ASME Goes Digital

The ASME Awards are shaking things up this year. Instead of recognizing digital media in a few awards rolled into the general ceremony, the American Society of Magazine Editors is demonstrating a whole new respect for online journalism.

“For nearly half a century, the National Magazine Awards have celebrated the best magazine journalism in the United States,” Sid Holt, Chief Executive of ASME, said in a press release. “This year for the first time, ASME and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism will recognize the outstanding work that appears on magazine-branded digital platforms by presenting National Magazine Awards for Digital Media in 12 categories.” 

Of the 118 magazine websites and online-only magazines that were entered, only 37 were nominated. See the top nominees after the jump.


The multiple nominations went to: National Geographic (5); New York (4); The Atlantic (3); Sports Illustrated (3); The Daily Beast (2); ESPN The Magazine (2); IEEE Spectrum (2); Mother Jones (2); The New Yorker (2); Newsweek (2); Runner’s World (2); and Slate (2).

You can see the complete list of nominations here and for all you aspiring web editors, the specific posts or sections that got recognized are listed here. Though all the nominees must be thrilled, there are some upsets as well. As WWD points out, Hearst received only one nomination, while Condé Nast and Time Inc. tied with six and Rodale got three. Tina Brown’s The Daily Beast got two nominations, but Arianna Huffington’s The Huffington Post didn't receive any.

Ed's thrilled that ASME is finally recognizing digital media as a category of its own. As any job-hunting Edster will tell you, most available gigs are coming from the online sphere. And most print editors on staff have been required to contribute to the web as part of their job description. In fact, HTML is as necessary a skill on your resume as InCopy once was.

The awards will be presented March 18th. Ed can't wait to see who wins!

UPDATE: Check out the print ASME nominations here.

What about you, Edsters? What are your predictions?