Men’s Health editor Morgan Rees was recognised for taking his magazine to the top of the sales league for men’s magazines by being named Editors’ Editor at the British Society of Magazine Awards last night.
And New Statesman editor Jason Cowley was recognised a year into the job by being named current affairs magazine editor of the year after leading a redesign of the title earlier this year.
The two big magazine launches of the last 12 months both picked up prizes. Wired editor David Rowan picked up the prize for new launch of the year and Peter Grunert of Lonely Planet was new consumer magazine editor of the year.
The only female men’s mag editor, Terri White at Shortlist, was named men’s mag editor of the year. And one of the few male women’s mag editors, John Dale at Take a Break, was named weekly women’s mag editor of the year.
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New Statesman editor Cowley said: “I think it’s a vindication of the whole team and it’s a platform to build on.” He added: “I have the privilege of working with a very talented team of journalists and designers on the New Statesman and this award is to be shared with them. This is the beginning of a bright new era for the New Statesman.”
The New Statesman, like Press Gazette, is owned by Progressive Media proprietor Mike Danson.
Shortlist’s Terri White said that the award for her was evidence that her title, despite being free, “produces quality journalism and quality editorial week in week out”. She said: “It’s about surrounds yourself with an amazing team.”
Wired editor David Rowan told Press Gazette that nine months in his title was on course to hit its sales target of between 45,000 and 50,000 and that it was also on target commercially – with 65 ad pages booked for the December issue.
Weekly business magazine editor of the year went to Adam Leyland of The Grocer, who told Press Gazette that his title had opted for a strategy of addressing the recession head on.
He said: “We’ve switched our attention full on to the issue of pricing. All those other issues, the nice-to-have issues like the environment, organic and fair trade are still important issues but we have really re-tooled the magazine to talk about price.”
The Mark Boxer Award for career-long achievement in the magazine industry went to Andy Cowles, the editorial development director at IPC Media.
Cowles was the launch art director on Q, Empire and Mojo; he is a former art director of Rolling Stone in the US and more recently has worked on launching Pick Me UP and redesigns of In Style and Marie Clare.
BSME chairman and Top Gear editor Conor McNicholas said: “The reader is always at the heart of everything he does.”
Full List of BSME awards winners for 2009:
- Business & Professional Magazines (non-weekly): Matthew Gwyther, Management Today
- Business & Professional Magazines (weekly): Adam Leyland, The Grocer
- Entertainment & Celebrity Magazines: Mark Dinning, Empire
- Customer Magazines (business readership): Sarah Bale, BT Upload
- Customer Magazines (consumer readership): Mark Hooper, Electric!
- Lifestyle Magazines: Tony Chambers, Wallpaper*
- Men’s Magazines Terri White, Shortlist
- Newspaper Magazines: Merope Mills, Guardian Weekend
- Special Interest & Current Affairs Magazines: Jason Cowley, New Statesman
- Women’s Magazines (monthly or less frequent): Lorraine Candy, Elle
- Women’s Magazines (weekly or fortnightly): John Dale, Take A Break
- Youth Magazines: Ian Foster, Match of the Day Magazine
- The Fiona MacPherson New Business Editor of the Year: John Stepek, MoneyWeek
- The Fiona MacPherson New Consumer Editor of the Year: Peter Grunert, Lonely Planet
- Business Magazine Art Director of the Year:Cecilia Lindgren, The Architectural Review
- Consumer Magazine Art Director of the Year: David McKendrick, Esquire
- Launch of the Year:David Rowan, Wired
- Business Magazine Website Editor of the Year: Gabriel Fleming, Nursing Times
- Consumer Magazine Website Editor of the Year: James Dyer, Empire Online
- 2009 BSME Editors’ Editor of the Year: Morgan Rees, Men’s Health
- Mark Boxer Award: Andy Cowles, editorial development director IPC Media
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