On Friday, the City and Regional Magazine Association announced its finalist selections for the 2023 National City and Regional Magazine Awards, and Texas Monthly received 22 finalist selections this year—more than any other publication—including Excellence in Writing, Excellence in Design, Excellence Online, and General Excellence. Notably, Russell Gold received three finalist nods in civic journalism, reporting, and writer of the year.
TM also received two nominations in the multiplatform storytelling category—a testament to the magazine’s ability to create compelling storytelling across podcast, video, print, and other platforms. One was for the “America’s Girls” podcast, hosted by Sarah Hepola, and “A Half Century of High Kicks and Hot Pants,” TM‘s September 2022 cover story that Hepola wrote; both dive into the history and cultural influence of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. The other nomination is for contributor Will McCarthy’s “The Really (Really!) Big Year” June 2022 cover story and TM‘s accompanying video, “After the Big Year,” which both profile a South Texas birder who went on a year-long birdwatching quest and ended up breaking a national birding record.
See below for all the nominations Texas Monthly received for work that was published in 2022. The winners will be announced at the CRMA conference on June 5.
Reporting
“Trouble at the ‘Lord’s Mill’ ” (Sonia Smith)
“What Lies Beneath” (Russell Gold)
Feature Story (Circulation more than 60,000)
“The Cowtown Killer” (Skip Hollandsworth)
Writer of the Year
Excellence in Writing
Texas Monthly’s February issue
Spread Design (Circulation more than 60,000)
“What Drives Greg Abbott?” (Victoria Millner)
“Mr. Steal Your Grandma” (Emily Kimbro)
Photography
“The Boy From Booker T.” (Jeffrey McWhorter, Emily Kimbro, Claire Hogan)
Illustration and Graphics
Texas Monthly for “How Many More Did He Kill?”, “Forgotten No More”, and “The Dude Abides” (August and December)
Excellence in Design
Texas Monthly’s November issue
Reader Service
“Relax Already” (Kathy Blackwell, Lauren Larson, Katy Vine, Josh Alvarez, Cat Cardenas, Jenn Tompkins)
Leisure/Lifestyle Interests
“The Golden Age of Texas Fiction” (Josh Alvarez, Jeff Salamon, Jenn Tompkins)
Civic Journalism
“It Could Happen Again” (Russell Gold)
“The Reign of the 3%” (Michael Hardy)
Excellence Online
Online Column
“Tex-Mexplainer” (José R. Ralat)
E-Newsletter
Multiplatform Storytelling
“The Really (Really!) Big Year”
General Excellence 3 (Circulation more than 60,000)
Texas Monthly
