The past weekend's International Regional Magazine Association conference was a big one for Arizona Highways, which picked up 20 awards for entries from the 2015 calendar year.
The total continues an upward trend for the magazine, which won 11 IRMA awards in 2013 and 16 in 2014.
Among the 2015 honorees were golds for David Muench, who won Magazine Photographer of the Year for our December issue; Eric Hanson, for his graphic accompanying a Route 66 feature in the May issue; and Editor Robert Stieve, for his monthly editor's letter.
The other two golds went to Ben Coan, whose photo of Mooney Falls opened The Journal in October, and our April issue, which celebrated the 90th anniversary of Arizona Highways.
The magazine also won seven silver awards, including for Annette McGivney, in the Magazine Writer of the Year category; for Scott Baxter's portraits of Clayson Benally (March); and for Craig Childs' essay The Long Deep Trails of Water (June).
The awards were announced Monday at IRMA's annual conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The organization was founded in 1960. Its purpose is to support and promote regional magazines in the United States and elsewhere. Arizona Highways has hosted the conference four times, most recently in 2012.
We're very proud of all our winners. Congratulations! The full list of 2015 Arizona Highways winners is below.
Gold Awards
Editor's Letter: Robert Stieve
Single Photo: Ben Coan, Let There Be Light, October
Magazine Photographer of the Year: David Muench, December
Graphic: Eric Hanson, On the Road Again, May
Special Focus: 90th Anniversary Issue, April
Silver Awards
Headline and Deck: Robert Stieve, She Knows Dam Well, March 2015
Essay: Craig Childs, The Long Deep Trails of Water, June
Magazine Writer of the Year: Annette McGivney
Portrait Photo: John Sherman, Table of Contents, August
Portrait Series: Scott Baxter, Their Souls Blend in a Soft Whisper, March
Illustration: Jon Foster, Of Prehistoric Proportions, May
Companion Website: www.arizonahighways.com
Bronze Awards
Public Issues: Annette McGivney, For Land's Sake, July
Profile: Kathy Montgomery, Sir David, December
Reader Service Article: Noah Austin, Robert Stieve and Kelly Vaughn Kramer, Weekend Getaways, January
Department: The Journal
Awards of Merit
Historical Feature: Kayla Frost, Of Prehistoric Proportions, May
Nature and Environment Feature: Annette McGivney, Ba'cho, August
Art Direction of a Single Story: Barbara Glynn Denney, Jeff Kida and Keith Whitney, The Blue, July
Cover: Barbara Glynn Denney, Salt River Canyon, November