Last night, Kazoo, a queer-inclusive (but not exclusive) magazine for girls founded by a lesbian mom, won the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Award for General Excellence, its most prestigious honor. It is the first children’s magazine to win the award, beating out the more established publications Audubon, Columbia Journalism Review, The Hollywood Reporter, and Smithsonian.
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. They are known as the “Ellies” because of the elephant-shaped trophies given to the winners. 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. The award judges called Kazoo “sticky and interactive.”
Kazoo, 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. The latest issue features a spread about Ellen DeGeneres, mentioning her “Yep, I’m gay” announcement and noting that later “She found joy at home, too, marrying the love of her life, Portia de Rossi.” (There’s also a cute drawing of her in a very dapper suit.) It offers a fun and inspiring mix of content, including science experiments, comics, art projects, recipes, interviews with accomplished women, and short activities like secret codes, jokes, mazes, puzzles, and more, with lots of activities to take off the page and into the house. Every issue also features a short story by a major woman author.
I interviewed Bried last year and she explained how her eldest daughter was the motivation for the publication, how she wants to “celebrate every one of our readers for being true to themselves” regardless of their identities, and how she is committed to making it an intersectional publication. I also did a short follow-up about their Action issue. (Incidentally, with another hat on, Bried also wrote the story for Parents magazine that went along with that publication’s first-ever cover to depict LGBTQ parents.)
Bried comprises Kazoo’s entire full-time staff. She said in a statement when it was first nominated for the Ellie, “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.”
Kazoo’s success, both in winning the award and growing its readership, shows that a) being LGBTQ-inclusive in children’s media isn’t a hindrance to (and may even help) general popularity; b) girls (and children of all genders) can benefit from quality content that engages and empowers; and c) queer creators (even parents, who are by definition multitasking) can do awesome things. Many congratulations to Bried and to all of the writers, artists, and others who have had a hand in Kazoo’s making.
