Arizona Highways Magazine

Arizona Highways magazine celebrates 95 years with special issue

Arizona Highways magazine celebrates 95 years with special issue

Arizona Highways magazine celebrates 95 years with special issue

March 27, 2020

PHOENIX – The photographers who captured the earliest images for Arizona Highways magazine were tasked only with documenting road conditions, yet their artistic flair meant the scenery overpowered many views of humble, unpaved byways.

A worldwide audience eventually marveled at the publication’s photos after it evolved from an engineering newsletter into a magazine featuring Arizona icons like the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and saguaro-studded landscapes.

This April, the magazine celebrates its 95th anniversary with a special issue that looks back at this evolution of landscape photography. For this edition, photo editor Jeff Kida reviewed the magazine’s more than 1,100 issues and tens of thousands of images.

Kida says advances in photographic equipment explain only part of the evolution. As he assembled the portfolio, Kida found the most significant changes were sparked by the creativity of photographers who included Ansel Adams and Barry Goldwater.

“It became like piecing together a puzzle,” Kida says in the issue. “I tried to make sense out of a 95-year timeline, and to distinguish the technological and artistic changes we saw along the way.”

The anniversary edition features an essay by longtime editor Raymond Carlson that was originally published in December 1942. The essay is accompanied by photographs from the same issue.

Also, Editor Robert Stieve reveals stories behind some of the magazine’s best-known cover photos. Stieve tells how Goldwater, outside of his better-known political career, photographed two Navajo girls wrapped in blankets on a wintry day as they watched over their sheep. That image appeared in the landmark December 1946 issue, when Arizona Highways published the first all-color issue of a nationally circulated consumer magazine.

The magazine’s images and stories were so powerful, the anniversary edition notes, that the Soviet Union once banned the publication in the belief it propagandized American life.

Today, Arizona Highways has readers in more than 120 countries and all 50 states.

A one-year subscription to the print version of Arizona Highways magazine (12 issues) is $24 in the United States. For more information on Arizona Highways magazine or to sign up for a subscription, please visit ArizonaHighways.com.

Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

November 1, 2019

PHOENIX – Arizona Highways magazine, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation, won 17 awards at the International Regional Magazine Association’s recent annual conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Among those, the magazine won two first-place Gold awards for a feature story on agaves by longtime contributor Annette McGivney and for a feature story on a baseball tournament by Managing Editor Noah Austin.

"It is a true honor to be recognized for the outstanding work our team does each and every day,” said Kelly Mero, publisher of Arizona Highways. “To be recognized among peer publications speaks volumes to the high standards of breathtaking photography and editorial excellence we continue to strive and deliver on.”

This is the fifth straight year that the association has honored Arizona Highways with at least 16 awards.

Gold award winners:

Historic Feature: Noah Austin, A Totally Different Ballgame
Nature & Environment Feature: Annette McGivney, In Search of Ancient Agaves

Silver award winners:

Travel Feature: Matt Jaffe, The Ultimate Arizona Road Trip
General Feature: Tyler Williams, A Walk in the Park
Profile: Matt Jaffe, Barry Goldwater
Head and Deck: Robert Stieve, He Can Take Care of Himself Just Fine
Photo Series: Jacques Barbey, A Totally Different Ballgame
Portrait Photo: Bev Pettit, Keeping It Real
Art Direction, Single Story: Barbara Glynn Denney, Arizona Ghost Towns

Bronze award winners:

Column: Robert Stieve, Editor's Letter
Magazine Writer of the Year: Kelly Vaughn
Single Photo: John Blaustein, A River So Long
Portrait Series: David Zickl, First Chair
Photographer of the Year: Joel Hazelton
Cover: February 2018

Award of Merit

Art & Culture Feature: Annette McGivney, Indigenous Arizona
Special Focus: Remembering Photographer Jerry D. Jacka

Founded in 1925, Arizona Highways is dedicated to promoting travel to and through the state of Arizona. In addition to the world-renowned magazine known for spectacular landscape photography, Arizona Highways publishes travel guide books, calendars and other products to promote travel in Arizona. The magazine has subscribers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Learn more at ArizonaHighways.com.

Here’s a chance to get your photography in Arizona Highways

Here’s a chance to get your photography in Arizona Highways

Here’s a chance to get your photography in Arizona Highways

September 18, 2019

PHOENIX – Since the 1920s, top professional photographers have provided breathtaking images to Arizona Highways magazine, produced by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Their photos of landscapes, wildlife and more have helped the magazine win international acclaim.

Now, it’s your turn to share Arizona’s beauty with the magazine’s worldwide audience.

For the 12th year, Arizona Highways is inviting amateur and professional photographers to participate in its photography contest, with submissions due Dec. 15.

Photos will be judged in two categories: landscape and macro (close-up) photography. All photos must be made in Arizona.

