In a surprise, the Atlantic last night failed to win a single Ellie at the National Magazine Awards, even though it was nominated in eight categories. In a similar surprise, National Geographic, which had received its most nominations ever--five--took home only a single award, that for excellence online.

All told, no magazine dominated the awards, although as Peter Carlson says, UVA's Virginia Quarterly Review was a surprise standout with two awards.

Vanity Fair won an Ellie for Marjorie Williams' heart-breaking essay, "A Matter of Life and Death," published posthumously about her battle with cancer.

A DC literary magazine, The American Scholar, won the feature writing award for a Priscilla Long essay on the human genome.

Both the New Yorker and Harper's won multiple awards too.