• by Erik Sass , March 17, 2011

ASME Announces Digital Ellie Winners

The winners of the second annual Digital Ellies, bestowed by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, were announced this week in conjunction with the Magazine Publishers of America's annual Digital Conference in New York City; this year's theme was e-reading.

The winners included Conde Nast's Epicurious, which took the General Excellence award for the Digital Media, Service and Lifestyle category; Epicurious also won in the Interactive Tool category. Slate won the General Excellence award for Digital Media, News and Opinion; Esquire won Best Mobile Edition, The New York Times Magazine won Best Design for Digital Media, and Life.com won for Best Photography.

The Life.com award is interesting, in that the Web site is no longer associated with an active publication. The site curates the enormous archive of photography created during the magazine's heyday, most of it from the 20th century. Other finalists this year included online-only publications, which are active content creators.

Also recognized this year were Poetry, which won the Podcasting award; The Oxford American, which won in the Video category; and Virginia Quarterly Review, which won for Multimedia.

Disney's i>FamilyFun Launches iPad App

Disney's FamilyFun joined the ranks of major magazines with an iPad app unveiled for the March and April issues, which was developed in collaboration with Texterity and The Wonderfactory. The new app takes advantage of the iPad's digital versatility with interactive slide shows, how-to videos for recipes and family activities, 360-degree perspectives on craft projects, bookmarking, and social media sharing.

Jamie Oliver Joins Parenting As Contributing Editor

Jamie Oliver, who won fame as a leader of the much-need renaissance in British cuisine, is joining the Parenting Group as a contributing editor, where he will write a column about healthy eating titled "Getting Fresh with Jamie." The column makes its first appearance in the April issues of Parenting Early Years and Parenting School Years. As part of the partnership, Jamie's "Food Revolution" campaign to improve school food is aligning itself with the brand's "Mom Congress on Education and Learning," which aims to empower parents to improve public education.

Felix Dennis Buys Mental_Floss

Felix Dennis, the founder and former owner of Maxim and current owner of The Week, has acquired trivia powerhouse Mental_ Floss, which publishes a bimonthly magazine as well as books about a variety of subjects. (Full disclosure: this includes the recent Mental_Floss History of the United States, authored by this reporter.)

Michael Smith Appointed Chief Digital Officer at Forbes Media

Forbes Media has promoted Michael Smith to the newly created role of chief digital officer, elevating him from his previous position as chief technology officer. His new role includes responsibility for the Forbes Media Exchange, a demand platform for bidding on ad inventory. Before joining Forbes.com, Smith served as vice president and CIO of TheStreet.com; he also held a number of positions at HBO, including director of IT.