We Won a National Magazine Award

Trophies.

I didn’t work at newspapers.

I started my career in journalism as a Sports Illustrated fact-checker, some 19 years ago, before continuing on as a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine in 2012.

Candidly, in other words: the National Magazine Awards were the dream.

And not just because the physical trophy — modeled on the sculptor Alexander Calder’s Elephant — is in desperate need of child-proofing:

To me, making a magazine was — and is — the coolest thing you can do.

Anyone who’s ever talked to me about launching this show has heard me say the word “magazine.” The different types of episodes we do, from Share & Tell to these unboxing deep dives, clumsily approximate the section at the front of the book and the long feature in the back. The topics we cover reflect the interests of idiosyncratic human editors. And if you appreciate the way we structure things — or absolutely hate the lengths we make our audience travel in order to get to some final kicker — you have the traditions of that medium to blame.

Anyway: PTFO won the National Magazine Award for Podcasting last night.

Thank you to the American Society of Magazine Editors.

We are extraordinarily lucky to find a way to make a magazine, still.