The American Society of Magazine Editors announced Thursday that Texas Monthly is a finalist in four categories of the prestigious National Magazine Awards, which are considered the Oscars of the magazine industry. The categories are Feature Writing, Reporting, Lifestyle Journalism, and General Excellence, Special Interest. Texas Monthly tied with The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, ProPublica, and Wired for having the third-most nominations for the 2026 awards, behind The New Yorker, with five, and New York Magazine, with nine.
“The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.,” senior editor Aaron Parsley’s heart-wrenching firsthand account of his family’s experience with the devastating July 4 Central Texas flood, has been recognized in the Feature Writing category.
“A Deadly Passage” and “Stay Strong, My Brother,” by Texas Monthly contributor Elliott Woods, comprise a two-part series recognized in the Reporting category. The project, which recently won a Polk Award, was the first full account of the deadliest human-smuggling incident in modern U.S. history, which left 53 migrants dead. The series was copublished by Texas Monthly and the Food & Environment Reporting Network, an independent nonprofit news organization. The Economic Hardship Reporting Project provided additional support.
The 2025 Top 50 BBQ list is a finalist in the Lifestyle Journalism category. The popular quadrennial feature takes several months of reporting, led by barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn, to find the state’s best barbecue joints.
Last but not least, the magazine is also a finalist in the coveted General Excellence, Special Interest category, which recognizes “editorial achievement and audience engagement,” as well as “the importance of editorially driven brand extensions, including conferences and events,” from publications that serve “highly defined reader communities.”
These honors bring Texas Monthly’s total National Magazine Awards nominations and wins to 93. The magazine was founded in 1973.
“I am thrilled for Aaron Parsley, who not only wrote one of the finest magazine stories Texas Monthly has published over 53 years but wrote it under the most trying and heartrending of circumstances, and for Elliott Woods, whose remarkable story has already won a prestigious George Polk Award, and for Daniel Vaughn, who is so much more than our talented and authoritative barbecue editor—every week his writing captures an important part of what it means to be a Texan,” said Ross McCammon, Texas Monthly’s editor in chief.
For the ASME Awards for Design, Photography and Illustration, Texas Monthly’s art department, led by creative director Emily Kimbro, was named a finalist in the Best Service and Lifestyle Design category for the Top 50 barbecue list, which ran in the June issue. The “How We Did It” Instagram post also was recognized in that category.
The art department is also a finalist in the Best Entertainment and Celebrity Photography category, for photos that ran with the June “Opal Lee Marches On” feature. The photos were taken by Shayan Asgharnia.
“Emily Kimbro and her team continue to build on the rich legacy of design and photography at Texas Monthly,” McCammon said. “It’s not easy to work at Texas Monthly and portray the world of barbecue in a whole new way, but this staff did. As for the photographs of Opal Lee, Shayan Asgharnia captured the endlessly hopeful spirit of this extraordinary woman. These photos are an inspiration for all Texans and all Americans.”
Winners of the National Magazine Awards will be announced May 19, and winners of the Design, Photography and Illustration awards will be announced April 9. For the complete list of finalists, visit ASME’s website.
Congratulations to everyone involved!