Magazine prizes for Stewart

The New Yorker won five National Magazine Awards on Wednesday night, but that’s hardly news: The New Yorker wins National Magazine Awards like the 1927 Yankees won baseball games. The real buzz out of the annual ceremony was that Martha Stewart, America’s perkiest ex-convict, won two awards and showed up to get them despite being under house arrest.

“She is allowed out for 48 hours a week to do work, and this was a work-related moment,” said Stewart’s spokeswoman, Samantha Schabel.

Martha Stewart Weddings took the award for general excellence for magazines with a circulation of 250,000 to 500,000, and her Kids: Fun Stuff to Do Together won the award for design.

The coveted awards are bestowed by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

National Geographic won the essay award for David Quammen’s cover story “Was Darwin Wrong?” Quammen answered that question with a resounding no, concluding that “the evidence for evolution is overwhelming.” The judges, noting that many Americans don’t believe the theory of evolution, called the story “courageous.”

“It was the bestselling newsstand issue in the magazine’s history,” said Chris Johns, National Geographic’s editor in chief, “and to have it further validated by our peers is thrilling.”

The New Yorker, which has won more awards than any other magazine in the contest’s 40-year history, added five more to its collection, which now numbers 44 -- more than double its nearest rival, the Atlantic, which has won 19.

The New Yorker won the general excellence award for magazines with a circulation of 1 million to 2 million. It also won prizes for reporting, reviews, profile writing and public interest.

Also winning for general excellence in their circulation categories were Glamour, Wired, Dwell and Print.