Media

New York, David Granger big winners at National Magazine Awards

New York once again dominated the National Magazine Awards, winning four Ellies on Monday night — but it was a single award that went to outgoing Esquire Editor-in-Chief David Granger that drew a standing ovation.

Granger’s monthly was nosed out in the General Excellence category in news, sports and entertainment when Adam Moss won the first of his four awards.

Granger won for Essays & Criticism for a piece entitled, “The Friend,” by Matthew Teague.

Only days before the awards, handed out by the American Society of Magazine Editors at a gala at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Hearst had announced that Granger, 59, was being replaced as editor of Esquire after 19 years.

“I’m so happy about this I’m just gonna quit,” quipped Granger.

New York Editor Moss, accepting his first award of the night, said, “As worrisome as these times are for the magazine business, it is a pretty exciting time for journalism.”

New York also took Ellies in the Multimedia category, for Best Website, and for best Magazine Section for the weekly’s “The Culture Pages.”

Another perennial favorite, The New Yorker, was almost shut out until the David Remnick-led weekly snagged one for Feature Writing.

One of the more unusual awards of the night went to The Intercept in the Columns and Commentary category for three articles by Barrett Brown, a prisoner in the midst of serving a 63-month federal prison sentence in South Texas for his role in leaked cyber hacks.

Editor Betsy Reed said that despite the high tech nature of the publication and the writer, he had to write his essays in long hand, by pencil and send them through the mail.

Though women read about 75 percent of all magazines, there were dearth of pure women’s magazines carrying home “Ellies,” as the Albert Calder-designed stables for National Magazine Awards are known.

In the closely watched Reporting category, a first-time winner was the digital publication, Matter. Joshua Hammer won for his Ebola story, “My Nurses are Dead and I Don’t Know If I’m Already Infected.”

BuzzFeed News won the Public Interest category Ellie where only a single print magazine, Cosmopolitan, was a finalist. BuzzFeed nosed out two Huffington Post finalists and one by The Intercept.

Politico won for feature photography, for Front Row at the Political Theatre, beating out the Caitlin Jenner story in Vanity Fair.

In a non-surprise, Vice won for outstanding use of video by magazine media for a report on Russian soldiers uncovered in the Ukraine.

Janice Min, president and chief creative officer of The Hollywood Reporter, won an Ellie in the General Excellence (Special Interest Magazines) category.

The other General Excellence award, in the Service and Lifestyle category, went to Lucky Peach, which sent their managing editor to the podium to accept because Editor-in-Chief Chris Ying and Editorial Director Peter Meehan stayed home.

“We really thought we had no chance of winning this,” they said in a prepared note.

Magazine of the Year went to The Atlantic and Editor James Bennett, while Gayle Butler, the longtime editor of Better Homes and Gardens, was inducted into the Magazine Editors Hall of Fame.