Pitchfork is proud to announce that Senior Author Alphonse Pierre has been chosen as a 2025 ASME Next Award honoree by the American Society of Magazine Editors, as a part of the 2025 National Magazine Awards.
The group’s description of the ASME Subsequent award is as follows: “The awards honor excellent achievement by early-career journalists. Any full-time or freelance author, photographer, editor, social-media journalist, designer or picture editor is eligible for nomination. 5 award winners are chosen annually and obtain medals bearing the likeness of Alexander Calder’s Elephant Strolling.”
Alphonse Pierre—pictured above, on the left, with Pitchfork’s Head of Editorial Content material, Mano Sundaresan—joined Pitchfork in 2018, and was promoted to Senior Author in 2023. He’s interviewed Veeze, Bartees Strange, Navy Blue, and Ken Carson, amongst many others, expertly coated the headline-making feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, and, within the final 12 months alone, reviewed high-profile releases by the likes of Playboi Carti, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Uzi Vert, Megan Thee Stallion, Childish Gambino, and Sexyy Red. Pierre’s weekly column, Off the Dome, has been revealed on the location since 2020. Discover the newest installment, an interview with Washington, D.C., rapper Paco Panama, under.
In his nomination, Pitchfork’s Deputy Director, Jeremy D. Larson, wrote: “Alphonse Pierre chronicles the newest in rap with an authority and fervor—to not point out a spirit of provocation—that displays a deep understanding of hip-hop’s historical past, coupled with a dedication to portray a pointy, unsanitized image of its current. Pierre doesn’t mince phrases, and he doesn’t take a look at music making from a distance. He writes about hip-hop and rap not solely as a critic however as a listener who resides alongside his topic, enthralled by the work of the artists who’re rising the style 50 years after its delivery.”
The Nationwide Journal Awards had been established in 1966 to honor print (and, now, digital) publications that “constantly exhibit superior execution of editorial aims, revolutionary methods, noteworthy journalistic enterprise and imaginative artwork path.” The awards are sponsored by ASME in affiliation with the Columbia College Graduate Faculty of Journalism and are administered by ASME.
Pitchfork beforehand acquired Nationwide Journal Award nominations in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, and 2024. In 2013, Pitchfork gained the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in Digital Media, and former Affiliate Editor Cat Zhang gained an ASME Next Award in 2022.
