Philadelphia Magazine Nominated for Two 2026 National Magazine Awards
The magazine was recognized for its April 2025 feature on the cheesesteak, as well as in the category of general excellence, by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
Yesterday — for the sixth time in eight years! — Philadelphia was been named a finalist for the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards, the highest award in magazine journalism.
Even better, Philadelphia magazine earned two nominations this time. Philly Mag is a finalist for General Excellence in the Special Interest category, a recognition of overall multiplatform editorial quality — everything from service packages and longform features to social media and events. The category places Philly Mag alongside other nationally recognized titles in a field that serves “highly defined reader communities,” including city and regional magazines. The magazine is a finalist alongside Texas Monthly, The Trace, Anyway, and Bicycling.
The magazine is also nominated in Lifestyle Journalism for our April 2025 package “Cheesesteak 2.0,” — edited by Bradford Pearson, with Kae Lani Palmisano, Adam Erace, Victor Fiorillo, Emily Goulet, Jason Sheehan, and Regan Fletcher Stephens. The feature explores how a new generation of Philly chefs is rewriting the rules of our city’s iconic sandwich — from the epic lines at Angelo’s to the rise of Cooper Sharp in a landscape painted with Cheez Whiz. The story was named a finalist alongside work from Food & Wine, The Cut, New York magazine, and Texas Monthly.
“I’m beyond proud of our editorial team,” said Christine Speer Lejeune, editor of Philadelphia. “First, they did the impossible: They found a fresh, new, truly helpful and, yes, award-worthy (!) way to write about the cheesesteak culture in Philadelphia. Secondly? Their hard work, creativity and commitment to journalistic storytelling didn’t just put this magazine in the company of some of the nation’s best publications — an honor we don’t take lightly — but also served our readers, issue after issue. I’m delighted — and grateful for Bradford Pearson, our executive editor who led the team as interim editor last year.”
Philadelphia has been nominated in a variety of categories over the past decade: Columns and Commentary for Sandy Hingston’s witty essays, Christine Speer Lejeune in Service Journalism last year for her exploration of why it’s so hard to book a doctor’s appointment, and Jason Sheehan in the Profile category for his story about Philadelphia chef Omar Tate. In 2024, it took home the Lifestyle Journalism prize for its February 2023 package All Hail the Hoagie, edited by Bradford Pearson, with contributions from Victor Fiorillo, Regan Fletcher Stephens, Adam Erace, Hannah Albertine, Laura Swartz, Carla Shackleford, and Sandy Hingston.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced on May 19th in New York.
