Backpacker Nominated for National Magazine Award in General Excellence

When you get to write about and work in the outdoors, the job often feels like its own reward. But now and then, it just feels good to get a pat on the back: BACKPACKER has received a nomination for a National Magazine Award in the General Excellence category. (For those of you out there not in the publishing industry, it’s kind of like getting nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. As you’d imagine, we’re pretty stoked.)

The award recognizes overall excellence, and honors a magazine for the effectiveness with which writing, reporting, editing, and design all come together to command readers’ attention and fulfill the magazine’s unique editorial mission. BACKPACKER is a finalist among magazines with circulations between 250,000 and 500,000. The winner will be announced May 1; to see a complete list of this year’s nominees, go to the American Society of Magazine Editors website here.

BACKPACKER has been a National Magazine Awards finalist and winner in the past. In 2007, BACKPACKER’s “Survival issue” (October 2006) was a finalist for Single-Topic Issue, which honors the ambition, comprehensiveness, and imagination with which a magazine treats a topic. In 2006, BACKPACKER was nominated for two awards: General Excellence and Magazine Section. The latter recognizes the excellence of a regular, cohesive section in the magazine, and BACKPACKER’s Basecamp section was the overall winner in that category in 2006.

A big thank-you goes out to all the staff, contributors, and friends who grease the wheels and keep BACKPACKER running, and of course an extra-big thank-you belongs to the readers who hold us to such high standards.

Whether we end up this year’s “No Country For Old Men” or come up empty-handed, the old adage still rings true: It’s an honor just to be nominated. — Dennis Lewon and Ted Alvarez