Awards and Distinctions

Sierra magazine regularly publishes original award-winning journalism, photography, and illustration in print and online. 

2026

• The cover for the Fall 2025 "Public Lands on the Line" issue of Sierra magazine is a finalist for the 61st annual National Magazine Awards in the category of Design, Photography, and Illustration for "Best Independent Magazine Cover." The awards are sponsored by the American Society of Magazine Editors in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

2025

• Delaney Nolan's "The Past, Present, and Contested Future of LNG Terminals Along the Gulf Coast," first published in Sierra magazine in the Winter 2024 issue, won a 2025 CCNow Journalism Award in the Fossil Fuels category, given by the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now.
• Bethany Brookshire's "Close Enough for Comfort," first published in Sierra magazine in the Spring 2024 issue, and Andrew Leonard's "The Carbon Footprint of Amazon, Google, and Facebook is Growing," first published in Sierra magazine in the Fall 2024 issue, were "Notable" selections for the 2025 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing.
• Henrike Lendowski's original commissioned illustration for "From Drought to Deluge: What the LA Fires and Hurricane Helene Have in Common," first published in the Sierra "Seedlings" special Summer 2025 issue, was officially juried into Illustrator's 68th Annual Exhibition at the Society of Illustrators. 

2024

• Isobel Whitcomb's "Homeward Bound," first published in Sierra magazine in the Winter 2023 issue, was selected for the 2024 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing—the second year in a row that their reporting for Sierra was selected for the esteemed publication, and the third year in a row that a Sierra magazine story was selected.
• Sierra won a merit award from the Society of Publication Designers for an illustration by Brett Ryder, commissioned for the "Word of Mouth" Critic's Notebook story that published in the Spring 2023 issue.
• Aaron Teasdale's "Tending the Flame," first published in the Winter 2023 issue of Sierra magazine, won a Bronze award from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation in the Short Narrative category. 

2023

• In January 2023 the menstrual underwear company Thinx settled an up to $5 million class action lawsuit that claimed its "organic" line of products contain PFAS chemicals, or Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances. The lawsuit originated from an original investigative story by Sierra magazine "Ms. Green" columnist Jessian Choy, who in January 2020 published a column revealing that she sent samples of Thinx "organic" brand menstrual underwear to Dr. Graham Peaslee, a nuclear scientist and Notre Dame professor, for analysis, and he confirmed they had high levels of PFAS. Such chemicals have been linked to a wide variety of impacts to the environment and human health.
• Isobel Whitcomb's "An Ark for Amphibians," first published in Sierra magazine in the Summer 2022 issue, was selected for the 2023 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing.
• Kristina Marusic / "Titans of Plastic" won the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania's Golden Quill award for petrochemical coverage. This was a collaborative multimedia feature story between Sierra magazine and Environmental Health News publishing in the Fall 2023 issue.
• Illustrator Miguel Porlan was selected to appear in the American Illustration Annual for his original commissioned work for Sierra magazine's carbon capture series in the Summer 2022 issue.
• Illustrator Brian Stauffer was selected to appear in the Society of Illustrators Book and Exhibitions for his original commissioned work for Sierra magazine's Winter 2023 feature story, "Fossil Fuel Ideologues are Desperate to Keep Coal Alive, No Matter the Costs."

2022

• Lucy Sheriff's "Beavers are Fighfighters Who Work for Free," first published in Sierra magazine, was selected for the 2022 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing. 

2021

• Sierra magazine was a finalist in two categories for the 69th Annual Maggie Awards: the July/August 2020 issue overall, and for Jessica Camille Aguirre's feature story on climate migration, "How Climate Change is Driving Families North," which published in the September/October 2020 issue of Sierra.
• Jessica Camille Aguirre's "How Climate Change is Driving Families North" was also a finalist for a 2021 Covering Climate Now Journalism Award. 

2020

• Jackie Bryant's "Life, Death, and the Border Patrol," first published in the November/December 2019 issue of Sierra, was selected for the 2020 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing.
• Heide Brandes's "Native American Nations Struggle to Protect Wild Rice," first published in Sierra magazine, won a North American Travel Journalists Association Gold Award. 

