On Tuesday night at the annual British Society of Magazine Editors’ awards, New Statesman editor Jason Cowley won the 2009 Editor of the Year award in the Special Interest and Current Affairs Magazines category.
The judges included the BSME committee, as well as, among others, Evan Davis, presenter of the Today programme and Dragons’ Den, Tim Brooks, managing director of Guardian Media Group and D J Collins, communications director of Google. They said of Cowley, who joined the New Statesman as editor in October 2008, that he had transformed the New Statesman and “created issues of the magazine that were the envy of the industry”.
Cowley was previously the editor of Granta and of the Observer Sports Monthly and a staff writer on the Times. He was shortlisted for the award prior to the launch of the redesigned New Statesman at the end of September. The New Statesman was the only current affairs title nominated in the category.
Jason Cowley said: “I am delighted. I have the privilege of working with a very talented team of journalists and designers on the New Statesman and this award is to be shared with them. This is the beginning of a bright new era for the New Statesman.”