Virginia Quarterly Review Receives More Accolades

October 25, 2006 —The Virginia Quarterly Review has added two more honors to its impressive list of accolades received this year—a Gold Award for Editorial Excellence, nicknamed the “Eddie,” from FOLIO: magazine, and a nomination for an Independent Press Award for Best Writing from Utne magazine.

On Sunday, Oct. 22, at an award ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York, VQR received the Eddie for the best association or nonprofit publication. Last year, VQR received the second place Silver Award in this category. The Eddie Awards are presented by FOLIO: and are judged by a panel of industry executives. Winners in other categories included Newsweek for news, Billboard for media/entertainment, Field & Stream for sports, and National Geographic Explorer for travel.

In addition, in the November/December issue of Minneapolis-based Utne magazine (available on newsstands this week), VQR has been named one of eight finalists for the Independent Press Award for Best Writing—the magazine’s top award for editorial content. Other finalists include Boston Review, The Oxford American, and the Canadian publication The Walrus. Since 1989 Utne’s prestigious awards have showcased the best of the independent press, in an effort to “honor the efforts of small, sometimes unnoticed publications that provide innovative, thought-provoking perspectives often ignored or overlooked by mass media.”

“We’re thrilled by these latest distinctions,” VQR editor Ted Genoways said. “They cap a remarkable year—really a breakout year—for us.”

In the last 12 months, VQR has won two National Magazine Awards (and received an additional four nominations) from the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Phoenix Award for Significant Editorial Achievement, the highest honor bestowed on scholarly journals by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals. VQR is also the current holder of the Parnassus Award for Significant Editorial Achievement, CELJ’s top award for literary journals, bestowed every three years. “To hold all of these awards simultaneously is virtually unprecedented,” Genoways said. “It’s a tremendous honor.”

VQR’s other year-end distinctions include reprinted work in the 2006 volumes of “Best American Magazine Writing,” “Best American Travel Writing,” “Best American Mystery Stories,” “Best American Poetry,” and “Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror.”

The Virginia Quarterly Review has been published continuously at the University of Virginia since 1925, when it was founded by University President Edwin A. Alderman as “a national journal of literature and discussion.”

Media Contact