In the publishing biz, excellence awards are often a travesty. If you win one, you’re brilliant. If you don’t, the judges are idiots. Just so, it’s gratifying to know that the American Society of Magazine Editors each year publishes a selection of what they consider the best magazine journalism of the previous year. We consider it a real service, and an exercise in transparency. If you browsed past them in their glossy form, here are Ian Frazier’s amazing story for Outside about icebergs and global warming; Michael Paterniti’s riveting exposé, in GQ, of a Nazi German book of anatomy illustrations; and Gary Smith’s dramatic reconstruction for Sports Illustrated of the rise and fall of George O’Leary, the Notre Dame football coach whose creative approach to résumé padding cost him his job (though of course he’s landed on his feet with the Minnesota Vikings.) Oddly, the best American magazine writing of the year does not include Top Doctors, Super Lawyers, or even a seafood lover’s guide to the Twin Cities, but you saved those issues, right?
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