Backpacker Magazine – Online Exclusive

Backpacker Wins National Magazine Award for General Excellence

Backpacker magazine wins the coveted award at the American Society of Magazine Editors' annual ceremony.

by: The Backpacker Editors

Boulder, CO -- Thursday night in New York City, the American Society of Magazine Editors named Backpacker the winner of its 2008 National Magazine Award for General Excellence in the 250,000 to 500,000 circulation category. The General Excellence award, which is given annually and decided by a rigorous judging process, is the highest honor in the magazine industry. According to ASME, the award celebrates "the effectiveness with which writing, reporting, editing and design all come together to command readers' attention and fulfill the magazine's unique editorial mission." This is Backpacker's second NMA win (and fourth nomination) in three years.

"My staff has transformed Backpacker into America's most trusted authority on outdoor adventure," says editor-in-chief Jonathan Dorn, who accepted the award. "Hikers and campers know they can come to us for stories and advice that will help them enjoy and experience nature to its fullest. Now, with this award, we've been recognized by our editorial peers as one of the very best magazines on the newsstand today. To be in the company of other General Excellence category winners that include GQ, The New Yorker, and National Geographic is both humbling and a wonderful testimonial to the talent and hard work that the Backpacker staff puts into every issue."

"It is an honor to win this coveted award," says Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, CEO of Active Interest Media, which publishes Backpacker. "Backpacker is an outstanding magazine, as brilliantly edited and written as it is designed and produced. We are so proud of Jonathan Dorn and the entire staff."

The ASME judges had this to say about Backpacker in their award citation: "With stories ranging from how global warming affects our national parks to the proper way to hang a bear bag, Backpacker feeds its readers' singular and voracious passion for the trail. Smartly designed, with field-tested gear advice and regionally specific trail and event guides, Backpacker is the essential magazine of outdoor adventure."

This is Backpacker's second National Magazine Award. In 2006, it won "Best Magazine Section" for its Basecamp section. The magazine also earned nominations in General Excellence in 2006 and Single Topic Issue in 2007.

About Backpacker:  Backpacker (www.backpacker.com) brings the outdoors to readers' doorsteps, inspiring and empowering them to get out and enjoy nature more often. The authority on active adventure, Backpacker is the world's first GPS-enabled magazine, and the only magazine whose editors personally test the hiking trails, camping gear, and survival tips they publish. Backpacker's Editors' Choice Awards -– an industry honor recognizing design, feature, and product innovation –- have become the gold standard against which all other outdoor-industry awards are measured.

Backpacker is published by Active Interest Media (www.aimmedia.com), has a circulation of 340,000, and is published nine times per year. Backpacker's award-winning website, www.backpacker.com, is updated daily and features more than 3,000 hikes, a searchable and comprehensive database of outdoor gear (www.gearfinder.com), special sections for beginners and the environment, the most active community forums in the outdoor space, and a wealth of trail tips, videos, and GPS know-how.

About the ASME Awards: The National Magazine Awards have been presented annually for 42 years. They honor magazines, whether in print or online, that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative editorial techniques, noteworthy journalistic enterprise and imaginative design.

The Awards were established by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) in 1966. The program is sponsored by ASME in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

For a full list of winners go to:
http://www.magazine.org/editorial/National_Magazine_Awards/Winners_and_Finalists/
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