The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced today that it will be instituting a few changes in the 2011 National Magazine Awards, or “Ellies.”

ASME has decided to hold the next National Magazine Awards ceremony as a dinner at 583 Park Avenue in New York City on May 9, 2011. Meanwhile the National Magazine Awards for Digital Media will continue to be presented at a luncheon ceremony in conjunction with the MPA Digital conference on March 16, 2011 at the Hilton New York.

ASME chief executive Sid Holt explains the change:

We feel turning the print awards into a dinner will enhance the sense of celebration and community for the entire magazine industry. Not only will a sit-down dinner be more fun, but it will give editors and publishers a chance to invite their magazine’s friends and clients.

ASME has also tweaked several of its awards categories, including those for General Excellence. Beginning with the 2011 National Magazine Awards, the General Excellence categories will be based on content, audience, frequency and circulation, a departure from preceding years’ awards presented in six categories based on circulation size. Thus, the new General Excellence, Print, categories are as follows:

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After three days of deliberations, a judge called a mistrial in the case of John Katehis (left), now 18, accused of brutally killing former WABC Radio newsman George Weber in March 2009. The jury was deadlocked.

Supreme Court Justice Neil Jon Firetog briefly reconsidered his mistrial decision, over lawyers’ strenuous objections. The jurors wanted to deliberate for a few more hours. Ulltimately, Firetog allowed the decision to stand. 

On Monday, jurors heard closing arguments.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Schwartz claimed Katehis was a victim of a drunken predator, while prosecutor Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi described Katehis, 16 at the time, as “mature” and a “cold, calculating, savvy killer” when he stabbed Weber more than 50 times.

Weber (right), who had a sexual fetish for being smothered “to the point of where he was close to passing out,” responded to Katehis’ Craigslist ad in which he allegedly offered sex for money, according to prosecutors.

Katehis was being held without bail. If convicted, he could have faced 25 years to life in prison.

At the time of his death, Weber, 47, was a freelance anchor at ABC News Radio in New York.

Earlier today, New York Times writer Jeremy W. Peters revealed via Twitter that Carol Smith is out as the publishing director of Condé Nast’s food group. Bill Wackermann has been promoted to executive vice president, publishing director of Glamour, Brides, W, and Details and will assume additional business responsibilities for Bon Appétit and the Gourmet brand. He was formerly Condé Nast’s publishing director for W, Glamour, Brides and Details.

His first order of business has been naming Paul Jowdy vice president and publisher of Bon Appétit and the Gourmet brand. Jowdy has held this position before, prior to becoming senior executive director under Smith.

Smith had jumped ship to Condé Nast from Elle — where she had worked as the title’s senior vice president and chief brand officer — fairly recently, in April of this year.

It may only be a mid-term elections, but don’t tell that to the many city TV and radio stations. Most stations, expecting a late night, are making plans for extended coverage on Tuesday night.

FishbowlNY has obtained details from various media outlets.

• WABC

The talk station will be live all night with Mark Levin, John Batchelor, and Doug McIntyre. Additionally, WABC will give listeners local updates every quarter hour from co-anchors Ken Duffy and Hilarie Barsky, with reporters in the field throughout the tri-state region.

The talk juggernaut with take major victory/concession speeches live, plus offer comprehensive election results on the Talk the Vote page at wabcradio.com.

The WCBS-AM and WINS plans after the jump. Read more

Tonight, The Huffington Post is holding a special ceremony to celebrate its list of “Game Changers,” the “innovators, mavericks and leaders who are changing their fields and inspiring others to follow in their footsteps.”

This year’s ceremony happens to include quite a few bold names in the media industry:

• Anderson Cooper will present to Sean Penn
• Nora Ephron will present to Mayor Mike Bloomberg
• Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough will present to Geoffrey Canada
• Jann Wenner will present to Michael Hastings and Matt Taibbi
• Julian Bond will present to Ted Olson
• Dylan Ratigan will present to Seth Reams
• Mayor Cory Booker will present to Biz Stone and Livia Stone
• Arianna Huffington will present to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

Other attendees slated to appear tonight include reality tv star and health expert Bethenny Frankel, TV and radio personality Gayle King, fashion designer Prabal Gurung, models Paulina Porizkova and Crystal Renn, former New York Governor and current TV host Eliot Spitzer and his co-host Kathleen Parker, PR whiz Kelly Cutrone, and many others.

