Awards & Acclaim

2024

National Magazine Award finalist for Photography: Spring/Summer print issue; Fall print issue; and "The Taboo Medicine," photographs by Lynn Johnson, Winter
National Magazine Award finalist for Columns and Essays: "As They Like It" by Nicole Graev Lipson
Firecracker Award finalist for Magazines/General Excellence

2023

National Magazine Award Winner for Best Illustrated Story: "Drawn to War" by George Butler
National Magazine Award finalist for Columns and Essays: "Reality Marble" by Joseph Earl Thomas

2022

National Magazine Award finalist for Public Interest: "Cold War, Hot Mess" by Lois Parshley
National Magazine Award finalist for Photo Portfolio: "Dark City" by Dina Litovsky

2021

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence

2020

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays and Criticism: “The Ladder Up” by Carina del Valle Schorske

2019

National Magazine Award Winner for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays and Criticism: “The Breakup Museum” by Leslie Jamison
American Bar Association Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts finalist for Magazines: “A Culture of No” by Justine van der Leun

2018

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction
National Magazine Award finalist for Photography
National Magazine Award finalist for Feature Writing: "The Useful Village" by Ben Mauk
Overseas Press Club citation for the Ed Cunningham Award (best magazine reporting in print or digital on an international story)

2017

Overseas Press Club Whitman Bassow Award:“The Fight for Chinko” by Elliott D. Woods

2016

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence

2015

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Reporting: "The Ghosts of Rana Plaza" by Jason Motlagh
Overseas Press Club Madeline Dane Ross Award: "The Ghosts of Rana Plaza" by Jason Motlagh
Overseas Press Club Madeline Dane Ross Citation: "The Lessons of Atmeh" by Joshua Hersh
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays and Criticism: "Smuggler: A Memoir of Gay Male Literature" by Philip Kennicott
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "Serve-and-Volley, Near Vichy" by Greg Jackson
MOLLY National Journalism Prize: "Losing Sparta" by Esther Kaplan

2014

National Magazine Award finalist for Feature Photography: "Life on the River Gambia" by Jason Florio

2012

National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "La Moretta" by Maggie Shipstead
National Magazine Award finalist for Photography
National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
SEJ 11th Annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment: "India’s Vanishing Vultures: by Meera Subramanian; Ami Vitale, Photographer

2011

National Magazine Award Winner for Fiction: "Minor Watt" by Paul Theroux
National Magazine Award Winner for Multimedia Package: "Assignment Afghanistan" by Elliott D. Woods, reporter and multimedia production; Jesse Dukes, multimedia and audio production; Bluecadet Interactive, web design and product coordination
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "Uzon" by William Malatinsky
National Magazine Award finalist for Reporting: "Digging Out" by Elliott D. Woods
National Magazine Award finalist for News and Documentary Photography: "The Cocaine Coast" by Marco Vernaschi
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays and Criticism: "Lust, Devotion & the Binary Code" by Kamin Mohammadi
National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
Best Use of Online Video, Overseas Press Club: "Half-Lives: The Chernobyl Workers Today" by Maisie Crow and Jesse Dukes

2010

National Magazine Award Winner for News Reporting: "Sixty Hours of Terror" by Jason Motlagh
National Magazine Award finalist for Photojournalism: "The Young Mothers of Port-au-Prince" by Ruxandra Guidi; photographs by Bear Guerra
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "The Vanishing American" by Leslie Parry, "Fauntleroy's Ghost" by Vinnie Wilhelm

2009

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "Asal" by Sana Krasikov, "Tale of the Teahouse" by Kanishk Tharoor
Finalist, Utne Independent Press Awards: General Excellence, International Coverage, and Best Writing

2008

National Magazine Award Winner for Single-Topic Issue: South America in the 21st Century
National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Photojournalism: "A Window on Baghdad" by Chris Hondros

2007

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "Ships in High Transit" by Binyavanga Wainaina, "Wake" by Kevin Gonzalez, "Shepherdess" by Dan Chaon
Finalist, Utne Independent Press Awards: Best Writing
Silver Eddie Awards for Editorial Excellence

2006

National Magazine Award Winner for General Excellence
National Magazine Award Winner for Fiction: "Peacekeeper" by Alan Heathcock, "Smother" by Joyce Carol Oates, "Ina Grove" by R.T. Smith
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays: "Dead Enough? The Paradox of Brain Death" by Pauline W. Chen
National Magazine Award finalist for Essays: "The Wagon" by Martin Preib
National Magazine Award finalist for Reviews and Criticism: "Humboldt's Gift" by Sven Birkerts and "A Weekend at Montauk" by Sven Birkerts
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "So Help Me God" by Joyce Carol Oates, "The Guggenheim Lovers" by Isabel Allende, "The Ghosts We Love" by Brock Clarke
Finalist, Utne Independent Press Awards: Best Writing
Gold Eddie Award for Editorial Excellence

2005

National Magazine Award finalist for General Excellence
National Magazine Award finalist for Fiction: "The Immortals" by John McNally, "Happy" by Dean Bakopoulos, "The Futurist" by James P. Othmer
Gold Ozzie Award for Design from Folio magazine.
Silver Eddie Awards for Editorial Excellence
Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement and the from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

2004

Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

Media Coverage

Media coverage on CBS Evening News, “The Early Show” on CBS, CNN Newsroom, National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Weekend Edition Sunday,” “Talk of the Nation,” “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” and “Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria.”

Print coverage in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Boston Globe, the Associated Press, Christian Science Monitor, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Seattle Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Oregonian, Kansas City Star, St. Petersburg Times, Columbus Dispatch, Mobile (AL) Press-Register, Wisconsin State Journal, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Roanoke Times, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Idaho Statesman, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Advertising Age, Columbia Journalism Review, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Mediaweek, Women’s Wear Daily, Poets & Writers magazine, and many others.

Coverage in international media including Canadian Broadcasting Company’s “News: Morning” (TV), Australian Broadcasting Company’s “The Book Show” (radio), the (London) Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian (UK), Montreal Gazette, Toronto Globe and Mail, Turkish Daily News, and China Daily, among others.

Online coverage at ABC News Now, Slate, BoingBoing, Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Seed magazine, Arts & Letters Daily, Kottke.org, Gawker, Radar, WorldHum, FishBowlNY, PopMatters, Bookslut, LAMatters, New Pages, Tingle Alley, TalentMatch, and many others.

Reprints in Other Publications

Work from VQR reprinted in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Harper’s, The Independent (UK), Canberra Times (Australia), The Statesman (India), Wilson Quarterly, Pushcart Prize anthology, Best American Short Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, Best American Travel Writing, Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Spiritual Writing, Best American Magazine Writing, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and New Stories from the South.

Public Events

We’ve been proud to sponsor readings by VQR authors at the University of Virginia, Virginia Festival of the Book, Wisconsin Book Festival, New York Public Library, Symphony Space/New York, Harvard University, University of Maryland, George Mason University, New York University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Miami, Washington University, Southern Illinois University, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Mercantile Library of New York.