You know this year's award ceremony was far more subdued than last year's chocolate fondue-spewing extravaganza which doubtless degenerated into sex orgies in the Conde Nast offices shortly after. But I did notice that there were far fewer ugly people in attendance this year! The key to not getting laid off in the magazine business: for men, a nice suit and one of those fake ass short beards favored in Esquire pictorials; for women, Michelle Obama arms. Maybe actual starvation has replaced eating disorders? Either way, you guys look great!

There were not as many media reporters patrolling the pre-party, because they've been laid off. Sad.

It was all about grim smiles and grim determination! As people filed into the auditorium, the big screen flashing the year's magazine covers kept showing mags that had already died. Every Conde Nastie that got an award felt it necessary to give heartfelt, shiny-eyed thanks to Si Newhouse for his commitment to writing paychecks. They really meant it!

Many of the winners of the actual awards who actually worked in the magazine industry were sitting towards the back, but you know who was sitting right up front? Julia Allison. No shit. That is why the magazine industry is dying.

When the time came for the tribute to Annie Liebovitz, Jann Wenner, Tina Brown, Anna Wintour, and Graydon Carter all took the stage to say how much they loved Annie. Something is clearly off with Anna Wintour, who was stooped over like—dare I say—an old lady? Her voice was wavering and kind of meek, and I couldn't tell whether she was sick, or emotional, or just stricken with stage fright. Could be any of the above!

There were plenty of insanely random semi-celebrities lured in to present awards (Steve Earle!) but the only really funny one was Will Arnett. That guy certainly does possess comic timing! The least funny thing: the fact that People editor Larry Hackett got to present the award for "Reporting." WTF. And Columbia J-School dean Nick Lemann is a great writer but he seems to be growing into more and more of a Saturday Night Live character, the longer he spends in academia. Soon he will break out the monocle.

But the most surprising thing of all was that—I must admit—the ceremony was touching. All these people know that their industry is dying, but they soldier on. The delusions are gone. All that is left is the grimness. And the magazine industry will keep hefting its Ellies until they're forced to sell them for scrap.

Magazines!

[Pictured: The glamorous pre-party. Can you count all the glamorous people? Try!]

In summary: Anna Wintour turned oddly sweet at the event; Backpacker.com was a sleeper hit; Field & Stream won a shock upset over the New Yorker; Si Newhouse is a mensch; Reader's Digest the big winner; and everyone loves Annie Leibovitz.

Further highlights from the tweets of Folio, Fishbowl NY, media blogger Rachel Sklar, and media blogger Glynnis MacNicol and NonSociety "lifestreamer" Julia Allison, who took the picture up top, of Jann Wenner, Tina Brown, Anna Wintour and Graydon Carter).

Winners:

· Reader's Digest for General Excellence (over 2,000,000 circulation)

· Field & Stream for General Excellence (1,000,000 to 2,000,000 circulation)

· Wired for General Excellence (500,000 to 1,000,000 circulation)

· Texas Monthly for General Excellence (250,000 to 500,000 circulation)

· Foreign Policy for General Excellence (100,000 to 250,000 circulation)

· Print for General Excellence (under 100,000 circulation)

· Saveur for Single-topic Issue

· Wired for Magazine Section

· The New York Times Magazine for Reporting

· Bicycling for Public Interest

· Esquire for Feature Writing

· Rolling Stone for Profile Writing

· Backpacker for Essays

· Automobile for Columns and Commentary

· The New Yorker for Reviews and Criticism

· The New Yorker for Fiction

· Esquire for Personal Service

· Esquire for Leisure Interests

· Wired for Design

· GQ for Photography

· National Geographic for Photojournalism

· The New Yorker for Photo Portfolio

· Backpacker.com for General Excellence Online (less than 1 million uniques)

· nymag.com for General Excellence Online (1 million uniques and above)

· Backpacker.com for Personal Service Online

· AARP The Magazine Online for Interactive Feature

Oh, some actual awards are being handed out (congrats Adam Moss, David Granger and Backpacker), but as Hamilton Nolan, who's currently on the scene, said, we think this means we win something, too.

We will now stop talking about this thing, at least until next year.

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of the Ellies.