According to a report on Business Insider, Jon Dube has been tapped to lead AOL’s journalism team as new senior VP and GM of AOL News & Information.  The news of Dube’s hiring came courtesy of a tweet from AOL’s Seed.com programming director, Saul Hansell.  Hansell, who used to serve as a reporter at The New York Times, didn’t spare much of the 140-character limit with the following tweet:

“Super excited: Jon Dube (@cyberjournalist), formerly head of ABCNews.com, will now be GM of AOL News.”

Dube took a more formal approach in expressing his enthusiasm for his new role:

“I believe AOL is better positioned than any other company today to marry innovative technology with high-quality original journalism in a way that creates the best online experience imaginable.”

Prior to joining AOL, Dube was VP of ABCNews.com.  He will report in to David Eun, president of AOL Media & Studios.

For its November / December issue, out on newsstands now (and online), Foreign Affairs magazine elected to look towards the future through essays and book recommendations by some of today’s best thinkers. The issue will feature a special cover as well as a two-column makeup to make it easy for readers to take in all the information and recommendations within.

According to David Kellogg, the magazine’s publisher:

“This special issue of Foreign Affairs has already raised the bar for the magazine — it is the first single-themed and largest issue ever produced.  The cover has added a gatefold and dramatic cover graphics. Readership (made up of 20 percent newsstand and 80 percent subscriber based) continues to grow.  In addition, ad revenue for the Nov/Dec issue grew 65 percent year over year, quite an enviable position in the publishing business today.”

The issue will provide an in-depth exploration of far-reaching issues impacting both the U.S. and the world at large, organized by category: Planetary issues (such as security, prosperity, education, water, population declines, climate control, etc.), international issues (for example, a look at how powers are allocated in the United States and Europe versus Asian nations, as well as how international organizations are changing as power shifts across the globe), and the role the U.S. plays on a global scale (its consensus with other world powers, its multilateral approach to security, use of military, etc.).

In addition, the print issue will feature a special book section (although regular Foreign Affairs readers need not worry — the regular book section is available online), with 17 contributors — including Madeleine Albright, Aayan Hirsi Ali, Niall Ferguson and Fareed Zakaria — each suggesting one or two books which deal with “the world ahead.”

The theme of looking to the future is particularly appropriate given this issue marks the last to be edited by James Hoge, who is stepping down as the magazine’s editor at the end of this year, when Gideon Rose will then become the magazine’s sixth editor in its 90-year history. Among the new projects he will pursue ARE chairing Human Rights Watch (which he begun doing earlier with month), working with an international consulting firm, and teaching at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs.

Hoge took the time to speak to us about Foreign Affairs, as well as his future, and told us that, when first approaching this particular issue of the magazine, there was the initial temptation of using it as a platform to recap his 18 years at its helm. He decided against this, however, thinking it best to keep the focus on what lies ahead. After all, he said, “history always surprises you,” especially as its being made.

Fast Company is welcoming two new additions to its staff: Florian Bachleda is joining the magazine as creative director and Leslie dela Vega comes aboard  as photography director.

Bachleda has formerly served as president of the Society of Publication Designers in addition to working as creative director of Latina and Vibe. He also has his own firm, FB Design, which has worked closely with the likes of Condé Nast, Time Inc., Hearst, and The New York Times.

Dela Vega previously worked for Essence magazine as its director of photography after a stint as the national photo editor for Time and deputy photo editor at Teen People. Dela Vega worked alongside Bachleda at Vibe where the two received one of two first place awards for ASME’s 2006 Best Celebrity Cover.

Fast Company has also brought on a new senior editor, Nancy Cook, formerly of Newsweek, as well as staff editor Emily Biuso from The New York Times Magazine.

As the magazine editor Robert Safian puts it, they are “investing in additional talent.”

All Facebook (“The Unofficial Facebook Resource”) is gearin’ up for next week’s elections with its very own Election Tracker. It tracks House, Senate and gubernatorial races all around the nation, as well as on overall look at how the Democratic, Republican and Independent parties are faring, based on how many likes/friends each candidate has on his or her Facebook page.

You can click around to find information on a specific state as well. So I can see that, as of right now, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has… not a whole lot of Facebook friends / likes.  Or that Republican gubernatorial Rick Scott is better liked in my home state. And the most popular candidate overall? None other Republican Arizona Senator John McCain, who currently boasts 714,172 Facebook fans and at least one folksy-talkin’ Facebook enemy.

Here in New York, it would appear that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo is enjoying greater online popularity than his Republican opponent, Carl Paladino, with 56,000 to 28,367 fans, respectively. (Simply hover your mouse over the state you’re interested in checking out.) In the New York Senate race, Democrat Kristen Gillibrand enjoys an overwhelming majority of Facebook fans and likes.

So go on. Click and play around and grow increasingly morose or excited, depending on where your politics lie.