Hearst Magazines announced the winners of the 2015 Editorial Excellence Awards yesterday. Top titles include Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan.com, Esquire, and ELLE, to name a few, with Harper’s Bazaar U.S. taking home the most accolades. All 150 print and digital editions worldwide were considered for the 14 categories, and a total of 12 of the 42 finalists made it to first place. Finalists were selected by Hearst editors-in-chief, executive editors, creative directors, design directors and site directors (they couldn’t vote in categories their own titles were in the running for) and a senior management committee selected the winners.
“Our editorial teams in the U.S. and around the world are creating engaging, thoughtful content that resonates with readers, and the Editorial Excellence Awards salute the very best of the best,” said Hearst Magazines president David Carey. “The brilliance of this work is the foundation of Hearst’s strength, and it’s what bonds us to our global audience of 200 million print readers and 400 million unique digital visitors.”
The list of winners and runners up:
Print Innovation of the Year, U.S.: Harper’s Bazaar (Pop-up edit: harper, BAZAAR Gardens, BAZAAR Art)
Finalists: Redbook (Real Women Style Awards and cover, September); O, The Oprah Magazine (O’s Little Books)
Digital Innovation of the Year, U.S.: Cosmopolitan.com (Snapchat Discover)
Finalists: Delish.com (snackable videos); Hearst Magazines Digital Media Newsroom (multiple breaking news and feature stories)
International Excellence, print, (Outside of the U.S.): Harper’s Bazaar UK
Finalists: ELLE China; Fujingaho Japan
International Excellence, Digital (Outside of the U.S.): Cosmopolitan.nl
Finalists: ELLE.it; HarpersBazaar.es
Cover of the Year: Harper’s Bazaar (March)
Finalists: Good Housekeeping (130th Anniversary special collector’s edition, November); Road & Track (July)
Story of the Year: Esquire (‘The Friend,’ by Matthew Teague, May)
Finalists: ELLE (‘Feeling is Believing,’ by Lisa Chase, October); Popular Mechanics (‘The Daily Miracle,’ by Reeves Wiedeman, March)
Photography: Harper’s Bazaar (March and September)
Finalists: Town & Country (September and October); VERANDA (March/April and July/August)
Design: Car and Driver (June and July)
Finalists: Cosmopolitan (May and November); Harper’s BAZAAR (March and September)
Regular Section or Department: PopularMechanics.com (Space Vertical: Mars Week, October)
Finalists: ELLE.com (Culture Vertical: Squad Week, June); Popular Mechanics (How Your World Works, February and September)
Special Interests A (Fashion, Beauty, Food, Travel, and Home Design): Food Network Magazine (The Complete Guide to Cupcakes, May)
Finalists: VERANDA (Spring Style Guide, March/April, Summer Style Guide, May/June and Encyclopedia of Style, September/October); Woman’s Day (Halloween special section, October)
Special Interests B (Health, Self-Improvement, Careers, Technology, and Automotive): O, The Oprah Magazine (The Sensuous Woman, October)
Finalists: ELLE (Breast package, June); Seventeen (How to Get Into College Without Losing It, September)
Public Interest: Cosmopolitan (‘Pregnant? Scared? Need Options? Too Bad.’ August)
Finalists: Esquire (‘Ballad of the Sad Climatologists,’ August); Marie Claire (Sex trafficking series: ‘Crude Awakening,’ September, and ‘A Tribe’s Quest,’ October)
Video of the Year: CountryLiving.com & Delish (Halloween How-To: Mummy Pops)
Finalists: Cosmopolitan.com (‘Mom, I’m Not A Girl: Raising a Transgender Child,’); Harpersbazaar.com/ShopBazaar (harper by Harper’s BAZAAR starring Hannah Bronfman)
Best Use of Social Media: Seventeen.com (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)
Finalists: CountryLiving.com (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest); Delish (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat/delishdotcom)
