NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2020)—The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) today announced via Twittercast the finalists for the 2020 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. ASME will celebrate the 55th annual presentation of the Ellie Awards and honor the 112 finalists on Thursday, March 12th, at Brooklyn Steel, a music venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This year, the Magazine Editors’ Hall of Fame Award will be presented by journalist Tom Junod to David Granger, former editor-in-chief of Esquire magazine. Junod previously wrote for Granger at GQ and Esquire, where his work included the cover story on Fred Rogers that inspired the movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

The evening reception will include the presentation of the 2020 ASME Award for Fiction to The Paris Review, as well as honors for the five winners of the 2020 ASME Next Awards for Journalists Under 30. More than 500 magazine editors and publishers are expected to attend the annual event.

Other highlights in 2020 include Pamela Colloff, ProPublica senior reporter and The New York Times Magazine staff writer, receiving her seventh nomination with “False Witness.” Colloff now ties the overall record for most nominated female writer in awards history with The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan.

The New York Times Magazine led the nominations with 10, the most in its history, with three nominations (General Excellence, Podcasting, Public Interest) honoring The 1619 Project, which “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative,” according to the magazine. Rounding out top finalists were New York magazine and National Geographic with nine and eight nominations respectively.

Titles with multiple nominations also included Bon Appétit and The New Yorker with six each, and SELF and Texas Monthly with four.

Sixty-two titles were nominated in 22 categories. Twenty publications were nominated for the most prestigious honor, General Excellence. Nominees include large-circulation titles such as Cosmopolitan (which also received its seventh-consecutive nomination in Personal Service), regional titles like Atlanta, special-interest magazines like National Parks, literary journals like Oxford American and digital-first publications like The Trace.

Bon Appétit was nominated for the ninth consecutive year in General Excellence, the most consecutive nominations in that category in the history of the awards. Aperture and New York magazine received their fifth-consecutive nominations in General Excellence, while The Marshall Project received its fourth-consecutive nomination in General Excellence.

Ten media organizations were first-time finalists in any category: 1843, Catapult, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, Emergence, Gimlet, National Parks, Quanta, Stranger’s Guide, Vox, and The Washington Post Magazine for its “Prison” issue featuring the work of currently and formerly incarcerated Americans.

Taffy Brodesser-Akner received her first nomination for Feature Writing with “All That Glitters,” a piece featured in The New York Times Magazine on gender discrimination and sexual harassment at Sterling Jewelers. Jia Tolentino is also a first-time finalist in Columns and Commentary for her work in The New Yorker.

New York magazine and The Cut writer Rebecca Traister received her fourth nomination in six years for her profile of Elizabeth Warren.

“This year’s finalists for the National Magazine Awards showcase an incredible range of innovative, inspiring journalism from 62 magazines and websites,” said Sid Holt, executive director of ASME. “Columbia and ASME join me in congratulating the many writers and editors nominated today—their work underscores the power of magazine journalism to entertain and challenge readers and listeners both in print and online.”

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME. Originally limited to print magazines, the awards now recognize magazine-quality journalism published in any medium.

Two hundred forty-five national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 590 print, 531 digital and 133 multiplatform entries. New categories this year included Feature Design and Profile Writing, which previously existed from 2000 to 2012.

Winners receive “Ellies,” the elephant-shaped statuettes modeled on Alexander Calder’s stabile “Walking Elephant” that give the awards their name.

The 281 print- and digital-magazine editors, art directors, photo editors and journalism educators who judged the Ellies this year met in mid-January at the Columbia School of Journalism in New York City to choose the 2020 finalists.

Tickets to the 2020 Ellie Awards are now on sale. Ellie Awards ticket sales provide support for the Osborn Elliott Scholarship at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Named in honor of the former Newsweek editor, ASME president and Columbia Journalism School dean, the scholarship is awarded to students who intend to pursue careers in magazine journalism. To purchase tickets, email [email protected] or call 212.938.1032.

Visit asme.media for more information about Ellie Awards 2020 honorees, including links to content.