[This post has been updated]
The nominees for the 2012 American National Magazine Awards — commonly known as the “Ellies” after the elephantine design of the statuette — were announced today by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME).
Leading the way with 6 nominations each are The New Yorker and New York. There are 20 categories including General Excellence and Magazine of the Year (the finalists for the latter won’t be revealed until Thursday April 5). The winners will be announced on May 3 at a gala at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.
The Hall of Fame award will be presented to Sports Illustrated editor Terry McDonnell. There is also a Best Cover contest open to public vote: for the next three weeks you can view and vote on over 250 magazine covers in ten categories.
ASME sponsors the American National Magazine Awards in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Nearly 270 publications entered this year, submitting 1,804 entries. The judges included 345 magazine editors, art directors and photography editors as well as journalism educators.
Last month ASME announced the winners of the Digital Ellies — 11 categories for digital content and design — at a separate lunch ceremony in New York.
[Update April 4, 2012] An interesting item on the American NMAs, brought to our attention by the “PageViews” book blog of the New York Daily News, holds that in none of the “major” categories (quote-unquote: Reporting, Feature Writing, Profile Writing, Essays / Criticism and Columns / Commentary) are there any women nominated. (PageViews notes that 3 of the 5 finalists in the Fiction category are women.)
ASME and some women in the industry have fired back at this criticism, defending the judging process (women have long been nominees and winners in these categories) and opposing the notion that categories in which women are nominated are somehow not major.
