
It’s a big day for award talk. The nominees for the big awards were announced this morning quickly and succinctly, cutting into local morning news and lighting up social media with discussions of Oscar snubs and grabs. And then, a few hours later, the finalists for the coveted National Magazine Awards, which were announced during “an hour-long Twittercast” as a way to get the congratulations on Twitter going.
And there’s a lot of congrats to go around. A total of 66 publications were named as finalists in 24 categories. The finalists include digital-only publications like Refinery 29, Grantland and The Atavist, but since it is 2015 they are now just called “magazines.” Finalists for the top category of “Magazine of the Year” are Better Homes and Gardens, The Hollywood Reporter, New York, Vogue and Cosmopolitan, which made headlines for its win last year.
Winners of the elephant-shaped award will be announced at a ceremony on February 2.
Here is the full list of nominees:
National Magazine Awards 2015 Finalists
General Excellence
General Interest Magazines
Honors magazines covering politics, business, technology, sports and entertainmentGQ; The New York Times Magazine; The New Yorker, Politico; Wired
Service and Lifestyle Magazines
Honors magazines covering family, the home, food, fashion and relationshipsCosmopolitan; Glamour; Martha Stewart Living; Parents; Sunset
Style and Design Magazines
Honors magazines covering fashion, decorating, dining, entertaining and travelBon Appétit; Garden & Gun; Harper’s Bazaar; T, The New York Times Style Magazine; Vogue
Active Interest Magazines
Honors magazines covering health and fitness, active sports, outdoor recreation and cars and boatsMen’s Health; Outside; Popular Mechanics; Runner’s World; Women’s Health
Special Interest Magazines
Honors magazines serving highly defined reader communitiesHarvard Business Review; The Hollywood Reporter; Inc.; Mental Floss; Texas Monthly
Literature, Science and Politics Magazines
Honors smaller-circulation general-interest magazines as well as publications covering the artsThe American Scholar; Foreign Affairs; Mother Jones; Nautilus; Virginia Quarterly Review
Design
Honors overall excellence in print magazine designBon Appétit; The California Sunday Magazine; Harper’s Bazaar; New York; Wired
Photography
Honors overall excellence in print magazine photographyBon Appétit; GQ; Harper’s Bazaar; Kinfolk; National Geographic
Single-Topic Issue
Honors print magazines that have devoted a single issue to the comprehensive examination of one subject
• Audubon for “Special Issue: Birds and Climate Change,” September/October
• Bloomberg Businessweek for “85th Anniversary Issue,” December 8
• Bon Appétit for “The Thanksgiving Issue,” November
• New York for “Health: A Special Issue,” June 9-15
• San Francisco for “The Oakland Issue,” JuneMagazine Section
Honors front- or back-of-the-book departments or sections regularly published in print
• Bloomberg Businessweek for “ETC”
• Inc. for “Made”
• New York for “The Culture Pages”
• New York for “Strategist”
• Popular Mechanics for “How Your World Works”Website
Honors magazine websites and online-only magazinesThe Atlantic; Nautilus; New York; Politico; Refinery29
Tablet Magazine
Honors magazines published on tablets and e-readersBon Appétit; Garden & Gun; National Geographic; New York; Sunset
Multimedia
Honors digital storytelling and the integration of magazine media
• The Atavist for “Love for My Enemies,” by Lukas Augustin and Niklas Schenck, June, at atavist.com
• Consumer Reports for “A Beautiful Death,” in December print edition and at consumerreports.org
• Powder for “The Human Factor,” by David Page, December 9, at powder.com
• Slate for “The Year of Outrage,” December 17, at slate.com
• The Texas Observer in Partnership With The Guardian for “Beyond the Border,” by Melissa del Bosque, August 6, at texasobserver.orgVideo
Honors the outstanding use of video by magazine websites and digital-only magazines
• The Atlantic for “The Contract Buyers League,” and “The Guardian of North Lawndale,” May 21
• Grantland for “The Finish Line,” Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3, directed by Jonathan Hock, February 13, February 28, and March 13
• Rolling Stone for “Rick Was Here,” October 16
• TIME for “Rise,” directed by Shaul Schwarz, March 6
• Vice for “The Islamic State,” by Medyan Dairieh, August 15Public Interest
Honors magazine journalism that illuminates issues of national importance
• The Atlantic for “Segregation Now . . . ,” by Nikole Hannah-Jones, May
• Matter for “You’re 16. You’re a Pedophile. You Don’t Want to Hurt Anyone. What Do You Do Now?” by Luke Malone, August 10
• National Journal for “Jackie’s Goodbye,” by Tiffany Stanley, October 4
• Pacific Standard for “Women Aren’t Welcome Here,” by Amanda Hess, January/February
• Slate for “The Campus Rape Overcorrection,” by Emily Yoffe, December 7Personal Service
Honors magazine journalism that serves readers’ needs and aspirations
• Cosmopolitan for “The Cosmo Icky-pedia of STIs,” by Kelly Mickle, November
• Men’s Journal for “When to Say No to Your Doctor,” by Joseph Hooper, October
• New York for “Your Grandmother’s Guide to Pot,” by Allison P. Davis, Armen Enikolopov, Matthew Giles, Clint Rainey, Alexa Tsoulis-Reay, Mary Jane Weedman and Alex Yablon, December 1-14
