The Best American Magazine Writing

This year's Best American Magazine Writing features outstanding writing on contentious issues including incarceration, policing, sexual assault, labor, technology, and environmental catastrophe. Other selections demonstrate a range of long-form styles and topics across print and digital publications.

Introduction, by Roger Hodge, national editor, The InterceptAcknowledgments, by Sid Holt, chief executive, American Society of Magazine EditorsFixing the System: An Interview with President Obama on Prison Reform, by Shane Smith, Vice, Finalist—Single-Topic IssueWhat Is Code? If You Don't Know, You Need to Read This, by Paul Ford, Bloomberg Businessweek, Winner—Single-Topic IssueThe New American Slavery and "All You Americans Are Fired", by Jessica Garrison, Ken Bensinger, and Jeremy Singer-Vine, BuzzFeed News, Winner—Public Interest"Pregnant? Scared? Need Options? Too Bad", by Meaghan Winter, Cosmopolitan, Finalist—Public Interest"My Nurses Are Dead, and I Don't Know If I'm Already Infected", by Joshua Hammer, Matter, Winner—ReportingPurgatory, by Luke Mogelson, New York Times Magazine, Finalist—ReportingThe Really Big One, by Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, Winner—Feature WritingAn Unbelievable Story of Rape, by Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller, The Marshall Project and ProPublica, Finalist—Feature WritingA Visit to the Sweat Lodge and Santa Muerte, Full of Grace and Stop Sending me Jonathan Franzen Novels, by Barrett Brown, The Intercept, Winner—Columns and CommentaryDown for the Count and The King Has Spoken and The Power of Sight, by Howard Bryant, ESPN the Magazine, Finalist—Columns and CommentaryThe Friend, by Matthew Teague, Esquire, Winner—Essays and CriticismHow It Feels, by Jenny Zhang, Poetry, Finalist—Essays and CriticismPermissionsList of Contributors