Friday, February 14, 2020

Ecotone was one of five finalists for the 2020 American Society of Magazine Editors Award for Fiction, alongside the New Yorker, the Paris Review, McSweeney's and Zoetrope: All Story.

The National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media, or Ellies, are the top awards for magazines in the U.S. The American Society of Magazine Editors will recognize finalists during a reception at the 55th annual presentation of the Ellie Awards on March 12 in New York. Sixty-two titles were nominated in 22 categories.

Ecotone was recognized for “Horse,” by Dawna Kemper; “Organ Cave,” by Mesha Maren; and “Waltz,” by Erin Somers.

“I'm honored that Ecotone was a finalist for this year's ASME Award for Fiction,” said Anna Lena Phillips Bell, Ecotone editor since 2013. “UNCW faculty – including Beth Staples, who is now editor of Shenandoah; and Michael Ramos, assistant art director – and our team of 14 MFA students collaborated to bring each of these stories to print. This news is a testament to the talent and dedication of Ecotone's contributors and staff.”

In the course of their work on the magazine, UNCW MFA students learn to seek out and acquire new writing, fact check, edit, proofread, and design spreads and promotional materials, among other skills, said Bell. Recent graduates who have worked on Ecotone have taken positions at Sierra magazine, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, and the University of Wisconsin Press, among other places.

Two hundred forty-five national and regional publications entered the Ellie Awards this year, submitting 590 print, 531 digital and 133 multiplatform entries. The judges' citations for award winners and finalists will be released next week at asme.media.

Established in 1966, the National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and are administered by ASME. Originally limited to print magazines, the awards now recognize magazine-quality journalism published in any medium.

-- Venita Jenkins

#CAS