bird, Rineke Dijkstra, Dominique Issermann, Shirin Neshat, Jackie Nickerson, Sharna Osborne, Alex Prager, Viviane Sassen and Sam Taylor-Johnson
Web Site
News and Opinion:
The Marshall Project
National Geographic
The New Yorker
Pitchfork
Topic
Service and Lifestyle:
Atlas Obscura
The Cut
Outside
Roads & Kingdoms
Self
Digital Innovation
The Marshall Project in partnership with Longreads for “Banished” by Beth Schwartzapfel and Emily Kassie
Mic for “The Black Monuments Project”
The New York Times Magazine for “The Voyages Issue”
The New Yorker for “Touchstones”
ProPublica and WNYC for “The Waiting Game”
Social Media
Atlas Obscura
Bon Appétit
Harper’s Bazaar
National Geographic
ProPublica
Podcasting
Broadly for three episodes of “Queerly Beloved”: “The Past Lovers,” “The Siblings” and “The Artists”
Longreads in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting for three episodes of “Bundyville”: “The Battle,” “The Bomb” and “The Prophecy”
The New Yorker and WNYC Studios for two episodes of “The New Yorker Radio Hour”: “The Long-Distance Con, Part 1,” and “The Long-Distance Con, Part 2”
Poetry for three episodes of “The Poetry Magazine Podcast”: “Hera Lindsay Bird Reads ‘Pyramid Scheme,’” “Danez Smith Reads ‘How Many of Us Have Them?’” and “Martín Espada Reads ‘Letter to My Father’”
Slate for three episodes of “Slow Burn”: “Deal or No Deal,” “Tell-All” and “Move On”
Video
News and Opinion:
The Atlantic for “The Separated,” video by Jeremy Raff
Deadspin for “How America’s Largest Local TV Owner Turned Its News Anchors Into Soldiers in Trump’s War on the Media,” video by Timothy Burke
National Geographic for “Last Prom,” video by Jessica Dimmock and Zackary Canepari
Topic for “Black 14,” directed by Darius Clark Monroe
Vanity Fair for “Billie Eilish: Same Interview, One Year Apart”
Service and Lifestyle:
Atlas Obscura for “Meet a Bug Whisperer and His Traveling Insect Zoo,” video by John Picklap and Olivia Loomis Merrion
BuzzFeed News for “My Mom Took Care of Me for Top Surgery,” video by Branson LB; “How to Prepare for Top Surgery,” video by Sarah Karlan and “Recovering From Top Surgery,” video by Sarah Karlan
Harper’s Bazaar for “The Real Crazy Rich Asians,” video by Kevin Kwan
Topic for “Noodle School,” video by Jia Li
Vogue for “You’re So Vain . . . ,” video by Charlotte Wales; “Praise Be! The 28 Best Looks From the Paris Collections,” video by Gordon von Steiner, and “Hadid, Hadid, Hadid!,” video by Bardia Zeinali
Single-Topic Issue
Allure for “The Culture of Hair,” March
New York for “Women and Power”
Popular Science for “The Tiny Issue”
Sonoma for “The Fire Issue”
T: The New York Times Style Magazine for “New York City: 1981-1983”
Personal Service
5280 for “The Art of Dying Well,” edited by Kasey Cordell and Lindsey B. Koehler, October
Cosmopolitan for “Birth Control: Will It Become the Ultimate Luxury?,” by Jennifer Gerson and Ashley Oerman
Marie Claire for “Marie Claire’s Guide to Having a Baby”
Outside for “Rewilding the American Child”
Women’s Health for “You’ve Got This, Mama,” by Kelly Mickle
Leisure Interests
Field & Stream for “One Wild Summer”
New York for “How to Be an Artist,” by Jerry Saltz
Real Simple for “Backyard Bliss”
Thrillist for “Pizzafied”
Whisky Advocate for “The Smoke Lovers’ Issue”
Reporting
The Atlantic for “American Hustler,” by Franklin Foer
Bloomberg Businessweek for “I Hereby Confess Judgment,” by Zachary R. Mider and Zeke Faux
The California Sunday Magazine in partnership with Type Investigations for “Whatever’s Your Darkest Question, You Can Ask Me,” by Lizzie Presser
The New Yorker for “Four Women Accuse New York’s Attorney General of Physical Abuse,” by Ronan Farrow and Jane Mayer; “Trouble at the Top,” by Ronan Farrow, and “As Leslie Moonves Negotiates His Exit From CBS, Six Women Raise New Assault and Harassment Claims,” by Ronan Farrow
The New Yorker for “Shallow Graves,” by Ben Taub
Politico for “The Genocide the U.S. Didn’t See Coming,” by Nahal Toosi
ProPublica and TIME for “Unprotected,” by Finlay Young
Feature Writing
BuzzFeed News for “We Saw Nuns Kill Children: The Ghosts of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage,” by Christine Kenneally
The California Sunday Magazine for “A Kingdom From Dust,” by Mark Arax
Esquire for “This Place Is Crazy,” by John J. Lennon
New York for “Everyone Believed Larry Nassar,” by Kerry Howley
The New Yorker for “A Theory of Relativity,” by Elif Batuman
Smithsonian for “Taming the Lionfish,” by Jeff MacGregor
The Washington Post Magazine for “What Do We Owe Her Now?,” by Elizabeth Bruenig
Essays and Criticism
The Atlantic for “A Warning From Europe,” by Anne Applebaum
The New York Times Magazine for “Getting Out,” by Reginald Dwayne Betts
The New Yorker for three articles by Jill Lepore: “It’s Still Alive,” “The Shorebird,” and “Misjudged”
Pacific Standard for “Silence Breaking Woman,” by Terese Marie Mailhot
Virginia Quarterly Review for “The Breakup Museum,” by Leslie Jamison
Columns and Commentary
The Atlantic for three articles by Caitlin Flanagan: “The First Porn President,” “I Believe Her,” and “The Abandoned World of 1982”
The Marshall Project in collaboration with Vice for three “Life Inside” columns: “Death Row’s First Ever Talent Show,” by George T. Wilkerson, “Getting Out of Prison Meant Leaving Dear Friends Behind,” by Robert Wright, and “What It’s Like to Be a Cutter in Prison,” by Deidre McDonald
The New Yorker for three articles by Doreen St. Félix: “The National Geographic Twins and the Falsehood of Our Post-Racial Future,” “The Profound Presence of Doria Ragland,” and “The Ford-Kavanaugh Hearing Will Be Remembered as a Grotesque Display of Patriarchal Resentment”
Philadelphia for three “Crankcase” columns by Sandy Hingston: “Alexa. That Bitch,” “The White Stuff,” and “Hair Piece,” October
Slate for three “Jurisprudence” columns by Dahlia Lithwick: “He Made Us All Victims and Accomplices,” “Rob Porter’s History of Domestic Abuse Wasn’t a Secret. It’s Just That No One Cared,” and “Our System Is Too Broken to Assess the Sexual Assault Claim Against Kavanaugh”
Public Interest
HuffPost Highline for “The Best Way to Save People From Suicide,” by Jason Cherkis,
National Geographic for “We Made It. We Depend on It. We’re Drowning in It. Plastic,” by Laura Parker
The New York Times Magazine for “The Hidden Toll,” by Linda Villarosa
The New Yorker for “No Refuge,” by Sarah Stillman
ProPublica for three articles by Hannah Dreier: “A Betrayal,” co-published with New York, “The Disappeared,” co-published with Newsday, and “He Drew His School Mascot — and ICE Labeled Him a Gang Member,” in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine