Blog Magazine

National Magazine Digital Media Awards: Separate but Equal?

Last October when the American Society of Magazine Editors decided to include 12 new digital awards--for the first time ever--to their National Magazine awards categories we assumed they were adding the categories to the prestigious industry awards ceremony slated for April 22. Well, you know what happens when you assume.

So Yesterday we were surprised when ASME announced the winners of the National Magazine Awards for Digital Media at a separate event. We wondered why ASME separated the awards into the two categories in the first place. Does it really matter if editorial excellence is achieved in a print magazine or on a blog? Is there really a difference (besides the medium) between journalism and digital journalism? For us, the answer is no.

For more clarity on the situation, we examined the digital award categories. While some of them reflect those of the print award categories including general editorial achievement, design and photography, others are interactive digital/online categories like mobile media, video, podcast and interactive tools.

The categories we find the most interesting are blogging, which ASME defines as "online reporting, commentary and criticism in the form of a blog" and Community, which ASME describes as "honors the use of proprietary content, interactive technology and social media to establish and sustain user communities." One award for journalism...the other for use of journalism? What?

Just like the print (real?) National Magazine awards, New York magazine and National Geographic were the big winners announced. Some other award winners were Billboard.com, Foreign Policy, Men’s Health, Sports Illustrated, Virginia Quarterly Review and three online-only publications: Epicurious, Tablet Magazine and Yale Environment 360.

Of the 37 magazine websites and online-only magazines that were nominated only six of them (Epicurious, The Daily Beast, LIFE.com, Slate, Tablet Magazine and Yale Environment 360) are online-only. Still, only three of those--Epicurious, Tablet Magazine and Yale Environment 360--took home awards.

What do you think? Should the digital media awards be separated or included in one awards ceremony?



 

Celebrity Scandals and Magazines

Apparently this is a big week for breaking news and "exclusive" coverage of celebrity scandals thanks to GQ, In Touch Weekly magazine and People magazine. Earlier this week as we mentioned, everyone was chattering over the provocative photos and revealing interview GQ magazine ran of former presidential nominee John Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Then yesterday, after much speculation, In Touch Weekly magazine hit stands with the headline "The Ultimate Betrayal," referring to the breaking news that actress Sandra Bullock's husband, Jesse James, had an affair with Michelle McGee, a tattoo model. Additionally, the celebrity magazine issued a press release touting its exclusive coverage of the "steamy affair," i.e. an interview with the tattoo model.

Today, People magazine followed-up the still-being-talked-about GQ interview with its cover out today featuring John Edwards' soon-to-be ex-wife Elizabeth Edwards with the headline, "How Much More Can She Take: John's Mistress Attacks Elizabeth" and references--on the cover--Rielle Hunter's "explosive GQ interview."

Meanwhile, also today, People magazine reported that Jesse James had "broken his silence" and released an apology to Sandra Bullock in a statement to the celebrity magazine.

As much as we like our celebrity magazines--and we do--the coverage is leaving us feeling queasy. What do you think? Did the magazines go to far with dramatizing these celebrity marital problems?

Shelter Magazine Genre Growing

Despite the many depressing closings of shelter magazines lately--Domino, Southern Accents and Metropolitan Home, RIP--the newest edition of The Standard Periodical Directory reports that home design and decorating magazines have experienced more growth than any other magazine genre in the last five years. In 2005 123 shelter magazines existed; this year there are 337.

Real Simple Magazine Celebrates 10 Years

Finally! It's here. Our 10th anniversary issue of Real Simple magazine. We've been anticipating the arrival of our copy since we read an article regarding the issue's cover design featuring clocks a couple of weeks ago.

As Managing Editor Kristin Van Ogtrop mentions in the Editor's Notes, to celebrate the occasion, the anniversary issue offers readers the gift of more time. In fact, the entire them of the issue is time with features and tips on smart ways to save it and spend it including "10 Years of Beauty, Fashion, Health and Home Time-Savers,"Your Money or Your Time" and "10 Years of New Uses for Old Things."

And in this era of frequent magazine closures, we're excited that Real Simple magazine is not just surviving 10 years but is thriving. The magazine recently made design changes and launched another line of branded home-products with retail partner Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Magazine News Round-Up

Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine reached its 100th issue with its March issue.  According to MediaPost, the 100th issue was put together with the help of magazine and focuses on making dream vacations a reality.

Time magazine has promoted two veteran staffers: International Editor Michael Elliott will be the new deputy managing editor, second in command to Managing Editor Rick Stengel. Longtime Time magazine contributor Nancy Gibbs, who penned the magazine's award-winning 9/11 coverage, will be executive editor.

