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24 hours later, our heads are still spinning from the National Magazine Awards gala last night. MoJo has been nominated in the General Excellence category each year for the past three; we won in 2008 and again this year. That’s an amazing honor that belongs to everyone here—from the CEO, publisher, and board of directors all the way to our fearless interns. But it also belongs to you, our readers, who sustain this operation in a way that really unprecedented in the publishing industry. Some of you help by spreading the word about MoJo on Facebook and Twitter; many of you subscribe, and tens of thousands of you also donate. To know that our readers value the kind of fiercely independent journalism—”tough and tenacious,” the magazine award judges called it—is the thing that’s kept us going through a pretty rough time for media. (Okay, that and the hot chocolate mix in the kitchen.) So please consider this Ellie your own. Just be careful when you set it on the mantle. Those pointy things are sharp.
P.S. Big congratulations to our fellow Gen Ex nominees—Foreign Policy, Garden & Gun, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Paste—as well as all the nominees and winners, and a special shout-out to the other San Francisco mags whose wins made it a big Bay night at the NMAs: McSweeney’s, San Francisco Magazine, and Wired. You all rock.