NYT‘s Mark Leibovich was among several Washington journalists who came away from the National Magazine Awards (nicknamed the “Ellies” for their elephant-shapped trophies) this week with accolades. Leibovich won the magazine an award for Profile Writing for his unforgettable story on the life and times of Politico‘s Mike Allen. The awards were doled out by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

“These award things are a total crap shoot, but yes it is nice to win,” Leibovich remarked to FishbowlDC. “I think we get some elephant shaped trophy in the deal though I haven’t seen it.”

It can be strange when you’re writing an item about an item on yourself. Allen took a detached approach. In Playbook, he called it a story on “Playbook” and wrote that it was “one of The New York Times Magazine’s most-read, most-searched and most-shared articles ever.” Allen wishes Leibovich well. “Happy for him!” he wrote FBDC over email. “Congratulations to him and The New York Times magazine.” .

Does this mean Leibo will once again be invited to the Allbritton brunch next year? (They snubbed him this year.) If you somehow missed the Allen profile that blew up his readership, see it here.

In other award news, National Geographic was named Magazine of the Year, Foreign Policy‘s Editor-in-Chief Susan Glasser won for News Reporting and Slate’s Editor David Plotz won for General Excellence in Digital Media.

See the complete list here.