• O, The Oprah Magazine for “Ready or Not: What It’s Like to Care for Aging Parents,” November
• Real Simple for “Real Simple’s Easy, Clever, Commonsense, Time-Saving, Game-Changing Guide to Help You Take Control of the Laundry (Finally)!” by Nicole Sforza, AugustLeisure Interests
Honors magazine journalism that provides practical information about recreational activities and special interests
• Backpacker for “The Complete Guide to Fire,” edited by Casey Lyons, October
• Bon Appétit for “Inside the (Very Active) Mind of Bobby Flay,” by Adam Rapoport, March
• Outdoor Life for “Do It All: 51 Essential Skills, Inspired Project, and Clever Hacks to Improve Your Outdoor Life,” April
• Runner’s World for “What Will It Take to Run a 2-Hour Marathon?” by Alex Hutchinson, October 13
• Sunset for “25 All-Time Favorite Test Kitchen Recipes,” JanuaryReporting
Honors reporting excellence as exemplified by one article or a series of articles
• The Atavist for “The Trials of White Boy Rick,” by Evan Hughes, September
• Chicago for “The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates: Dead Wrong,” May, and “The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates: Getting Washed,” June, by David Bernstein and Noah Isackson
• ESPN The Magazine for “No One Walks Off the Island,” by Scott Eden, May 12
• GQ for “Inside the Iron Closet,” by Jeff Sharlet, February
• The New Republic for “How Close They Came,” by Ben Birnbaum and Amir Tibon, August 4
• The New Yorker for “The Hunt for El Chapo,” by Patrick Radden Keefe, May 5
• Virginia Quarterly Review for “The Ghosts of Rana Plaza,” by Jason Motlagh, SpringFeature Writing
Honors original, stylish storytelling
• The Atavist for “Love and Ruin,” by James Verini, February
• GQ for “The Strange and Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit,” by Michael Finkel, September
• Grantland for “The Sea of Crises,” by Brian Phillips, November 5
• The New York Times Magazine for “The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie,” by John Jeremiah Sullivan, April 13
• The New Yorker for “The Reckoning,” by Andrew Solomon, March 17
• T, The New York Times Magazine for “Lost Knowledge,” by Jody Rosen, December 7
• Texas Monthly for “The Witness,” by Pamela Colloff, SeptemberFeature Photography
Honors the use of original photography in a feature story, photo-essay or photo portfolio
• Bloomberg Businessweek for “Border Lines,” photographs by Kirsten Luce, December 1
• Harper’s Magazine for “Dark Heights,” photographs by Benjamin Lowy, May
• Matter for “Whoever Saves a Life,” by Matthieu Aikins, photographs by Sebastiano Tomada, September 14
• New York for “Magic Show,” photographs by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, February 17-24
• TIME for “Crime Without Punishment,” photographs by Jerome Sessini, AugustEssays and Criticism
Honors interpretative and critical journalism
• The Atlantic for “The Case for Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, June
• The Georgia Review for “The One I Get and Other Artifacts,” by Carol Ann Davis, Winter
• The New Yorker for “This Old Man,” by Roger Angell, February 17 and 24
• Vanity Fair for “Shame and Survival,” by Monica Lewinsky, June
• Virginia Quarterly Review for “Smuggler: A Memoir of Gay Male Literature,” by Philip Kennicott, FallColumns and Commentary
Honors political and social commentary; news analysis; and reviews and criticism
• Grantland for three columns by Wesley Morris: “Let’s Be Real,” August 15; “After Normal,” February 21; and “If U Seek Amy,” October 3
• The New Republic for five posts by Rebecca Traister: “When Michael Dunn Compared Himself to a Rape Victim, He Was Following an Old, Racist Script,” October 23; “I Don’t Care If You Like It,” July 16; “I Sort of Hope We Find Out That Jill Abramson Was Robbing the Cash Register,” May 15; “Jill Abramson’s Firing Was About Gender. And Also Not About Gender,” May 22; and “The Slenderman Stabbing Shows Girls Will Be Girls, Too,” June 4
• New York for three columns by Jerry Saltz: “Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?,” June 16-29; “Taking in Jeff Koons, Creator and Destroyer of Worlds,” June 30-July 13; and “Post-Macho God: Matisse’s Cut-Outs Are World-Historically Gorgeous,” October 8
• The Oxford American for three columns by Chris Offutt: “Chicken Eggs,” Spring; “Bourbon and Cheese,” Summer; and “CIA Cake and Jeff Davis Pie,” Fall
• Texas Monthly for three columns by Stephen Harrigan: “Dreaming in the Dark,” February; “Before the McConaissance,” April; and “A Double Date With Leatherface,” JulyFiction
Honors fiction originally published in magazines
• The Antioch Review for “Afternoon in Byzantium,” by Rick DeMarinis, Summer
• The New Yorker for “The Emerald Light in the Air,” by Donald Antrim, February 3
• The New Yorker for “Scheherazade,” by Haruki Murakami, October 13
• The Paris Review for “Miss Adele Amidst the Corsets,” by Zadie Smith, Spring
• Virginia Quarterly Review for “Serve-and-Volley, Near Vichy,” by Greg Jackson, FallMagazine of the Year
Honors magazines for print and digital editorial excellence and for magazine-branded content and services, including conferences and eventsBetter Homes and Gardens; Cosmopolitan; The Hollywood Reporter; New York; Vogue
All publication dates 2014 unless otherwise indicated