Hollywood Reporter Wins National Magazine Award for 'General Excellence'

The awards — also known as the Ellies — are considered among the most prestigious in digital and print journalism.

The Hollywood Reporter has been awarded the National Magazine Award for General Excellence, Special Interest, by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

THR competed in the category alongside Atlanta, Audubon, National Parks and The Trace. The National Magazine Awards are considered among the most prestigious in digital and print journalism.

The General Excellence award "honors print, digital and multiplatform publications for editorial excellence and audience engagement," with judges evaluating entries "based on the achievement of editorial, visual and functional superiority in print, online and in person; the cross-platform integration of print, digital and experiential content; and the editors’ success in serving the interests of their readers." The Special Interest sub-category "honors publications serving highly defined reader communities, including city and regional magazines."

This marks the sixth time that THR was nominated for a National Magazine Award. In 2014, THR scored its first-ever nom, for General Excellence, Special Interest; in both 2015 and 2016, the magazine won that category and also earned Magazine of the Year nominations. It also was nominated again in 2017 and in 2019.

The three print issues submitted by THR for consideration for 2019 were the Feb. 20 Oscars Issue, focusing on the Academy's long, hard road to a hostless Oscars; the April 11 New York issue, with the cast of Showtime's Roger Ailes drama The Loudest Voice; and the Dec. 19 "Best of the Decade" issue, featuring a cheeky illustration of Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian. (See all of THR's 2019 covers here.) Digital submissions included an investigation that revealed Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara promoted his mistress for jobs at the studio, as well as breaking news on such subjects as the streaming wars and the #MeToo movement.

The awards, established in 1966, are sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. They are known as the "Ellies," for the Alexander Calder stabile elephant given to each winner.

ASME said that a total of 245 national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 590 print, 531 digital and 133 multiplatform entries. Sixty-two publications were nominated in 22 categories. Originally limited to print magazines, the awards now recognize magazine-quality journalism published in any medium and this year added two new awards: feature design and profile writing.

ASME also honored the 2020 recipients of the ASME Award for Fiction, the ASME NEXT Awards for journalists under 30 and the Magazine Editors' Hall of Fame Award recipient, David Granger.