Cosmos Takes Out Three Of Australia's Bell Awards

Cosmos Takes Out Three Of Australia's Bell Magazine Awards

Australia’s glossy new popular science magazine, COSMOS, has been recognised with three Bell Magazine Awards, including the coveted Editor of the Year and the Cover of the Year prizes.

The 2005 awards, given annually by the magazine industry association, Australian Business and Specialist Publishers, were presented on Friday 25 November 2005 at a ceremony in Sydney’s Four Seasons Hotel. The event attracted more than 300 people and was hosted by Ita Butrose AO OBE, the seasoned publisher, journalist and media personality.

Wilson da Silva, the editor of COSMOS, won Editor of the Year for what the judges described as the debut of a “stylish, ambitious and erudite publication, realised through the vision of an editor”.

COSMOS won Best Consumer Magazine Cover for its Issue 3 cover, which judges commended for its “good design and cover lines, strong masthead and excellent use of colour and illustration”. Recognised were Rodney Lochner (art director, COSMOS) Frank Lindner (cover photography) and Wilson da Silva (cover concept and cover lines). The award was collected by Lochner.

Kylie Ahern, the publisher of COSMOS, was also recognised with a Highly Commended citation for Best Consumer Magazine Launch; while Sara Phillips, the deputy editor of COSMOS, was a finalist for the Best Single Article.

“It is an honour to be recognised by your peers, and to have the excellence that we seek to bring to COSMOS lauded and supported by the industry,” said da Silva. “COSMOS shows that you can be a specialist publisher in Australia and still aim for the highest standards: for quality journalism, photography, illustration and design.

“Readers today are savvy, intelligent and global in their outlook. We’re not just competing with titles in Australia and New Zealand; we have to be competitive in editorial terms with the best publications coming out of New York or London. And I think COSMOS is achieving that lofty ambition,” added da Silva, who is currently president of the World Federation of Science Journalists.

COSMOS was launched in July 2005 and has already attracted a loyal following in Australia and New Zealand. Among its many fans is Australia’s Minister for Education Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, who has arranged for all science teachers in the country to receive a copy of the October 2005 edition.

Billed as a monthly magazine of “ideas, science society and the future”, COSMOS is supported by an advisory board that includes Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, celebrated palaeontologist Mike Archer, medical research pioneer Judith Whitworth, and seasoned science broadcaster Robyn Williams. It has featured articles by some of the best science writers, including Simon Singh, Margaret Wertheim, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, E.O. Wilson and Bruce Sterling.

This high-quality glossy is produced by Luna Media, a specialist publishing house founded in November 2004 by Melbourne’s Dr Alan Finkel, one of Australia's most successful biotechnology entrepreneurs, along with Sydney-based science journalist Wilson da Silva and publishing executive Kylie Ahern.

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