• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, May 12, 2011

NatGeo Wins Magazine of the Year

National Geographic won Magazine of the Year at the National Magazine Awards, which were announced earlier this week in an event hosted by CBS news anchor Katie Couric. National Geographic, which also won in the best Single Topic issue category, was just one of a host of magazines honored by the NMA -- including a slew of titles recognized for innovative digital content strategies.

Other winners included Los Angeles, which took awards for General Excellence in Special Interest and Best Feature Writing; The New York Times Magazine, which took home awards for News and Documentary Photography and Profile Writing; New York, which won for General Excellence in News, Sport and Entertainment, as well as for Best Section; Women's Health, for General Excellence in Fashion, Service, and Lifestyle content; and Garden & Gun, which won for General Excellence in Food, Travel, and Design.

Rodale Ad Pages Increase in First Half of 2011

While the rising tide is not necessarily lifting all boats, health and fitness publisher Rodale is seeing steady growth at most of its big titles in the first half of 2011 compared to the same period in 2010. Women's Health saw total ad pages increase 8% to 294. Men's Health increased 3.7% to 376 ad pages. Bicycling's ad pages are up 12% to 290.5. Organic Gardening increased 7.2% to 128 ad pages. Runner's World increased 4.1% to 315 ad pages. Only Prevention saw a modest decrease, with ad pages down 4% to 415.

Conde Nast Intros iPad Subs

As expected, Conde Nast stole a march on some of its rivals in the magazine business with this week's announcement that it will introduce subscription sales for digital editions of its magazines for the iPad, beginning with The New Yorker, which is now offering subs through in-app sales. The publisher expects to offer digital subs for other magazines including Vanity Fair, Glamour, Golf Digest, Allure, Wired, Self and GQ by the end of the month.

Reader's Digest Names Goldenberg To Web Site GM

Matthew Goldenberg has been named to the position of general manager for Readersdigest.com, the magazine's publisher announced this week. Goldenberg previously served as managing editor and operations director for Bloomberg LP. In his new position, Goldenberg will be responsible for overseeing digital operations and advancing digital strategy.