{"id":17221,"date":"2026-05-22T12:47:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=17221"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:00:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:00:06","slug":"scenes-from-national-magazine-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2026\/05\/22\/scenes-from-national-magazine-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"Scenes from National Magazine Award winners"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
\n
\n \n

Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Dear Storyboard community: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Our summer reading list keeps growing. First came the Pulitzer Prizes<\/a>, and this week the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) handed out its 2026 National Magazine Awards<\/a> in New York City. You can get links to the full list of winners here<\/a>, but let’s dive into a few moments from the winning stories. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

In the Reporting category, \u201c\u2018There Will Be No Mercy,\u2019\u201d<\/a> by Drew Philp, earned The Atavist Magazine its second consecutive National Magazine Award, for a story about hospital workers helping victims during a two-year war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region \u2014 a conflict, and potentially a genocide<\/a>, that was not widely covered in Western media. Philp traveled to Ethiopia for the story and met with doctors, nurses, and other staff \u2014 he interviewed \u201ctwo or three dozen people\u201d who worked at the hospital, searching for people to serve as the main characters in the story, he told the Creative Nonfiction Podcast<\/a>. \u201cWe wanted to put faces on what was happening here,\u201d he said. One of the doctors featured was Hale Teka, an OB-GYN at Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, who Philp brought to life in the story:   <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

Hale had long believed that people were inherently good and that the world tended toward progress. But as more and more civilians assailed by war arrived at Ayder, he lost faith in his fellow man. In more optimistic moments, Hale clung to a sliver of hope. If individuals couldn\u2019t stop this, surely institutions would. Once word about what was happening in Tigray reached the wider world, the international community would respond. Powerful countries would step in and demand that the atrocities stop. Abiy\u2019s government would be forced to yield.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

In the Lifestyle Journalism category, Storyboard contributor Kim Cross won for a Food & Wine feature that took her to Alaska<\/a> to trace the path of the Pacific’s wild salmon, all the way from Bristol Bay to the world’s kitchen tables. During a trip on a commercial fishing boat, Cross replays the moment she catches a five-pound salmon: <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

\u201cYour first fish!\u201d a crewmate chirps. I smile, fighting tears. Quietly, so the crew won\u2019t hear, I whisper the thing I say to every trout I land on a fly rod: \u201cThank you, fish!\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

\n
\n \n

This is one moment of truth on my yearlong quest: to learn the provenance of my salmon. The searing revelation of this moment? Whatever I pay in the store … it\u2019s worth it! Salmon fishing is hard<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The ASME award also highlights an Instagram video<\/a> that Cross shot and narrated to go with the story. She says it wasn’t part of her original pitch: \u201cI had done some GoPro and video footage as part of my reporting and in anticipation of promoting the story and doing presentations after publication. I was asked to write the script and do the voiceover, which the F&W team then edited.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

As for the written piece, Cross documents two journeys \u2014 one for the 50 million salmon swimming through Bristol Bay, and one for herself. Read to the end to see how Cross wraps up her trip with a satisfying callback.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Links of note <\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n \n