National Geographic earned seven nominations for the 2019 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media, including recognition for its social media, design, reporting, video, photography and website, along with a nomination for General Excellence.
The awards, called the Ellies for the elephant-shaped statue given to winners, are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Winners will be announced on March 14 in New York.
National Geographic was nominated for Ellie Awards in the following categories:
- General Excellence, News, Sports and Entertainment
- Design and Photography, News and Opinion
- Feature Photography, for “Frenzy,” photographs by Laurent Ballesta
- Website, News and Opinion
- Social Media, for coverage around “The Story of a Face”
- Video, News and Opinion, for “Last Prom,” video by Jessica Dimmock and Zackary Canepari
- Public Interest, for “We Made It. We Depend on It. We’re Drowning in It. Plastic,” by Laura Parker; in conjunction with the “Planet or Plastic?” initiative, including the full June 2018 magazine, social media, and the pledge for individuals to reduce their usage of single-use plastic
This year, 280 media organizations submitted entries for the Ellie Awards. The finalists were chosen by a panel of editors, art directors, photo editors and educators.
Twenty-six titles received multiple nominations, led by The New Yorker with nine. National Geographic and New York both received seven nominations; New York’s women’s vertical, The Cut, was also nominated separately. The New York Times Magazine garnered five nominations, followed by The Atlantic, The Marshall Project and ProPublica, each with four.
In a note to staff, Susan Goldberg, editorial director of National Geographic Partners and editor in chief of National Geographic magazine, congratulated her team.
“We have an amazing number of finalists in ASME’s Ellie competition, the most prestigious magazine honors in the country… Being a finalist, given the competitive waters we swim in, already is a victory.”
Susan Goldberg,
National Geographic was also recognized by ASME as part of the 2019 Best Cover Contest.
The “Planet or Plastic?” cover from the June 2018 issue won in two categories: Brainiest, which was selected by judges, and Readers’ Choice for Brainiest, which was based on popular vote by consumers on Facebook. The same cover was also a finalist for both Cover of the Year and Readers’ Choice Best Cover.
The September 2018 “The Story of a Face” cover was selected as a finalist in the Best News and Politics category.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Susan Goldberg, Joe Brown, Jane Francisco, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Michael Clinton speak onstage at American Magazine Media Conference 2019 on February 05, 2019 in New York City.
Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for MPA The Association of Magazine Media
Earlier this week at the annual American Magazine Media Conference, top editors from several print magazines that have thrived for over 100 years participated in a panel discussion about their iconic brands.
“I think we have a great opportunity at National Geographic, as an iconic brand, to go from the reverence of the brand to the relevance of the brand. We’ve been lucky that the things we’ve been covering for 131 years are things that people really care about now.”
Susan Goldberg,
On this panel alongside Susan Goldberg was Joe Brown, editor in chief of Popular Science, Jane Francisco, editor in chief of Good Housekeeping and editorial director of Hearst Lifestyle Group, and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation.