Our 2018 trophies were presented at a packed awards ceremony in London on 19 November. Magazine of the Year went to Good Trouble, the New York-based broadsheet dedicated to popular protest, while mental health title Anxy picked up both Art Director of the Year and Best Use of Illustration. Scroll down to see all the winners and commended titles, along with the full shortlists and information on all of our judges.
These are the remarkable magazines that excelled in 2018, producing the highest quality content to deliver on a strong and clear editorial concept.
They were all published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018, and the judges considered the magazines in their entirety, looking for originality, innovation and clarity, as well as the overall quality of content, design and production.
The judges:
Jeremy Leslie leads the magCulture studio, dividing his time between designing, consulting and writing. He’s a passionate advocate for editorial design, has written several books about the subject, and the magCulture online Journal is a key source of news and opinion. He organises the annual ModMag conferences in London and New York and runs the magCulture shop, home of the monthly magCulture Meets evenings.
Gail Bichler is the design director of The New York Times Magazine where she and her team have won numerous awards for their print and interactive design, including Design Team of the Year in 2018 and 2015 from the Art Directors Club and Magazine of the Year from the Society of Publication Designers in 2016. In addition, Gail’s work has been recognised by national and international design organisations including D&AD, the American Institute for Graphic Arts, the Type Directors Club and Creative Review.
These are the magazines that made a bright start in 2018, launching with an exciting new editorial concept and high quality content.
They were all published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018, and the judges considered the magazines in their entirety, looking for originality, innovation and clarity, as well as the overall quality of content, design and production.
The judges:
Malte Brenneisen and Urs Spindler are two of the founders of the editorial and design studio “Die Brueder”. Their love of publications produced outside the mainstream led them to create indiemags.de, an archive of independent magazines, and Indiecon, an annual festival for independent magazines. They also publish gentle rain, a ‘glocal’ city magazine about Hamburg.
The London-based freelance art director and editorial designer has worked at The Guardian and Observer newspapers, WIRED, Esquire, Newsweek, and Mr Porter. Steven is also the editor of Gym Class, a bi-annual printed magazine about magazines and the people who make them.
The editors of these magazines demonstrated clear and original editorial vision, skilfully packaging their ideas into a compelling and engaging read.
These magazines were all published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018. The judges considered a single issue in its entirety, looking for stories that come together to form a cohesive and characterful whole, with attention given to long-form writing, but also to headlines, picture captions and story selection.
The judges:
Christoph Amend is the editor-in-chief of ZEITmagazin and publisher of ZEIT’s art magazine Weltkunst. ZEITmagazine’s international issue, a bi-annual in English, was launched in 2013, and ZEITmagazin MANN, a bi-annual stand alone men’s magazine, was launched in 2016. Before joining DIE ZEIT, Amend was the editor of the Sunday supplement of Der Tagesspiegel and deputy editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung jetzt-Magazin.
Tom Edwards is the executive producer of Monocle 24 radio. Tom has worked on titles ranging from Art Review magazine to The Independent (when it was still a proper newspaper). Each week he scrutinises the best titles and chats to key industry figures on M24’s print industry review and analysis programme, The Stack.
The art directors of these magazines elevated their publication through skilful and distinctive design that helped them to stand out from the crowd.
These magazines were published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018, and the judges considered a single issue in its entirety. They looked for characterful design that defines and amplifies the issue’s editorial identity. Attention was paid to picture selection, fonts, layout and production to identify the creation of an exceptional magazine brand.
The judges:
Will Hudson is founder of It’s Nice That and innovation director across the HudsonBec Group – a group of companies that exist to enable creativity to thrive. Founded by Will Hudson and Alex Bec the group provides a framework for a series of small, beautifully structured companies that share a purpose, set of values, a studio space and above all, a belief in the power of creativity. Companies within the group currently include media company It’s Nice That, creative agency Anyways and online resource Lecture in Progress.
Debbie Millman is a designer, author, educator and brand strategist. She is host of the award-winning podcast Design Matters, the world’s first podcast on design. She is also Chair of the world’s first Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts, and the author of six books on design and branding.
These magazines featured the year’s best, most inventive, most enticing magazine covers. The point of a cover is to make people pick up the magazine, so the judges looked for the covers they just couldn’t resist, published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018.
The judges:
The former art director of the New York Times Book Review, Steven is the current co-chair of SVA’s MFA Design: Designer as Author and Entrepreneur programme. He is the author of over 180 books, including Merz to Emigre and Beyond: Avant Garde Magazine Design of the 20th Century and 100 Classic Graphic Design Magazines (with Jason Godfrey), Graphic Design Rants and Raves, and most recently THE MODERNS: Midcentury American Modern Graphic Design (with Greg D’Onofrio).
Jaap Biemans is the man behind coverjunkie.com, championing ace cover designs and their designers. He is art director of Volkskrant Magazine and his work has been recognised by D&AD, SPD, ADCN, Mercur and Prix de Couvre. He is also proud to have designed a set of postage stamps for PostNL.
These are the magazines that published the most outstanding photography this year. The judges looked for images that make readers stop and stare — all genres were eligible, as long as the photography is impactful and memorable.
The judges considered a magazine’s photography in its entirety, and the issue submitted had to have been published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018. The photographs did not need to be original (they may have been published elsewhere before appearing in the magazine) but consideration was be given to the way they are presented, in terms of showing the quality of the image, and the way the image sits alongside text and other page elements.
The judges:
The owner of Artwords, the London bookshop specialising in publications on the visual arts, media and culture, Ben has been involved in books and publishing since the 1990s, previously managing the Serpentine Gallery’s book sales and publications.
Clare Grafik is Head of Exhibitions at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. She has worked for public institutions including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Hayward Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. At the Photographers’ Gallery she has collaborated with artists and photographers including Lise Sarfati, Isa Genzken and Larry Sultan/Mike Mandel, and her last group exhibition was Double Take: Photography & Drawing (2016). She curated a Bettina Von Zwehl solo exhibition at The Freud Museum, London, (2016), and forthcoming projects include an exhibition on Children’s Photobooks.
These magazines published the best, most characterful, most distinctive illustrations of the year.
The judges considered the magazine’s illustrated content in its entirety, and the issue submitted had to have been published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018. Combining excellent artwork with a clear editorial purpose, the winning illustrations were conceptually rich as well as aesthetically pleasing, adding an extra dimension to the magazine’s stories.
The judges:
Jon Cockley set up the illustration agency Handsome Frank in 2010 with his cousin Tom Robinson. The agency now represents 36 artists including Malika Favre, Jean Jullien and Thibaud Herem and they work on illustration and animation projects with clients all over the world. Before Handsome Frank, Jon worked in publishing for ten years for platforms including Creative Review and Design Week.
Simon Armstrong is the book buyer for Tate Modern, Tate Britain and Tate Liverpool, and has been putting books and magazines on art, design and visual culture into people’s hands and heads for over 15 years. Simon was previously the head of retail at the Design Museum in London and store manager at Magma Manchester, following several years working as a bookseller. He also works as a freelance publishing agent and is the author of books on art and architecture. Simon is currently writing a new book on the history of graffiti and street art, set for publication in 2019.
These magazines featured the most exceptional interviews, reportage, and other writing based on real events. The judges looked for original storytelling that informs and engages the reader with a distinctive editorial voice.
The work had to be written in English, and it had to have been published for the first time between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018.
The judges:
Rob Alderson is managing editor of WeTransfer, where he curates the background images given to artists and designers and oversees the This Works blog. Previously he was editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and has written for the likes of BBC.com, The Guardian, Dezeen and Creative Review.
Mike Dang is the editor-in-chief of Longreads, which is dedicated to helping people find and share the best storytelling in the world. He co-founded The Billfold for The Awl Network and has written stories for a variety of national magazines and newspapers based in the U.S. He’s a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
In this category, the judges looked for fresh, distinctive fiction that stood out for its inventive ideas and memorable writing.
The work had to be written in English, and it had to have been published for the first time between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018.
The judges:
After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and a Betty Trask Award. Evie’s second novel, All the Birds, Singing, won the Miles Franklin Award, the Encore Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. In 2013 she was included on Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list, and her graphic memoir Everything Is Teeth was published in 2015.
Luke Neima is the online editor and digital director of Granta magazine. He is also the deputy editor of Review 31, an online review of the latest nonfiction, literary fiction and poetry. His reviewing, short-form fiction and translation have appeared in the Times Literary Supplement, Prospect Magazine and the White Review. He is also the writer of the documentary film Brexitannia, which features Noam Chomsky, Saskia Sassen, Guy Standing, Nick Srnicek, Heidi Mirza and Federico Campagna.
These are the year’s best magazines published by or affiliated to a university, college or school. The magazine must have been creatively led by students, though it may include content and contributions by non-students. It had to have been published between 1 October 2017 and 30 September 2018 and it had to have been released and distributed to readers, so proofs of concept and sample issues produced solely for use in class were not eligible.
The judges looked for exciting, innovative magazines that engage the reader with a clear editorial concept and carefully considered design. We wanted to see titles that use the platform provided by a student magazine to do things differently and try something new.
The judges:
Ruth Jamieson is author of Print Is Dead, Long Live Print, a book that delves deep into the current resurgence in independent magazine publishing around the world. She has a monthly column covering magazines on eyeondesign.aiga.org and she’s a guest lecturer at London College of Fashion and the University of the Creative Arts.
Angharad Lewis is a writer, editor and lecturer based in London, specialising in the fields of design, culture and publishing. She is co-editor of Grafik.net and contributes to a number of international publications. Angharad has also contributed to and authored a number of books, including, most recently, So You Want To Publish a Magazine, published by Laurence King. She is a lecturer in Visual Communication, runs a publishing-themed studio and is Course Leader in BA Design for Publishing at The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Metropolitan University.
We’re working to the definition suggested at Indiecon 2014: “The chiefs are the makers – the people who take care of the financial decisions are responsible for the magazine’s content or design”. If you’d like to check whether your magazine qualifies under this definition, please drop us a line.
The awards will be judged in English because it’s the common language of the judges. Non-English magazines are welcome, but please bear in mind that the judges will have limited understanding of non-English text.
Each category has three judges – two expert judges and a Stack judge. All shortlisted magazines will be sent to the judges, so we need three copies of all magazines submitted.
No – the Stack Awards are intended as a celebration of the best independent magazines, and we want to work directly with those magazine makers. If you’re a writer, photographer or illustrator and you want to have your work considered, you’ll need to persuade the people who published your work to enter it for you.
Each category will have one winner, and up to two commendations.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in London on Monday 19 November.
Tickets cost £30 including food and drink and they’re available now from the Stack Awards Eventbrite page.
The Cover of the Year category will be shortlisted to a maximum of 20 magazines, which will be sent on to the judges. All other categories will be shortlisted to a maximum of 15 magazines, which will be sent on to the judges.
All magazines left over at the end of the process will be sold in our Magazines for Good event, held on Saturday 1 December at The Ace Hotel, and the proceeds will be donated to charity.
