Vogue is Mag of Year at 'Ellies'

Vogue won Magazine of the Year honors at the 2015 National Magazine Awards Feb. 2 in New York.

New York magazine (design, magazine section, columns and commentary) and The New Yorker (general excellence, essay and criticism, fiction) took home three awards apiece, with National Geographic and the two-year-old Nautilus earning two "Ellies."

The American Society of Magazine Editors said more than 580 editors and publishers turned out for the dinner at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Time contract photographer James Nachtwey received NMA's Creative Excellence Award honoring his career in magazine media.

First-time winners included The Atavist (the first digital pub to take the feature writing award), The Hollywood Reporter (general excellence), Nautilus (gen. excellence and website), Pacific Standard (public interest for "Women Arent' Welcome Here"), The Texas Observer (multimedia for "Beyond the Border"), and Vice News (video for its ISIS coverage).

GQ took home the coveted reporting award for the second time in three years for its "Insider the Iron Closet" feature on LGBT rights.

Full list of winners is at magazine.org.

Williams Sorry for Iraq Tale

NBC News anchor Brian Williams apologized Feb. 4 for "misremembering" a story he told on a handful of occasions about taking fire aboard a helicopter during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Stars and Stripes probed the story after Williams recently repeated it to honor a fallen service member and social media comments questioned its veracity. The military paper reported that Williams was not near other helicopters that took fire on the day in question.

Williams, who has been lambasted on Twitter and Facebook, apologized on air Wednesday. " This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran, and by extension: our brave military men and women, veterans everywhere, those who have served while I did not, " he said. "I hope they know they have my greatest respect … and also now my apology."

Orlov Dies at 66

Rick Orlov, reporter at the Los Angeles Daily News for almost 30 years, died Feb. 3 from complications due to diabetes. He was 66.

He covered City Hall since Tom Bradley was mayor and took great pride in knowing the inner workings of the city's government.

The Chicago native worked at Copley News Service in LA before joining the News in 1978. He rose to assistant city editor, but asked to return to the reporting beat.

Michael Anastasi, executive editor of the News, said in a statement that Orlov cared about the staff, colleagues and the city. "He was passionate about journalism as anyone I've ever met and he always knew it wasn't about him. It was always, always about the reader," he said.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti called Orlov "the dean of the City Hall press corps."


Roll Call Partners with PR Firms

CQ Roll call has partnered with Washington PR and advocacy shops Capitol Image Counsel and Gunster Communications to collaborate on special projects and brand promotion.

CIC is the firm of Francine McMahon, former publisher of Roll Call rival The Hill.

"Combining their creative talent with our laser focus on Congress will allow us to provide customers with media opportunities that showcase our editorial depth and raise awareness of the most critical issues facing the new Congress," said CQ SVP and publisher Beth Bronder.

People

Emily Scheer, PR director for The Street, has moved to IBT Media in New York as PR director handling press for Newsweek and the International Business Times. Earlier stints included CNN, CBS News and The Rosen Group.

Mohana Ravindranath, who covered small business and IT for the Washington Post, has joined Atlantic Media's Nextgov publication on the federal IT sector as a staff correspondent.

Ravindranath penned the Post's "On I.T." column for its Monday print edition and has covered small business for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Business Insider.