Harper's magazine and writer Scott Horton took the top prize in the Reporting category of the American Society of Magazine Editors May 9 in New York for his expose of prisoner conditions at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba.

Horton’s article, “The Guantanamo Suicides,” written with the help of whistle-blower Sgt. Joe Hickman, questioned whether three violent deaths at the prison in 2006 were suicides.

Horton detailed torture and alleged mistreatment of the 200 prisoners at the base. The finding of suicides remains as officials have chosen the “expedience of political silence,” wrote Horton.

Also up for an award in the Reporting category were Jane Mayer’s article in the New Yorker about the Koch brothers titled, “Covert Operations: The Billionaire Brothers Who are Waging a War Against Obama,” and “The Runaway General,” an article by Michael Hastings in Rolling Stone.

General Stanley McChrystal’s candid remarks in Hastings’ presence resulted in his removal at head of the war in Afghanistan.

New York Post media columnist Keith Kelly had revealed that a lawyer for David and Charles Koch had written to ASME saying that no award should go to Mayer because her article was “ideologically slanted” and “agenda-driven.”

Four Win Two Ellies Each


Two Ellies each went to the Los Angeles, New York and New York Times magazines and to National Geographic, which won “Magazine of the Year” for having the best digital and print editions.

NG won for “Best Single Topic Issue” for its “Water: Our Thirsty World.”

The cream of the magazine industry was on display but the proceedings were marred by too many speeches that were too long, causing the event to go well past 11 p.m.

“The Wrap” called the night “excruciatingly long” and after one particularly long speech, host Katie Couric said, “No offense, but now I know why none of you guys went into television.”

Gawker called it “the longest night in magazines.” The acceptance speech of GQ design director Fred Woodward was called “just ridiculously, embarrassingly long.”

wolfe
Tom Wolfe received a creative excellence award.
Author Tom Wolfe received a creative excellence award as “founder of the new journalism.”

Two of his books, "The Right Stuff" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities," started out as magazine series.

The New Yorker had nine nominations but won only one Ellie -- for public interest.

Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, won for a series of columns on his illness.
Wolfe said that most investigative reporting is coming from the print side of media rather than broadcast.

List of Winners:

GENERAL EXCELLENCE, PRINT

News, Sports and Entertainment Magazines
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief

Literary, Political and Professional Magazines
Poetry
Christian Wiman, Editor
Don Share, Senior Editor

Fashion, Service and Lifestyle Magazines
Women’s Health
Michele Promaulayko, Editor-in-Chief
David Zinczenko, Editorial Director

Food, Travel and Design Magazines
Garden & Gun
Sid Evans, Editor-in-Chief

Finance, Technology and Lifestyle Magazines
Scientific American
Mariette DiChristina, Editor-in-Chief

Special-Interest Magazines
Los Angeles
Mary Melton, Editor

DESIGN, PRINT
GQ
Jim Nelson, Editor-in-Chief
Fred Woodward, Design Director

PHOTOGRAPHY, PRINT
W
Stefano Tonchi, Editor-in-Chief

NEWS AND DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY
The New York Times Magazine
Gerald Marzorati, Editor-in-Chief
For “The Shrine Down the Hall,” photographs by Ashley Gilbertson; essay by Dexter Filkins

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY
ESPN The Magazine
Gary Belsky, Editor-in-Chief
For “Bodies We Want,” reporting by Morty Ain

SINGLE-TOPIC ISSUE
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief
For “Water: Our Thirsty World”

MAGAZINE SECTION
New York
Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief
For “Strategist”

PERSONAL SERVICE
Men’s Health
David Zinczenko, Editor-in-Chief ,Peter Moore, Editor
For “I Want My Prostate Back,” by Laurence Roy Stains; photographs by Nigel Cox

LEISURE INTEREST
Men’s Journal
Jann S. Wenner, Editor-in-Chief
Will Dana, Editorial Director
Brad Wieners, Editor
For “Five Meals Every Man Should Master,” by Daniel Duane; photographs by Marcus Nilsson

PUBLIC INTEREST
The New Yorker
David Remnick, Editor
For “Letting Go,” by Atul Gawande

REPORTING
Harper’s Magazine
Roger D. Hodge, Editor, For “The Guantanamo 'Suicides',’” by Scott Horton

FEATURE WRITING
Los Angeles
Mary Melton, Editor, For “The End,” by Ben Ehrenreich

PROFILE WRITING
The New York Times Magazine
Gerald Marzorati, Editor-in-Chief
For “The Man the White House Wakes Up To,” by Mark Leibovich

ESSAYS & CRITICISM
The Paris Review
Lorin Stein, Editor
For “Mister Lytle: An Essay,” by John Jeremiah Sullivan

COLUMNS & COMMENTARY
Vanity Fair
Graydon Carter, Editor
For three columns by Christopher Hitchens: “Topic of Cancer,” September; “Unanswerable Prayers,” October; “Miss Manners and the Big C,” December

FICTION
Virginia Quarterly Review
Ted Genoways, Editor
For “Minor Watt,” by Paul Theroux

MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR
National Geographic
Chris Johns, Editor-in-Chief
Rob Covey, Digital Media Editor, NGM.com