Well, contrary to my heavily-hedged report yesterday, Esquire did squeak into the National Magazine Award finalists, but don't expect to hear them brag about it.

The Hearst men's magazine was nominated in one category, best magazine section. It's the first time in the tenure of editor in chief David Granger that Esquire hasn't received multiple nominations. Last year it got seven.

Worse yet, arch-rival GQ scored five nominations this year, including one for general excellence, and even mass-market-oriented Men's Health got two.

In other award news, The New Yorker, as usual, scored the most nominations, with 12, while New York came in second, with nine.

Among the first-time nominees are the two I've worked for in the past year, Portfolio and Radar. Coincidence? Not as far as my mom is concerned.

Here's the full list:

GENERAL EXCELLENCE: Recognizes overall excellence in magazines in six circulation categories. The award honors the effectiveness with which writing, reporting, editing and design all come together to command readers' attention and fulfill the magazine's unique editorial mission.

Circulation under 100,000

-Aperture
-The Georgia Review
-Metropolis
-Print
-The Virginia Quarterly Review

Circulation 100,000 - 250,000

-Foreign Policy
-Mother Jones
-Paste
-Philadelphia Magazine
-Radar

Circulation 250,000 - 500,000

-Backpacker
-Cookie
-New York Magazine
-W
-Wondertime

Circulation 500,000 - 1,000,000

-Budget Travel
-The Economist
-GQ
-National Geographic Adventure
-Wired

Circulation 1,000,000 - 2,000,000

-Men's Health
-The New Yorker
-Play,The New York Times Sports Magazine
-Popular Mechanics
-Vanity Fair

Circulation over 2,000,000

-Glamour
-Martha Stewart Living
-National Geographic
-People
-Time

PERSONAL SERVICE: This category recognizes excellence in service journalism. The advice or instruction presented should help readers improve the quality of their personal lives.

-Field & Stream
-Good Housekeeping
-O, The Oprah Magazine
-Popular Mechanics (two nominations)

LEISURE INTERESTS: This category recognizes excellent service journalism about leisure-time pursuits. The practical advice or instruction presented should help readers enjoy hobbies or other recreational interests.

-Domino
-Field & Stream
-Men's Health
-New York Magazine
-Time Out Chicago

REPORTING: This category recognizes excellence in reporting. It honors the enterprise, exclusive reporting and intelligent analysis that a magazine exhibits in covering an event, a situation or a problem of contemporary interest and significance.

-National Geographic
-The New York Times Magazine
-The New Yorker (two nominations)
-Vanity Fair

PUBLIC INTEREST: This category recognizes journalism that sheds new light on an issue of public importance and has the potential to affect national or local debate or policy.

-5280
-Bloomberg Markets
-BusinessWeek
-The Nation
-The New Yorker

FEATURE WRITING: This category recognizes excellence in feature writing. The award honors the stylishness, flair and originality with which the author treats his or her subject.

-Atlanta Magazine
-GQ
-New York Magazine
-The New Yorker
-Vanity Fair

PROFILE WRITING: This category recognizes excellence in profile writing. The award honors the vividness and perceptiveness with which the writer brings his or her subject to life.

-The Atlantic
-Los Angeles Magazine
-The New Yorker
-The New York Times Magazine
-Vanity Fair

ESSAYS: This category recognizes excellence in essay writing on topics ranging from the personal to the political. Whatever the subject, the award honors the author's eloquence, perspective, fresh thinking and unique voice.

-The Atlantic
-Elle
-Entertainment Weekly
-Harper's Magazine
-New Letters
-The New Yorker

COLUMNS and COMMENTARY: This category recognizes excellence in short-form political, social, economic or humorous commentary. The award honors the eloquence, force of argument and succinctness with which the writer presents his or her views.

-Inc.
-New York Magazine
-The New Yorker
-Rolling Stone
-Slate

REVIEWS and CRITICISM: This category recognizes excellence in criticism of art, books, movies, television, theater, music, dance, food, dining, fashion, products and the like. The award honors the knowledge, persuasiveness and original voice that the critic brings to his or her reviews.

-The Atlantic
-GQ
-The Nation
-New York Magazine
-The New Yorker

MAGAZINE SECTION: This category recognizes the excellence of a regular department or editorial section of a magazine, either front- or back-of-book, and composed of a variety of elements, both text and visual. The award honors the section's voice, originality, and unified design and packaging.

-Conde Nast Portfolio
-Esquire
-Good
-O, The Oprah Magazine
-Wired

SINGLE-TOPIC ISSUE: This category recognizes magazines that have devoted an issue to an in-depth examination of one topic. The award honors the ambition, comprehensiveness and imagination with which a magazine treats its subject.

-Departures
-Domino
-Gourmet
-IEEE Spectrum
-The Virginia Quarterly Review

DESIGN: This category recognizes excellence in magazine design. The award honors the effectiveness of overall design, artwork, graphics and typography in enhancing a magazine's unique mission and personality.

-Good
-GQ
-New York Magazine
-T, The New York Times Style Magazine
-Vanity Fair
-Wired

PHOTOGRAPHY: This category recognizes excellence in magazine photography. The award honors the effectiveness of photography, photojournalism and photo illustration in enhancing a magazine's unique mission and personality.

-Gourmet
-GQ
-Martha Stewart Living
-National Geographic
-New York Magazine
-W

PHOTOJOURNALISM: This category recognizes the informative photographic documentation of an event or subject in real-time.

-Aperture
-Mother Jones
-National Geographic
-The New Yorker
-The Virginia Quarterly Review

PHOTO PORTFOLIO: This category honors creative photography and photo illustration (including portraiture or specially produced layouts on fashion, food, decorating, travel, design, the arts, etc.).

-New York Magazine
-Newsweek
-T, The New York Times Style Magazine (two nominations)
-Vanity Fair

FICTION: This category recognizes excellence in magazine fiction writing. The award honors the quality of a publication's literary selections.

-Harper's Magazine
-McSweeney's Quarterly
-The New Yorker
-The Paris Review
-Zoetrope: All-Story

GENERAL EXCELLENCE ONLINE: This category recognizes outstanding magazine websites, as well as online-only magazines that feature original content. The award honors sites that convey a distinct editorial identity and create a unique magazine environment on the Web.

-Babble.com
-Chow.com
-NewYorker.com
-Runners World.com
-Slate.com

PERSONAL SERVICE ONLINE: Previously known as Interactive Service, this category recognizes an outstanding service feature on the web. It honors a site's creative use of multimedia technology, user involvement and community tools, and/or exceptional work in the blog form.

-BusinessWeek.com
-NYmag.com
-People.com
-Self.com
-SI.com

INTERACTIVE FEATURE: This category recognizes an outstanding interactive section of the website, featuring news, entertainment, and other subjects that do not offer practical instruction or advice. It honors a site's creative use of multimedia technology, user involvement and community tools, and/or exceptional work in the blog form.

-Bicycling.com
-Economist.com
-ESPN.com
-Essence.com
-National Geographic Online