Way should say up front that this was not an impressive showing. The wisdom of crowds, we discovered, was not so wise: The consensus predictions were only accurate in eight of the 22 categories. In four of the categories — Leisure Interests, Reporting, Feature Writing, and Profile Writing — not a single polled pundit picked correctly. Even the winner — who receives the coveted title of Most Accuratest Media Pundit in New York — got only 10 of 22 right.

And who is the Most Accuratest Media Pundit in New York? It's the Towering Inferno, friends: Women's Wear Daily media editor Jeff Bercovici.

Mazel tov, Jeff. Let us know when you're free for lunch, and we'll present you with your prizes, including the Gawker Ellie, above. After the jump, the final standings — and the final Excel spreadsheet.

Jeff Bercovici, WWD: 10
Greg Lindsay, Mediabistro and freelance: 8
Lisa Granatstein, Mediaweek: 7
Jon Fine, BusinessWeek: 7
Nat Ives, Ad Age: 7
Keith Kelly, New York Post: 6
Rachel Sklar, Huffington Post: 6
Dylan Stableford, Mediabistro: 6
Jon Friedman, MarketWatch: 5
Sara James, WWD: 5
Lockhart Steele, Gawker Media: 5
Gabe Sherman, New York Observer: 4

Full tally is here.

Is there anything left to say about the slam-bang spectacular extravaganza that was last night's National Magazine Awards? Probably not. But we rarely let that stop us. Here, some photographic odds and ends. Join us after the jump for some misty water-colored memories.

This time, Malcolm Gladwell did not attend.

Things started with the 6 p.m. cocktail hour. It was spread through Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room, where the Time 100 dinner was held the night before, and also through the adjacent and much larger lobby, which last night hosted Time's cocktail hour. Even when it's gray and drizzling, the view is pretty awesome. There were lots of passed hors d'oeuvres — only one of which, the smoked-salmon squares, we recognized as a direct repeat from the Time menu — several hors d'oeuvres stations and at least four or five bars. Inexplicably, the bars served only beer, white wine, and Maker's Mark. This was distressing not just to ourselves but, we're sure, to any number of functionally alcoholic magazine types. The signature drink devised for the night was the "Ellietini," which looked a bit like a cosmo and was made, everyone agreed, with bourbon, simple syrup, and something else. We did not try one, largely because it seemed much too gay for us. Ad Age's Nat Ives reported that it was sweet and "definitely drinkable." He also confessed he'll drink caffeinated malt liquor, which calls into question the discernment of his palette.

Soon enough we moved into the ceremony. The room was filled with fake smoke as we entered, and things began with a 7-piece, New Orleans-style jazz parade up one side of the orchestra and back down the other. We presume this was a tribute to the beleaguered city; it might just as well have been a tribute to Nick Lemann. (The Columbia J-School is the copresenter of the event, after all.) The press was packed together — the Observer's Tom Scocca kept climbing over us to call into the office and meet his paper's Tuesday-night deadline — in very back of the orchestra, behind some television cameras that nicely obstructed our views. Keith Kelly, and only Keith Kelly, had a slightly better seat, adjacent to the cameras. That's influence.

Awards were presented. Fun was had.

A mere 1:45 after the ceremony's start, everyone files out. (The short run time may well have been the evening's highlight.) Winners and press are ushered to the Allan Room — at this point, no one has any idea what this is or where to go — for photos, interviews, champagne, and very tasty cookies. No one won more than two Ellies this year, which, at least, makes the trophies easy to carry.

David Remnick finds a mere two awards delightfully easy to carry. At left, Tom Scocca, boy reporter, continues sticks with this "interviewing" thing.

Lewis Lapham shows off his parting gifts.

In the Allen Room, we climb a few stairs to get a good angle on the photographers shooting the winners. After we take a pic or two, we put down our camera and look around the room. The burly security guy at the bottom of the stairs asks if we're trying to get past. Not quite yet, we say. But it's OK for us to be standing here? "Are you press?" Yes, we are. "Then I'm going to have to ask you to come down." Um, OK. If we weren't press we could stand here? "That's right." From the back of the evening's program: "ASME's mission to bring magazine editors together for networking; ... and to speak out on public policy issues, particularly those pertaining to the First Amendment." Of course.

