The New Yorker wins two National Magazine Awards

The winners of the National Magazine Awards were announced last night, and two New Yorker writers were among the honorees: Rachel Aviv won in the Profile Writing category and Luke Mogelson won in the Video category.

Rachel Aviv, a staff writer, was recognized for her nuanced portrait of Elizabeth Loftus, one of the most influential psychologists of her generation. Loftus became celebrated for helping to render obsolete the idea that memories exist in a kind of mental library, as literal representations of past events. According to Loftus, memories are reconstructed, not replayed. But as Aviv deftly reveals, it is not only other people’s memories that are malleable—Loftus herself seems to resist confronting the truth of her family’s past, and what may have shaped her career.

Luke Mogelson, a contributing writer, won for his shocking and surreal footage from inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Mogelson had attended President Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally on the National Mall that day and followed Trump supporters as they forced their way into the Capitol and Senate chamber afterward. He used his phone’s camera to capture chaotic scenes from what followed. The resulting film provides a visceral record of Americans holding democracy hostage.

Additionally, Stephania Taladrid, a contributing writer, received an ASME Next Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by journalists under the age of thirty.

And, as previously announced, The New Yorker won Best News and Entertainment Photograph for “The Long Prologue to the Capitol Hill Riot,” by Balazs Gardi, and Best Photo Portfolio for “Saving the Butterfly Forest,” Brendan George Ko.