US: Esquire wins 4 awards; the New Yorker, three

Esquire magazine edged out perennial champion the New Yorker at the National Magazine Awards, taking the industry's top US awards for profile writing, design, fiction and criticism

Bangkok Post
Friday, May 7, 2004

Esquire magazine edged out perennial champion the New Yorker at the National Magazine Awards, taking the industry's top US awards for profile writing, design, fiction and criticism.

The New Yorker won three awards - for public interest articles, features and essays - giving it a cumulative total of 39 prizes since the programme began in 1966. The awards, which are administered by the American Society of Magazine editors, were presented on Wednesday at a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

Newsweek won the award for general excellence in the largest category, for magazines with circulations over two million, for its coverage of the war in Iraq. Popular Science and Gourmet won the general excellence awards in their respective circulation categories.

First-time winner Budget Living, which launched in 2002, took the general excellence prize for magazines between 250,000 and 500,000 circulation. The judges cited the magazine's "quirky and modern'' look and "clever and conspiratorial'' voice.

Aperture, another first-time winner, took the overall prize in the smallest circulation category, of under 100,000, and Chicago Magazine won the general excellence award for the next largest circulation category, of 100,000 to 250,000.

Esquire's article on the travails of Bob Greene, a columnist fired from the Chicago Tribune over allegations of sexual impropriety, won the award for profiles, while the New Yorker won the essay award for a first-person account by Laura Hillenbrand about her struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome.

In other categories, Men's Health won for personal service; Consumer Reports won for leisure interests; Rolling Stone won the reporting award for a three-part series of articles from Iraq by Evan Wright; and New Yorkmagazine won for columns and commentary for three columns by media critic Michael Wolff. The Oxford American won for a single-topic issue for its annual music issue.

The New Yorker's next closest contender in total National Magazine Awards citations is The Atlantic Monthly, which has a cumulative total of 18. Esquire is third with 15.

Date Posted: 5/7/2004