Kazoo, an award-winning and queer-inclusive magazine for girls, founded by a lesbian mom, has been nominated for the most prestigious award given by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME).
The National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media, established in 1966, are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Two hundred seventy-nine national and regional publications entered the awards this year, submitting a total of 1,400 entries across all categories. Kazoo was one of only 20 publications nominated for the most prestigious honor, General Excellence—specifically, the General Excellence-Special Interest category, where it will compete with the more established publications Audubon, Columbia Journalism Review, The Hollywood Reporter, and Smithsonian magazine.
Kazoo magazine, which bills itself as “A new kind of print magazine for girls” (but which welcomes readers of all genders) is the creation of Erin Bried, a former Condé Nast editor and mother of two daughters. Unlike many other magazines, all of their stories are developed or inspired by real people at the top of their respective fields, including (but not limited to) many who are queer, including artist and author Alison Bechdel, singer Lea DeLaria, photographer Catherine Opie, artist Mickalene Thomas, writer Jacqueline Woodson, singer Ani DeFranco, swimmer Diana Nyad, biologist Lynn Adler, and comedian Cameron Esposito. I interviewed Bried last year about the magazine and her motivations (and did a short follow-up about their Action issue), and was thrilled to see Kazoo’s nomination this week.
Bried noted in a press release: “We’re the first kids magazine in a quarter century to have made the ASME finals, and this is our second nod.” Bried makes up the publication’s entire full-time staff. She added, “Kazoo may be small, but our mission—to celebrate girls for being strong, smart, fierce, and, above all, true to themselves—is big, and our passionate subscribers in 44+ countries have helped bring us to life.”
The ASME winners will be announced on March 14th.