Proving that there's nothing he can't do, New York editor Adam Moss manages to hold two Ellies in one hand. In foreground, his superspokeswoman, Serena Torrey, shows off her back. We're more than a bit surprised we've yet to receive a crowing press release from Torrey this morning.

After the photos and champagne, winning mags spread out to their after parties. We catch up with a small pocket of Time maggers elsewhere in the Time Warner Cetner, at the Stone Rose. Time4 Media is there, too — and seems about as astonished by Golf's win as everyone else is. Rodale is around the corner, at the Hudson Hotel, where the tab is shut down surprisingly early, and we even make our way to the muted Virginia Quarterly Review celebration, at the New York Sheraton. (Or was it the Sheraton Manhattan? Whichever is on the east side of Seventh.) There, the tab is still going, but the bar closes shockingly early. Time, we've heard, is celebrating at Otto; New York at the Spotted Pig. We decide not to invite ourselves into either, and we call it a night.

Elephant in its natural habitat.

May 10, 2006
To: Time Inc. Staff
From: John Huey
Re: BIG DAY FOR TIME INC.!

WELL, JIM KELLY AND TEAM HAVE DONE IT! THEY'VE BROUGHT HOME THE FIRST ASME GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR TIME IN 21 YEARS.

OF COURSE, WE'VE ALL KNOWN THAT TIME HAS BEEN GENERALLY EXCELLENT FOR A LONG TIME, BUT IT WAS SPECTACULAR TO SEE JIM UP THERE ON THE STAGE HOLDING THE PROOF IN HIS HANDS.

IT IS A FITTING TRIBUTE TO A MAN WHO WAS SITTING IN THE PILOT'S SEAT AT TIME ON THE MORNING OF 9/11/01, AND HASN'T MADE A MISSTEP SINCE. AND, AS HE NOTED IN HIS ELOQUENT AND MOVING ACCEPTANCE SPEECH, A FITTING TRIBUTE TO HIS TIRELESS AND MOST EXCELLENT TEAM OF JOURNALISTS AND MAGAZINE MAKERS.

The memo continues after the jump, where you can behold "THE POWER OF ITS BRAND."

TIME HAS DISTINGUISHED ITSELF WITH COVERAGE OF THAT TRAGEDY AND OF THE SUBSEQUENT UPHEAVALS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ. ITS COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS WAS SUPERB. ITS NEWSBREAKING AND SHARP ANALYSIS OUT OF WASHINGTON HAVE FUELED BOTH THE MAGAZINE AND TURBOCHARGED ITS WEBSITE.

ALSO, LAST NIGHT, TIME WON THE SINGLE ISSUE AWARD FOR ITS COVERAGE OF KATRINA, YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF WHAT TIME DOES BEST.

YES FOLKS, AFTER 83 YEARS ON THE SCENE, TIME-THE MOTHER OF ALL NEWSMAGAZINES-CAN STILL ROCK THE WORLD WITH THE STRENGTH OF ITS REPORTING, THE GLORY OF ITS PHOTOGRAPHY, AND THE POWER OF ITS BRAND. AND YOU CAN REST ASSURED THAT EVERYONE AT TIME IS COMMITTED TO THE IDEA THAT IT WILL REMAIN AS RELEVANT TO THE WORLD IN THE 21ST CENTURY AS IT WAS IN THE 20TH.

ALSO AT TIME INC., IN THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR DEPARTMENT, DAVID CLARKE-BARELY ARRIVED ON OUR SHORES FROM THE U.K.—WON GENERAL EXCELLENCE FOR HIS SPECTACULARLY REDESIGNED GOLF MAGAZINE.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL. I'M SURE WE ALL SHARE IN OUR COLLEAGUES' SPECIAL RECOGNITION LAST NIGHT.

J. H.

This ought to buy Jim a few months, at least.