The Internet and daytime TV are abuzz today over GQ magazine's revealing interview of Rielle Hunter and Hunter's regret over the "repulsive" photos that accompany the interview. Hunter is blaming photographer Mark Seliger for the racy photos in which she appears wearing only a white dress shirt and underwear.

National Magazine Award Nominations Somewhat Predictable

Each year when the American Society of Magazine Editors announces their nominees for their National Magazine Awards we expect magazines like the New Yorker and National Geographic to rack up the most nominations. 

So we weren't really surprised (not that we were disappointed) that when ASME announced the 2010 finalists earlier this week that New York magazine, the New Yorker and National Geographic had the most nominations.

We are however, happy that there are some never-before-nominated magazine titles like Architect, The Boston Globe Magazine, The Boston Review, Garden & Gun magazine, Military History, Orion and Out in the mix. Also nominated is Food Network Magazine, which launched last year.

As for the rest of the 51 magazines nominated, the list is somewhat predictable but stellar nonetheless. It includes Men's Health, Wired, Parents magazine, Vanity Fair and Vogue magazine. For a complete list of categories and nominees go here.

ASME will present the National Magazine Awards, known in the magazine industry as the Ellies, at a gala in New York City on April 22. More than 300 magazines participated in the National Magazine Awards this year, submitting 1,758 entries.

Country Living Magazine Makes Changes

Issues of Country Living magazine will get thicker this fall. Its bigger size (known as the trim size in the magazine industry) is just one of the many changes the magazine plans to make in an effort to broaden its appeal to more advertisers. The shelter magazine will also cut its publishing frequency by two issues, for a total of 10 per year, and increase its cover price from $3.99 to $4.50, reports MediaWeek.

Additionally, Country Living magazine is also taking steps to align itself with the green movement. Earlier this week, Hearst Magazines and New World Home, a developer of sustainable housing, announced a partnership for the Country Living Collection of historically inspired "country" modular homes that will be LEED-certified. The homes range in size from 1,100 to 2,300 square feet and in price from $165,000 to $460,000.

City and Regional Magazines to be Honored

Earlier this week the City and Regional Magazine Association announced the finalists for its 25th annual National City and Regional magazine competition. Magazines of varying circulations compete in 29 categories, including editorial, design, online and ancillary publications, according to the official press release.

Among the most-nominated magazines with 10 nominations each are Texas Monthly, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia magazines. Magazines with at least five nominations include 5280 (Denver), Atlanta, Berkshire Living, Boston, Cincinnati and Seattle Metropolitan.

This year’s editorial nominees covered a wide variety of topics including high unemployment, crime and the ultimate economic collapse of a small southern town and what it took for a blind man to hike the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail.

More than 75 judges from many popular magazines like Esquire, Body+Soul, Sports Illustrated magazine, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, Taste of Home, Men’s Journal magazine, Budget Travel magazine and journalism professors from the Missouri School of Journalism selected the finalists.The winners will be announced June 5-7 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Do you have a favorite city or regional magazine?

Deen Brothers Launch New Cooking Magazine for Men

With bestselling cookbooks and a Food Network show of their own, Jamie and Bobby Deen, have been following in the footsteps of their famous mom for awhile. And like their celebrity-chef mom, they are hoping to follow up their successful cookbooks and TV show with a cooking magazine.

This month the Deen Brothers launched Deen Bros Good Cooking magazine, a new quarterly special-interest magazine from Hoffman Media, publisher of Cooking with Paula Deen, Victoria magazine, Southern Lady magazine and other niche magazines.

Deen Brothers Good Cooking magazine is aimed at men with its grilling recipes, cooking tips and easy-to-read format. The magazine also features "everything from cocktails to cookies" including breakfast and dessert recipes. Hoffman Media plans to publish six issues per year by 2011.

Bobby and Jamie Deen have appeared on multiple episodes of their mother's Food Network series and specials. They launched their own Food Network show, Road Tasted, in 2006. The brothers also run their mother's well-known Savannah eatery, The Lady & Sons.

Magazine News Round-Up

Folio magazine interviewed Hearst Corp. executive vice president and publishing director Michael Clinton, regarding last week's launch of the multi-magazine publisher "Power of Print" ad campaign. Clinton discusses the misconceptions of the print medium.

Today Min Online kicked off its annual coverage of the best and worst-selling weekly and bi-weekly magazines. First up, a comparison of the top five best-selling Michael Jackson covers of 2009. 

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia will rename and rebrand its Body + Soul magazine with its June issue. The new brand and name will be Whole Living magazine, which will reflect the magazine’s web site and “Whole Living” daily satellite radio show on Sirius XM.