Atlantic Monthly, New Yorker divide mag awards

Vanity Fair, the Nation, Slate.com also among winners

By NICOLE LAPORTE

The Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker took top kudos at this year's American Society of Magazine Editors' National Magazine Awards, held Wednesday at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mags took home two awards apiece. (Last year each won three.)

A total of 97 print and online finalists vied in 20 categories for the magazine world's version of the Oscars (known as the "Ellies," for the elephantine sculpture winners receive).

The Atlantic won in the general excellence category for mags with circulation of 500,000 to 1 million, and in the public interest category (an essay by James Fallows about the long-term effects of war with Iraq).

The New Yorker won for reporting (Jeffrey Goldberg's two-part piece about Hezbollah) and fiction (a group of three stories by Don DeLillo, A.S. Byatt and E.L. Doctorow).

Other winners include Vanity Fair for reviews and criticism, Sports Illustrated for profile writing, the Nation for commentary and Harper's Magazine for feature writing.

Slate.com was the winner for general excellence online.

The 2003 winners are:

Parenting for General Excellence (over 2,000,000 circulation)
ESPN The Magazine for General Excellence (1,000,000 to 2,000,000 circulation)
The Atlantic Monthly for General Excellence (500,000 to 1,000,000 circulation)
Texas Monthly for General Excellence (250,000 to 500,000 circulation)
Architectural Record for General Excellence (100,000 to 250,000 circulation)
Foreign Policy for General Excellence (under 100,000 circulation)
Outside for Personal Service
National Geographic Adventure for Leisure Interests
The New Yorker for Reporting
The Atlantic Monthly for Public Interest
Harper’s Magazine for Feature Writing
The Nation for Columns and Commentary
The American Scholar for Essays
Vanity Fair for Reviews and Criticism
Sports Illustrated for Profile Writing
Scientific American for Single-topic Issue
Details for Design
Condι Nast Traveler for Photography
The New Yorker for Fiction
Slate for General Excellence Online