The Ellies were last night! The Ellies were last night! Yay! The 40th annual presentation of the National Magazines Awards went off better than many expected last night, in its untraditional, non-at-the-Waldorf, black-tied form. There was no runaway winner — The New Yorker only won two — but it was a good night for a lot of folks: Remnick's crew, of course, but also for Adam Moss and New York, and Jim Kelly and Time, and Lewis Lapham and David Granger and Jann Wenner and, probably most excitingly, for Ted Genoways and his Virginia Quarterly Review. It was also, entirely unexpectedly, a fantastic night for Dave Zinczenko's physique, which was extravagantly lauded by his fellow Rodale editor, Backpacker's Jonathan Dorn, who when accepting his award for Best Section proceeded to describe the joys of a sharing a locker room with ol' DZ, who, Dorn proclaims, "has the best ass at Rodale." (This was, alas, difficult to confirm at the Rodale after-party at the Hudson, where the only views of it were obstructed.) A lengthier report — and the winner of our High-Stakes Ellies Pool — coming later. Meantime, check our live team coverage from last night.

Live-Blogging the Ellies [Gawker]
Time Wins Top Award for Magazine Excellence [NYT]
Time Editor Scores Mag Industry's Excellence Award [NYP]
'Time' Magazine Wins Ellie for General Excellence [Ad Age]
2006 Ellies: Rodale's Sweet-Ass Gym and Other Notes
Virginia Quarterly Ties the Glossies in Magazine Award Wins [WP]

7:45 - ASME president and Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker opens the evening by declaring that the real suspense is not who will win awards, but who will win Gawker's High-Stakes Ellies Pool. This validates our existence for another 12 hours.

7:51 - American Scholar wins for Feature Writing (Genome Tome by Priscilla Long); not sure anyone cares besides editor Robert Wilson.

7:57 -Essay goes to Vanity Fair (A Matter of Life and Death by Marjorie Williams). Graydon Carter accepts the award and is NOT WEARING A TUX. Major faux pas, but at lack of black tie is always better than a surplus of plaid pants.

8:03 - Rolling Stone scores for Reporting (The Man Who Sold the War by James Bamford). Jann Wenner proudly takes the stage (see? That party was soooo worth it!), yammers at length about Bush and the government's threat to the press. Risky argument for this crowd, buddy.

[More updates after the jump]

8:06 -The New Yorker wins for Public Interest (Elizabeth Kolbert's interminable series The Climate of Man).

8:08 - Profile is awarded to Esquire (Into the Light by Robert Kurson). EIC David Granger gives himself a mental high-five.

8:12 - Virginia Quarterly Review, the publication with the second most nominations (six), wins General Excellence for circulation under 100,000 — but this does little to ease the exquisite pain of being seated with the press. Seriously, ASME needs to hire some new party planners. That shit ain't right.

8:18 - Golf Magazine wins for Leisure Interests (The New Way to Putt). Your father is thrilled.

8:21 - Personal Service goes to Self (Keep Your Breasts, Healthy for Life). Your breasts are thrilled.

8:25 - Time wins for Single-Topic Issue for its "American Tragedy" issue on Hurricane Katrina. The room erupts in applause, presumably because most of the crowd got drunk on Time Inc.'s dime just last night.

8:28 - National Geographic Online wins for General Internerd Excellence.

8:30 - Harper's wins General Excellence for 100 - 250K. Duh — it's editor Lewis Lapham's last year, and a gold watch isn't going to cover it.

8:44 - New York for Design; New Yorker wins for Commentary.

8:45 - Virginia Quarterly Review wins again, this time for Fiction (pieces by Heathcock, Oates, and Smith). Another trek from the back of the room...

8:52 - Reviews and Criticism goes to Harper's.

8:53 - New York magazine wins General Excellence for circ of 250-500K. EIC Adam Moss confesses, "This means more to us than it probably should." It's actually very sweet — and his new retro glasses are hot.

8:54 - Meg Ryan and her lips are introducing the Photo finalists. No one in the room has any idea why.

8:58 - Rolling Stone wins Photo Essay for their Antarctica series, leaving the Brangelina W spread in the dust. Jennifer Aniston is relieved.

9:03 - Photography goes to W; Patrick McCarthy accepts.

9:04 - Backpacker wins for Section. EIC Jonathan Dorn kisses Mark Whitaker and declares that he's a guy "who actually likes Dave Zinczenko.... He works 80-hour weeks and is still the fittest guy at Rodale. We have a gym in Emmaus, and I see him in the locker room sometimes. Broad chest, flat stomach, and the best ass at Rodale. I'll be at Details tonight before the night is done." Uh, yeah, overshare.

