(NEW YORK) The annual, hotly anticipated throwdown of the glossy set—the National Magazine Awards, given by ASME—transpired last night, with New York nabbing the biggest accolade as 2013’s Magazine Of The Year. A major win for Adam Moss and team, adding to their massive collection of Ellies (the russet-hued statuettes). The title also scored for Magazine Section, thanks to Strategist. In the fashion set, Vogue received one of the top-notch General Excellence In Print awards (as did Martha Stewart Living, Outside, The Paris Review, and National Geographic).
Overall, National Geographic swept the 2013 ASME season; in addition to its General Excellence honor, the coffee table staple scored in the Best Multimedia, Best Tablet, and Best Photography categories. The shutterbug-focused latter category also recognized W for Feature Photography. Pourquoi? The mag’s Kate Moss portfolio in its March issue, entitled “Good Kate, Bad Kate.”
On the digital front, General Excellence In Digital Media went the music-centric, indie publishing route, to Chicago-based Pitchfork. Another online-only victor: Slate got some love in the Columns and Commentary category.
Other newsstand folks with reason to celebrate last eve include GQ for Reporting–though the men’s mag didn’t get a third consecutive award in the Design category, usurped by last year’s General Excellence winner, TIME. Also in the 2013 winner’s circle: Saveur for Single-Topic Issue; stellar West Coast regional title Los Angeles for Personal Service; The Atlantic for its site plus a single-article award, Harper’s for Fiction; and Texas Monthly in the feature writing and public interest realms.
That covers this year’s ASME in-crowd. Who’s out? Winners from last year like Bloomberg Businessweek, Glamour, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and O, The Oprah Magazine didn’t make it past the nominee category this time around. There’s always next year…
ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV