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If you're anything like us, you were drinking and dancing till the wee hours last night, celebrating the announcement of this year's National Magazine Award finalists. Such excitement! Such drama! Such drug-addled nightmares of being stampeded by a herd of bronze elephants! In the sober light of morning, finally, there's a chance to ponder some of the great metaphysical questions raised by yesterday's announcement:

• When The Atlantic wins, will new editor James Bennet accept the award, or will since-replaced managing editor Cullen Murphy, who actually edited the magazine when the nominated piece were published, get to do it?
• (Related: Will Murphy even be attending as part of the Atlantic crew?)
• How many people will be fired at The New Yorker for fucking up the submissions and therefore bringing the mag its fewest Ellie finalists in years?
• Would New York prefer a medal or a monument for getting five finalist nods? We know it's your record, guys, and bully for you. Now shush until you see if you actually, you know, win any.
• Why has the ceremony been shifted from a luncheon at the Waldorf to an evening event at Jazz at Lincoln Center? (And, more important, will there still be food?)
• Three finalist spots for Time and none for Newsweek, except for excellence online? A lot of good that ASME presidency is doing you, eh, Mark Whitaker?
• And, finally: What the fuck is The Virginia Quarterly Review? How did it end up with six finalists? Have any of you ever read it? Have any of you ever heard of it?

If anyone is familiar with this alleged Virgina Review and wants to provide a few grafs of description, we'd be much indebted. And we imagine not a few of our readers would be, too.

Please?

(After the jump, New York pats itself on the back.)

Atlantic Wins Big at ASME [NYP]
Memo Pad [WWD]
'Atlantic Monthly,' 'VQR' (Huh?) Lead National Mag Award Noms [FBNY]
Earlier: It's Ellie Time

For Immediate Release
March 15, 2006
Contacts: Serena Torrey and Betsy Burton
212-508-XXXX

New York magazine Receives a Record Five National Magazine Awards Nominations

ASME Recognizes Weekly for General Excellence, Design, Photography, Criticism and "Strategist" Section

New York, NY The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) today honored New York magazine with five nominations for its prestigious National Magazine Awards.

New York magazine was nominated for general excellence, design, criticism, photography and for its 18-month-old "Strategist" section.

This is the first time in New York's 38-year history that the magazine has garnered as many as five nominations in one year. The magazine's prior record was three nominations, which it received in 1984, 1986 and 2005, the magazine's first year under editor-in-chief Adam Moss, when it was nominated for general excellence, photography and the "Strategist" section.

Luke Hayman, New York's design director, joined the magazine in May of 2004 after an award-winning 2 _ year stay at Travel and Leisure and before that at Brill Media Holdings and I.D. Magazine. After completing a major redesign of New York magazine in November 2004, Hayman's team gained immediate recognition by the Society of Publication Designers, winning seven merit awards and one silver medal in 2004 and a gold medal award and nomination for best magazine design of the year in 2005.

New York's "Celebrity Psychos" cover was also selected as the best cover of 2005 by Advertising Age.

Photography director Jody Quon joined the New York magazine staff in April 2004 and has already received numerous honors for her team's work, including 13 American Photography 21 awards, and two awards from Photo District News (PDN).

The "Strategist" section was launched in October of 2004 and is overseen by editor Janet Ozzard. Named for New York magazine's longstanding "Urban Strategist" column, the "Strategist" includes the magazine's popular Look Book, its extensive food and restaurant coverage, a new incarnation of the Best Bets column, and numerous other features meant to make the magazine an indispensable guide to living in New York.

Mark Stevens, New York magazine's art critic since April 2004, won the 2004 Pulitzer prize and the National Book Award for the biography De Kooning: An American Master, which he co-wrote with his wife, Annalyn Swan.

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