Where are they now? Stack Awards 2018 winners show and tell
Ahead of the 2019 Stack Awards, we found out what our 2018 winners have been up to in the last year. We also wanted to see where they’re keeping their trophies — expect stuffed cockatoos and a hedgehog.
Of course, if you’re a magazine maker yourself, we’d love to present your printed project to our expert judges. We have 10 different categories for the Stack Awards, all entirely dedicated to independent magazines, and you have until 27 September to submit your magazine. Read on for updates from Good Trouble, Anxy, Skirt Chronicles and more.
Good Trouble | Magazine of the Year
Where is your Stack award now?
Sitting proudly on my shelf, next to a piece of wood with a woodpecker drawn on it by my son, and my 1989 Junior Chess Champion of the Year award. (But it’s not very photogenic, so I stuck it next to a stuffed cockatoo for this photo.)
What have you been doing since winning last year?
We have been living a life of frankly obscene luxury on a private beach in Guatemala, but now the prize money from the Stack Award is finally running out, we have returned to New York and reluctantly begun work on issue 3.
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Magazine of the Year in 2019?
Tatler.
Anxy | Art Director of the Year and Best Use of Illustration
Where are your Stack awards now?
The Stack awards are currently on our bookshelf, together with our magazine collection and part of our Anxy inventory. In good company!
What have you been doing since winning last year?
We published the Masculinity Issue, with interviews with Terry Crews and Karamo Brown, plus a wide range of perspectives on what it means to be masculine.
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Art Director of the Year in 2019?
We are rooting for our friends at Migrant Journal. Last year they were listed as commended. It was a tough competition, but they are one of our favourites!
Ecotone | Best Original Fiction
Where is your Stack award now?
It had a long route to get here — brought from London to South Carolina by a friend, and delivered to me by another friend a few months later — but now it is ensconced on the shelf behind my desk, next to the most recent issues of Ecotone. Behind it is a reminder for me and the Ecotone team, a poster from Cuneiform Press’s project A People’s Curriculum for the United States: TEACH RADICAL EMPATHY.
What have you been doing since winning last year?
Our fall/winter 2018 issue, the Body Issue, featured poetry from Patricia Smith, an excerpt from Teresa Wong’s fantastic new graphic novel, Dear Scarlet, and our first dance feature, on Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre. Also with that issue, we reduced the amount of petrochemical plastic used in our production and distribution as much as possible — we transitioned from coated to uncoated cover stock, and are now mailing subscriber copies in paper envelopes. I wrote in my editor’s note for the issue, “Not only does plastic stick around for thousands of years, it disintegrates into smaller and smaller particles that attract and concentrate toxins in seas, soil, living things.” This is not news, but it’s worth repeating; and we were glad to make these changes, particularly for the Body Issue.
Ecotone is made by UNC Wilmington faculty and by MFA students, who invest lots of time and heart in learning the craft of editing and design. This means that, each year, we lose beloved staff members, and hire new ones to fill their shoes. Former members of the Ecotone team have recently taken positions at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, University of Wisconsin Press, and Southern Humanities Review, among others. We’re delighted for them! Also a delight this year: having reprints from recent issues in Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, and the Pushcart Prize anthology.
With our upcoming issue, the Love Issue, we’re celebrating our fourteenth anniversary — so we’ll be featuring poems in fourteen-line forms, among other good things.
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Best Original Fiction in 2019?
New England Review is doing such fine work. I reliably find stories I have to keep reading in the magazine, and its editors offer writers the kind of thoughtful support that has become too rare. Also stellar: the Southern Review, Harvard Review.
Skirt Chronicles | Editor of the Year
Where is your Stack award now?
Our award is in the living room, where the three of us spend the most time making the magazine, as well as dancing or simply discussing.
What have you been doing since winning last year?
We have published our fourth issue, and are currently wrapping up our fifth!
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Editor of the Year in 2019?
The final issue of Migrant Journal! They have done such an incredible job across their six issues to create a one-of-a-kind voice.
Eye on Design | Cover of the Year
Where is your Stack award now?
Getting frequent use as a door stopper. Kidding. It’s decorating the office of our London senior editor, who gazes upon it when she’s in need of inspiration.
What have you been doing since winning last year?
Working away on more award-worthy issues, of course, plus a million other things. We’ve launched a new event series called the Eye on Design Debates, where we put three experts behind podiums to discuss the big issues facing the design world today. It’s spirited, respectful, and never boring — our antidote to panel discussions.
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Cover of the Year in 2019?
I love the cover of Racquet issue 9, which has nothing to do with tennis but it’s vibey in all the right ways. It’s light and fun and dark and sexy and moody and mysterious and playful all at once.
Nataal | Best Original Non-Fiction
Where is your Stack award now?
Our Stack award lives in the Nataal studio, usually on one of our desks looking lovely and solid.
What have you been doing since winning last year?
We have just brought out issue two of the annual magazine, which is more extensive than the first and continues to celebrate emerging and established talents who are shaping Africa’s creative scene.
If not you, which magazine should win the category of Best Original Non-Fiction in 2019?
Maybe Nataal! In issue two we have a powerful personal essay by Emmanuel Balogun that discusses the issues around the digital dissemination of images of the black body through the works of five creatives — fashion designer and performance artist Saul Nash, filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr, artist Alun Be, stylist Ib Kamara and photographer Stephen Tayo.
Suspira | Launch of the Year
Where is your Stack award now?
Our Stack award for Launch of the Year has found its home on top of a shelf in my living room, where you can’t really miss it (we are well proud).
What have you been doing since winning last year?
Since winning last year we’ve launched our second issue, the Fetish Issue and have been busy working on our next and third issue, the Vampire issue. In March this year we were also invited to give a talk about the making of Suspira and the driving force behind it for this year’s EDCH Idea Salon in Munich alongside Rod Stanley from Good Trouble, Audrey Fondecave from Too Much Magazine and Natassa Pappa from Desired Landscapes, as part of a series of talks curated by Steve Watson.
Which magazine should win the category of Launch of the Year in 2019?
To be honest, we’ve been in such an incubation phase, working hard on our third issue that we’ve been not very good at leaving our little bubble and paying attention to all the awesome magazines that have been launching lately which is a real shame. But that’s why I’m always excited to see the shortlist of the Stack Awards as we always tend to discover new, awesome magazines. I’m very excited to see which magazine will take this batch of honour home this year!
Perdiz | Subscriber’s Choice
In my living room, along with some of my favourite things.
What have you been doing since winning last year?
We’ve been working on the new issue, our tenth issue, which has been redesigned by Querida Studio. It’s just come out of the printer, and it’s ready to pre-order from our website. It has interviews with Leon Vitali (Kubrick’s right hand for most than 30 years), Susan Rogers (Prince’s former sound engineer and expert in music perception and cognition), a paper plane designer, a bread sculptor and a goat-man. It also contains six happy stories about humans created by an AI, a feature about trophies, a reflection on the fleeting nature of life as seen through a spaghetti lens, and an amazing photo feature by Max Pinckers, as well as Carlota Guerrero’s cover photo.
Which magazine should win Subscribers’ Choice in 2019?
I’ve always loved Weapons of Reason, and I actually just bought their Technology issue. But this time my vote will go to Profane magazine. I didn’t know it until recently and when I discovered it I thought “the amateur” is a very interesting topic I would like to read about. Amateurs are sometimes better (fresher, more original and inspiring) than professionals! Also, I really like their cover design. But really, good luck to all of them!
