UM journalism professor Samir Husni speaks Feb. 5 at the American Magazine Media Conference 2019 in New York. Husni announced the 2019 magazine Launch of the Year and also helped compile a project on the organization’s centennial. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for MPA-The Association of Magazine Media
OXFORD – The University of Mississippi‘s “Mr. Magazine” played a prominent role in MPA-The Association of Magazine Media’s centennial celebration earlier this month in New York City.
Samir Husni, professor of journalism, Hederman Lecturer and director of the university’s Magazine Innovation Center, presented, for the second year in a row, the Launch of the Year award at the annual American Magazine Media Conference on Feb. 5.
Husni’s status as an expert in magazine publishing and history also made him a perfect candidate to honor the 100th year of the MPA. He used his extensive magazine collection to research decades worth of magazine releases to put together an article and presentation that he shared during the conference.
“Because of the relationship we’ve established over the years between the Magazine Innovation Center and the MPA, I was able to help them a lot by digging up the history of magazines and the organization,” Husni said. “They gave me the charter from 1919, and I found information about each of the 19 people who signed the charter.”
Husni’s article in the AMMC program focused on the “explosion of creativity,” along with innovation in the printing and distribution industries after World War I, that led to a boom in magazine production. A century later, magazines continue to captivate more than 1.65 billion readers across print and digital platforms, the article said.
The magazine boom in 1919 led to the creation of the National Association of Periodical Publishers Inc., which became MPA-The Association of Magazine Media.
UM journalism professor Samir Husni (right) congratulates Jo Packham, creator of the 2019 Launch of the Year winner, Where Women Create, at the American Magazine Media Conference. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for MPA The Association of Magazine Media
Husni, the only nonmedia executive presenter or speaker at the conference, said it was an honor to again participate in the conference, and his inclusion is unique and helps Ole Miss stand out nationally as a premier higher education institution for magazine publishing.
“We have become the university hub for everything and anything magazine,” he said. “And those are not just my words; people in the industry know us as that.”
The 2019 conference honored four UM graduates who received the inaugural Magazine Innovation Center/MPA Endowment, a $25,000 grant awarded to the Magazine Innovation Center at the 2018 AMMC that earmarks funds to assist with the cost of educational internship expenses and travel for magazine students.
The first four students awarded with the endowment were recognized during this year’s conference. They are Brittany Abbott, a journalism and English major from Holly Springs; Daniel Dubuisson, journalism major from Pass Christian; Hannah Hurdle, journalism major from Oxford; and Kiara Manning, journalism major from Jackson.
The award made it possible for the four students to participate in the Magazine Media Making May intersession course, a two-week class, last year in New York.
This year’s Launch of the Year was Where Women Create, a series of publications created by Jo Packham that tells the stories of where and how creative women do their work.
The AMMC is the magazine industry’s premier event for its most influential media leaders. It hosts more than 300 attendees, including presidents, CEOs, publishers, editors, advertisers and working press.
Up next for Husni is the Magazine Innovation Center’s annual ACT Experience. ACT 9 Experience is slated for April 23-26 in Oxford and will feature many of the top names in the American magazine industry.