Variety wins 20 national awards for arts and entertainment journalism

Variety won 20 first-place trophies at the 18th annual National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards on Sunday night, up from the 14 the publication scored in last year’s competition.

Variety was awarded in a broad spectrum of categories for work published during 2024-2025, with wins in categories ranging from hard news and business reporting to commentary and criticism to photography and album art. The number of 20 was the most for any print publication in the 2025 contest, sponsored by the Los Angeles Press Club.

Among the accolades was a win for Print Journalist of the Year for chief music critic and senior writer Chris Willman, who collected the award for the second time after first winning it in 2024.

Also scoring first prizes for Variety articles included Editor-in-Chief Kate Aurthur, International Features Editor Leo Barraclough, Senior Correspondent Daniel D’Addario, Editor-in-Chief Clayton Davis, Senior Entertainment and Media Writer Matt Donnelly, Chief Film Critic Owen Gleiberman, Editor-in-Chief Brent Lang, Freelance Contributor Kristen Lopez, International Reporter Naman Ramachandran, Editor-in-Chief for TV Michael Schneider and Associate Web Editor Michaela Zee.

Visual director Jennifer Dorn, creative director Haley Kluge and deputy photo editor Jennifer Halper were also top winners, recognized for their work on the magazine’s art and photography, alongside Emilio Madrid, Richard Maltz and Joe Toreno.

A cover package for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour proved popular with the judges. Willman won one of the five awards he took home for Best Music Film for his cover story on Swift (“How Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Took Over the Whole World”), reporting on the blockbuster tour’s impact abroad. An award for Best Cover Art went to the team of Dorn, Kluge, Maltz and Toreno, for a specially created image on the front of Variety‘s weekly printed edition with the theme ‘greatest tour of all time’, designed in the form of friendship bracelets.

Dorn and Kluge were repeat winners, scoring again in the Portrait, Music/Theater/Art categories for a photo of Darren Criss and Cole Escola, an award that also went to Halper and Madrid.

Brent Lang was also a two-time winner this year, winning one award for Business/Film/Print for “Netflix’s Origin Story: How the Streamer Killed Blockbuster Video, Snagged ‘House of Cards’ from HBO and Changed Hollywood Forever” and another for Commentary Analysis/Trend, Film, Print for “How Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ Weathered a Hellish Production to Become Hollywood’s First Summer Blockbuster.”

Daniel D’Addario received the award for Best Theater/Performing Arts Critic for his theater reviews throughout the year.

Owen Gleiberman received the award for Obituary/In Appreciation, Film Personalities for his commemoration “Remembering Val Kilmer, a Powerful Actor Who Remained a Reluctant Movie Star.”

A second award for an Appreciation for a Sadly Missed Entertainer went to Kate Aurthur in the Obituary/In Appreciation, TV Personalities category for her piece “Remembering Shannen Doherty: A Gen X Icon Who Fought Like Hell to Live.”

Michael Schneider received the Hard News, TV/Streaming award for “LA Reporters Cover the Devastation in Their Own Neighborhoods During Wildfires: ‘Feels Like a Nightmare’ and ‘Fatigue Is Setting In’.”

Clayton Davis won Commentary Analysis/Trend, Online for his column “Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a ‘floating trash island’: his hatred disguised as comedy was not funny or a joke.”

Matt Donnelly accepted the Hard News, Film, Online trophy for his article “Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy Under Fire at Warner Bros. Amid Box Office Flops: ‘We Didn’t Want to Fail’ David Zaslav.”

The award for Personality Profile, Film Industry, Online went to Naman Ramachandran for his piece “Deepa Mehta on 30 Years of Boundary-Breaking Cinema: Facing Down Protests, Looking Up on George Lucas and Her $1 Deal With Salman Rushdie.”

Michaela Zee won Film Feature, Production/History – Below-the-line Creatives for her story about a composer’s latest work, “How Alexandre Desplat Crafted the Score for Wes Anderson’s ‘The Phoenician Scheme.'”

Leo Barraclough received the award for Film Feature, Production/History – Above-the-line Creatives, for his piece “Mr. Nobody Against Putin’, Director About Lifting the Lid on the Kremlin’s Pro-War Propaganda in Sundance Documentary.”

Kristen Lopez won the award for Diversity in the Film Industry, Online for her story “Disabled Performers Advocate for Allies in Hollywood: ‘Inclusion Needs to Be a Movement and Not a Moment’.”

In addition to print journalist and musical film, Willman’s other three wins were Best Columnist, Online; Comment Analysis/Trend, Music, for “Stop Blaming ‘Famous Endorsements’ for Kamala Harris’ Loss: We Need to Hear from Artists Now More Than Ever”; and Music Feature, Group/Industry Artists, for “Shania Twain and Brandi Carlile on collaborating for an all-female headlining festival, and why women supporting women is always ‘just in time’.”

Variety was additionally honored with dozens of second and third place finishes in the 2025 NAEJ Competition. A full list of winners in all categories and a summary of the judges’ comments will be published by the Press Club on Monday.

The ceremony took place at the Millennium Biltmore, where the LA Press Club also hosts the SoCal Journalism Awards each July.

During the ceremony, honorary awards were presented to Paul Anka (the Legend Award), Larry Mantle (the Luminary Award), Marlee Matlin (the Impact Award), Kasi Lemmons (the Distinguished Storyteller Award) and Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen (the Visionary Award). Anka concluded the program with an adapted rendition of his most famous composition, ‘My Way’, with the lyrics adapted to reflect both his own NAEJ honor and that of the journalists in attendance.