The photo-happy National Geographic won three National Magazine Awards, the most it have ever won in one year.

Here’s the story from the New York Times:

National Geographic won three National Magazine Awards on Thursday night, more than it had ever captured in a single year, including a prestigious award for general excellence the second year in a row.

Vanity Fair was this year’s only other multiple winner, with two awards, a shift from the pattern in recent years of two or three magazines dominating the prizes. New York magazine and The New Yorker, which had won a combined 14 awards in the last three years, each won one.

The awards, generally considered the most celebrated in the field, were established more than four decades ago by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

This year the honors reflect the efforts of National Geographic, long recognized for top-flight photography, to elevate the rest of its offerings. On Thursday, it won an award solely for its written content — in this case in the reporting category for an article by Peter Hessler on the explosive growth in the Chinese economy.

For the full story, can you head over to the New York Times.