9:11 - Esquire wins General Excellence for 500 - 1mil circulation. EIC David Granger is humble, says "every month we just make it up." Then he singles out Lapham as a mentor. Classy.

9:14 - General Excellence 1-2mil goes to ESPN, which beat out New Yorker and Vogue to remind us all that jocks can still read. EIC Gary Hoenig says, "I'm guessing nobody had us in the Gawker pool." He's right.

9:18 - Time takes General Excellence for 2 million circ. Whitaker hands Jim Kelly the Ellie and media's Santa is pronounced king. If his luck continues, he just might relocate Time's offices to Jazz in Lincoln Center.

9:21 - The Dumenco Effect has kicked in, and everyone thanked their staffs. Kelly thanks no fewer than 50 people, including flacks, assistants, old mentors, and assorted sushi delivery guys.

9:23 - Whitaker closes the show: "You can still make your 9:30 dinner reservations." And thus a everyone's a winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, the media-reporter crowd's Ellies picks:

General Excellence, <100,000: Virginia Quarterly Review
General Excellence, 100,000 250,000: Harper's
General Excellence, 250,000 to 500,000: New York
General Excellence, 500,000 to 1 million: ——
General Excellence, 1 million to 2 million: The New Yorker
General Excellence, >2 million: Time

After the jump, the rest of the picks — which call for Remnick to take home at least five Ellies and Adam Moss four. Plus the full panel's choices.

Personal Service: Men's Health
Leisure Interests: Conde Nast Traveler
Reporting: The New Yorker
Public Interest: The New Yorker
Feature Writing: The Atlantic
Profile Writing: The New Yorker
Essays: Vanity Fair
Columns and Commentary: The New Yorker
Reviews and Criticism: New York
Magazine Section: New York
Single-Topic Issue: ——
Design: New York
Photography: Time
Photo Portfolio/Photo Essay: Vanity Fair
Fiction: McSweeney's
General Excellence Online: ——

The contestants: Lisa Granatstein and Stephanie Smith from Mediaweek, Jeff Bercovici and Sara James from WWD, MarwetWatcher Jon Friedman, the Post's Keith Kelly, media man about town Greg Lindsay, Gabe Sherman from the Observer, BusinessWeek's Jon Fine, Ad Age Media Guy Simon Dumenco and media reporter Nat Ives, Mediabistro's Dylan Stableford, Huffington Post media editor Rachel Sklar, and, finally, after deadline and without an invitation, our boss, Lockhart Steele. Here is the spreadsheet of their picks. Who will win the Gawker Ellie? Tune in tomorrow.

&#8226; Stop giving all the awards to the magazines' editors. ("For instance, Jane Mayer's New Yorker reportage is nominated in the 'Reporting' category, but if she 'wins' it, Editor in Chief David Remnick actually gets to go up on stage and accept it. Which is something akin to 'Capote' director Bennett Miller getting the Best Performance by an Actor Oscar because he "assigned" the lead role to some guy named Philip Seymour Hoffman").

&#8226; Get rid of the General Excellence awards, at least as currently constructed. ("This year the '250,000 to 500,000' circ nominees are The Atlantic Monthly, Backpacker, New York Magazine, Texas Monthly and Technology Review.... [Why is ASME] pretending that, you know, The Atlantic Monthly is in any way competitive with Backpacker, and so on?").

&#8226; And make a big deal about disqualifying misbehavers. ("Like, how about something along the lines of: 'Because of its shameful record of "reporting" on one too many false celebrity pregnancies, Star is not only ineligible for NMAs this year, but shall have its "magazine" status revoked, and will henceforth be referred to as "a ridiculous thing printed on shiny paper."'")

But we must most emphatically agree with his final suggestion, "Bring back the salmon loaf." By this he means, return the ceremony to its traditional spot as a luncheon at the Waldorf, instead of this year's plan, in which it'll be a black-tie, auditorium-seated presentation in Jazz at Lincoln Center. Simon's argument on this one is mildly compelling: "The passive-aggressive Waldorf wait staff, who provided the only real entertainment value, always took way too long to clear plates, thinking you weren't done yet — when in fact you were done after the first awful bite. I'm convinced that attendees' collective fear of the salmon loaf (or whatnot) moldering away on their plates was the only thing keeping windy acceptance speeches from going on forever." But we'll do him one better. This whole thing becomes much less transgressively amusing when it no longer features an 11:30 a.m. cocktail hour.