2019

• Edward Humes's "You Can't Recycle Garbage," originally published in the July/August 2019 edition of Sierra, won the Maggie Award for Best Feature Article for the 68th Annual Maggie Awards.
• Photographer Robyn Twomey's work documenting the lives of single-mother military veterans, originally commissioned for a feature article in the November/December 2018 edition of Sierra (Katie O'Reilly's "Scenes From a Camping Trip for Single-Mother Military Veterans"), is selected to appear in the American Photography 35 annual award book.

2018

Sierra magazine won three Maggie Awards for the 67th Annual Maggie Awards, as follows:

• "To Climb a Mountain" (published online as "A Group of Young Afghan Women Reach New Heights Trekking in Nepal") by Wendy Becktold: Maggie Award for Best Feature Article
• "School of Thought" (published online as "Fish Populations in the Sea of Cortez Are Rebounding Thanks to a Marine Protected Area") a photo by Anuar Patjane Floriuk: Maggie Award for Best Single Photograph
• Entire issue (November/December 2018): Maggie Award for General Excellence (Special Interest)

In addition:

• Leslie Hsu Oh's "A Guilt-Free Day on the Slopes," first published in Sierra magazine, won a North American Travel Journalists Association Gold Award.
• Gigi Ragland's "Dispatches From the Great Plains’ Sandhill Crane Migration" earns an honorable mention in the same category for the North American Travel Journalists Association awards. 

2017

• Sierra magazine was a finalist in the multimedia category for Media Industry Newsletter (MIN) magazine's multimedia feature category (MIN is now part of Folio magazine).

2014

• "Artist or Activist: In Africa, Nick Brandt Assembles an Anti-Poaching Army" won an Ozzie Award for Best Cover Design.

2013

• "Gust Junkies" won a Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer.

2012

• "Kick Coal, Save Jobs, Right Now" won a Society of Publication Designers Merit Award for the Best Illustration/Single Spread.
• March/April issue won a Folio magazine's Silver Eddie Award for the best full issue by an association/nonprofit publishing six issues per year.
• "High Art" won a Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer.
• "High Art won a Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Photograph/Consumer.
• "Sound Off" won a Society of American Travel Writer's Environmental Tourism Award (Bronze).
• "Make Light" won a Maggie Award for Best Feature Article/Consumer.
• "The Cost of Coal" won a Maggie Award for Best News Story/Consumer.
• "Wilderness Diplomacy" won a Print's 2012 Regional Design Annual Award.

2011

• "Look, It's a Cheatercycle" won a Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer.

2010

• "View From the Vortex" won a Maggie Award: Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer.

2009

• "King Coal in Court" won a Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer.
• "Innovate" won a Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Department, Section, or Column/Consumer.

2007

• "Smart Energy Solutions"won a Maggie Award for Best Series of Articles/Consumer.
• "Ways & Means" won a Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Department, Section, or Column/Consumer.
• "A Patriotic Pall" won a Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration/Consumer.

2006

• "Photography of Hope" won a Maggie Award for Best Black-and-White or Two-Color Editorial Layout/Trade & Consumer.
• "Photography of Hope" won a Maggie Award for Best Series of Editorial Photographs/Consumer.
• "A Real Refuge" won a Canada's Northern Lights Awards First Prize.

2005

• "American Idylls" won a Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article.
• "Madame Butterfly" won an American Society of Journalists and Authors Best Profile Award.

2004

• "Wild America" won a Maggie Award for Best Special Theme Issue.
• "Bull Elk" won an Apogee Award for Excellence in Still Photography.

2002

• "Ode to the Bus" won a Maggie Award for Best Signed Editorial or Essay.
• "Election 2002" won a Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article.

2000

• "Night Ride" won a Maggie Award for Best Single Editorial Illustration.
• "Canada's Forgotten Coast" won a Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article.
• "The Legacy of Lewis & Clark" won a Maggie Award for Best Public Service Series or Article.