Reason Snags 3 First-Place Wins at the 67th Annual Maggie Awards

“Zombie stats” just keep going and going.

The 67th Annual Maggie Awards were held in Los Angeles on Friday, and your favorite libertarian monthly magazine (and daily website!) made out with three first-place awards.

The Maggies, which have historically served to recognize publishers operating west of the Colorado Rockies, opened its contest to entries from all over the world this past year. Even so, Reason had one of its two best years in the competition (tied with 2017), taking home some really lovely trophies for the following:

Best Special Theme Issue, Consumer: "Burn After Reading," July 2018

I will never tire of talking up this issue, so those of who you have not checked it out might as well do so now. Start with the opening salvo from Editor in Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward, and work your way through a litany of "how-tos, personal stories, and guides for all kinds of activities that can and do happen at the borders of legally permissible behavior."

This issue was unlike anything else I've worked on in my decade of professional journalism, and I'm grateful that our publishing peers saw fit to recognize it.  

Best Signed Editorial, Consumer: "Zombie Statistics," by Katherine Mangu-Ward

"It's easy to believe studies that confirm our priors," Mangu-Ward writes of the undead data points that animate our most contentious policy debates. Yet in "so many of these cases, a commonsense fact check should immediately cast suspicion."

It's not just our biases that predispose us to accept and regurgitate bad information. Mangu-Ward observes in her podium-topping column that "the more horrific and serious-seeming the problem, the less likely anyone is to challenge the data that support calls for action."

Best Video Channel, Consumer: ReasonTV

The ReasonTV team wins these things like clockwork, but don't let that stop you from clapping. This year, our publishing peers saw fit to recognize the pioneering web video channel for this piece on the San Francisco Mission's self-inflicted housing crisis:

Three wins and 10 nominations speak to the quality and volume of journalism we did last year, but not a single word or frame of it would have happened without the support of our readers and donors.