Earlier: Gawker's coverage of the Ellies.

Receive an entry form? Want to win Gawker Ellie? You've got till 5 p.m. today.

Earlier:
Ellie Madness Is Here: Introducing the High-Stakes Pool
Ellie Madness: It's Only Just Out of Reach, Down the Block, On a Beach

So far we've got completed entry forms from WWD's Jeff Bercovici, the dynamic Mediaweek duo of Lisa Granatstein and Stephanie Smith, and MarketWatch macher Jon Friedman. And we've got coming-soon commitments from Mediabistro's Dylan Stableford, Ad Age's Nat Ives, and Paul Smith spokesmodel Greg Lindsay.

We're still waiting on the rest of y'all. We hear the Timespeople aren't allowed to participate — having a TV critic who barely watches TV is apparently no problem, but letting magazine people predict magazine awards is beyond the ethical pale. But we're still betting folks — especially the big kibitzers like Dumenco and Kelly and les Observeurs, Scocca and Sherman — can be convinced to participate.

After all, who doesn't like prizes?

Earlier:
Ellie Madness Is Here: Introducing the High-Stakes Pool?
Ellie Madness: Fun for Everyone

If Men's Health wins an Ellie, which of the following terms will Dave Zinczenko use in his acceptance? (Pick all that apply.)
[] Abs
[] Carbs
[] Workout
[] Brand
[] "Fit is the new rich"
[] None of the above

Hell, you can even make that a side bet.

Official Ellies Pool Entry Form [PDF]
Earlier: Ellie Madness Is Here: Introducing the High-Stakes Pool

To help build anticipation, we've introduced our first-ever High-Stakes Ellies pool. It's an invitation-only Ellies pool for the city's mag wags — the people who spend their days pontificating about magazines. We've invited 15 players: Tom Scocca and Gabe Sherman from the Observer, Jeff Bercovici and Sara James from WWD, Lisa Granatstein and Stephanie Smith from Mediaweek, New York's Carl Swanson, the Post's Keith Kelly, BusinessWeek's Jon Fine, Dylan Stableford from Mediabistro, Jon Friedman from MarketWatch, Nat Ives from Ad Age, and media men about town Simon Dumenco, Michael Wolff, and Greg Lindsay. (Did we miss you? Nudge us.) And we've promised gentle mocking of those who won't participate. Winner gets title of Most Accuratest Magazine Pundit in New York, credit on Gawker for the accomplishment, and some kind of actual memento we haven't yet figured out. (Lunch, maybe? A plaque?)

A play-along-at-home tally of players' picks will be available when we have it, and the complete invitation email is after the jump. It's Ellie time, baby! Oh yeah!

From: Gawker
To: Swanson, Carl ; Simon Dumenco ; Dylan Stableford ; Greg Lindsay ; Gabe Sherman ; Jeff Bercovici; Friedman, Jon ; Fine, Jon ; Kelly, Keith ; Lisa Granatstein ; Michael Wolff ; Nat Ives ; Sara James ; Stephanie D Smith ; Tom Scocca
Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 2:03 PM
Subject: The High-Stakes Ellies Pool

Gentlemen and ladies:

The National Magazine Awards will be presented next Tuesday night, as you undoubtedly know. As Ellie fever overtakes the nation, Gawker is introducing its first-ever High-Stakes Ellies Pool. Entrance is both free and by invitation only, and all the usual suspects are invited. (Did I forget anyone? Let me know.) The entry form is attached, and the deadline is Monday, May 8, at 5 p.m. What are the high stakes? Winner gets bragging rights as the very bestest magazine pundit, the rare gift of praise on Gawker for accomplishing the feat, and an as-yet-undetermined actual, physical prize, which will likely be elephantine in nature.

We do hope you'll enter. (And we reserve the right to mock — ever so slightly, and good-naturedly — those who do not.)

May the best wag win.

Rodale received a total of eight nominations for the 2006 National Magazine Awards - the highest editorial honor for magazines. Let me put that number in perspective for you. Cond Nast (with its perennial multi-award winning New Yorker) garnered 24 nominations, Time Inc. received nine, and Rodale came in with eight - way ahead of the rest of the pack. [Ed. note: If that pack doesn't include The Atlantic, which also holds eight finalist positions, or that Virginia Review, which got six.]...

So, it's a sweep. If this were the Oscars it would be "Lord of the Rings" time.... This is a great moment for Rodale.... We're proud of and proud for all of you.

Our tipster wondered, "How will he top the hyperbole should one of the magazines actually win one?" It's an excellent question. Maybe he doesn't expect to win and so figured he'd get it all out now?

Win or not, the full memo, with all its Pennsylvanian enthusiasm, is after the jump.

Dear Colleagues,

Years ago, I was having lunch with a book agent and a seasoned editor who was my boss and mentor. The agent was pitching us a new fiction series. With great enthusiasm he waxed poetic on the dimensions of the market that this great series would appeal to and its potential sales. At the end of the meal, he placed his espresso cup in its saucer, looked up to us with a winning smile and asked: "So what would you pay for a property like this?" My boss smiled gently back and replied in her mellifluous Boston Brahmin voice: "I haven't the faintest idea. My practice is to read the book first." I've learned that lesson time and again. In the music world, it is often said of a record's potential — it's either in the grooves or it isn't. I'm sure there's a similar dictum for the movie biz.

We have succeeded on so many dimensions over the last several years — strategy, marketing, sales, operations and more. Without our terrific teams putting their shoulders to those wheels, bringing our properties to our readers and advertisers, there would be little success to speak of. Yet, as we know, the beginning of this era of Rodale's regeneration began with a vigorous emphasis on the importance of creating innovative world-class editorial. This has been a constant for us, and so much of our success has generated from that premise — there would have been no South Beach Diet without the creative talent of our book editorial team, and looking forward, our growing and future success online is largely dependent on the creativity of our online editorial team.

Yesterday, with the announcement of the National Magazine Awards, we received clear validation for our belief that success starts with great editorial, and our notion that we have a team that indeed creates world-class editorial products has been established for the record with the entire publishing community.

Rodale received a total of eight nominations for the 2006 National Magazine Awards — the highest editorial honor for magazines. Let me put that number in perspective for you. Cond Nast (with its perennial multi-award winning New Yorker) garnered 24 nominations, Time Inc. received nine, and Rodale came in with eight — way ahead of the rest of the pack. Obviously, the two companies above us have a much bigger portfolio. Receiving eight awards with a magazine group of our size is truly amazing. I'm also thrilled that while we are working on two magazine launches, each of these five titles — Men's Health, Prevention, Runner's World, Bicycling and Backpacker — received a nomination — three of them for the highest honor, General Excellence.

So, it's a sweep. If this were the Oscars it would be "Lord of the Rings" time.

Our sports titles, led by David Willey, Jonathan Dorn and Steve Madden, pulled off a "hat trick" with all three winning nominations: Runner's World and Backpacker for General Excellence; Backpacker with a second nomination for Magazine Section; and Bicycling with a nomination in the Leisure Interest category.

Dave Zinczenko and the Men's Health team received, as I mentioned, three nominations: one in the Magazine Section category for its front-of-book section Malegrams; one in the Leisure Interest category for its special section Play Hard for Life; and one in Personal Service for a three-part series, Death Threats; Part One — an article written by our own Bill Phillips, "Hunting My Father's Killer," which I highly recommend that you all take a moment to read.

And Prevention has been nominated for its first General Excellence award in its history. What great recognition for Rosemary Ellis and the Prevention team.

I've often said it's about the edit...and as we all know, the edit comes from talent. So, again, here's to Dave Zinczenko, Rosemary Ellis, David Willey, Steve Madden, Jonathan Dorn and their incredibly talented teams. All of us at Rodale thank you for your dedication, for your unwavering high standards of editorial integrity, and for your consistently imaginative solutions to the challenges of maintaining and earning the trust of our readership.

This is a great moment for Rodale. For those of you who may not know, nominations are awarded by a tough jury of best-in-class editorial peers. So unlike the Grammys, and unlike the Oscars, there is no room for lobbying or spin. In other words, our magazines won these awards, and beat out the competition the old-fashioned way (and in a manner that my boss of years ago would have approved): Our magazines won because they were read.

We're proud of and proud for all of you.

All the best,

Steve