Entries will be judged on composition, framing, light and an overall “wow” factor.

Those submitting the three best photos will win prizes. First prize is an in-state photo workshop valued at $2,500. Second- and third-place winners will receive prize packages from Tempe Camera valued at $500 and $250, respectively. Additionally, winners’ images will be featured in the September 2020 issue of Arizona Highways.

The most recent grand prize winner, Sara Wittenberger, offered a spectacular and snowy view of a Christmas Day sunset at Mount Ord, northeast of the Phoenix area. Tam Ryan won second place for a photo of mist cloaking a group of great egrets at a Gilbert preserve.

For more information and to see last year’s winners, please visit ArizonaHighways.com and select Photo Contest below the Photography dropdown in the top navigation options.

DeGrazia Foundation and Arizona Highways magazine commemorate painter Ted DeGrazia

DeGrazia Foundation and Arizona Highways magazine commemorate painter Ted DeGrazia

DeGrazia Foundation and Arizona Highways magazine commemorate painter Ted DeGrazia

By Dani Weber / ADOT Communications

September 10, 2019

This summer, the DeGrazia Foundation celebrated its namesake’s 110th birthday at the artist’s Gallery in the Sun in Tucson. Collaborating with Arizona Highways magazine, published by ADOT, the gallery has put together a collection of the dozens of works featured in one of Arizona’s most treasured publications.

“It was clear even from early issues that (Arizona Highways editor) Raymond Carlson made friends with DeGrazia and tried to promote him,” Curator Jim Jenkins said. “Just being aware of his relationship with the magazine, I always wanted to do an exhibit. So when we got the request from Arizona Highways magazine, it was perfect synchronicity, and I just thought, ‘We’ve got to do this.’”

Working with Arizona Highways, Jenkins collected back issues of the magazine and combed the archive for stories involving DeGrazia – and there was plenty to choose from. In addition to the online resources Arizona Highways made available, a board member to the foundation had collected thousands of issues of the magazine over the years and donated them to the gallery. Jenkins was able to find every single issue that featured DeGrazia’s – 70 in total.

“There was so much,” Jenkins said. “So much information, so many stories didn’t make it into the final exhibit. I could’ve filled two rooms, but I just didn’t have the space.”

DeGrazia’s relationship with Arizona Highways was a mutually beneficial one. The magazine exposed his paintings to an international audience, and DeGrazia’s growing popularity grew the magazine’s readership. Now with this exhibit, interest in the artist’s work has been refreshed.

“People who grew up with DeGrazia have gotten older and possibly passed away,” Jenkins said. “That legacy has started fade, but this exhibit has revitalized it.”

With such a wide diversity of fans, Arizona Highways magazine has long served as a common ground, according to Jenkins. Whether it’s DeGrazia’s social realism from the 1940s or his much-loved works for the magazine’s Christmas issues starting in the 1950s, the exhibit of the artist’s work for Arizona Highways has found a modern-day audience.

“The exhibit has had a very warm reception,” said Lance Laber, executive director of the DeGrazia Foundation. “The opening of the exhibit coincided with the issue featuring DeGrazia’s work, and it was a big event. About four or five hundred people showed up to the opening, and people are still enjoying it.”

Laber has extended a warm invitation for anyone and everyone to see the exhibit for themselves. “Come in and see some of these beautiful, original oil paintings and water colors DeGrazia painted over the years. You won’t be disappointed.”

The exhibit at the Gallery in the Sun in Tucson will run until Jan. 29, 2020.

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Throwback Thursday: Nearly a century ago, Arizona Highways was a little different

Throwback Thursday: Nearly a century ago, Arizona Highways was a little different

Throwback Thursday: Nearly a century ago, Arizona Highways was a little different

By David Rookhuyzen / ADOT Communications

July 25, 2019

On this date in 1921, nine years and some months after statehood, the Arizona Highway Department published the first incarnation of Arizona Highways.

Looks a little different from the glossy magazine featuring stunning landscape photography and rich storytelling about Arizona, doesn't it?

This first printing, shown above, was a pamphlet describing various highway projects across Arizona's counties.

And that's it. Page after page about construction projects, federal legislation and a couple of industry articles. No photos, no travel tips, no must-see destinations.

The pamphlet's forward, charmingly called "The Whyfore," sums up the reason for the publication's existence:

"For the purpose of keeping all interested persons informed concerning highway development in this state it has been decided by this department to issue a news letter from time to time under the title Arizona Highways."

Some highlights include the completion of 1.1 miles of paving along the National Old Trails Highway through Flagstaff, the delay of the Benson-Vail road due to not having the necessary right of way, "satisfactory progress" on a 1-mile contract on the Superior-Miami Highway near the head of Pinto Creek and the opening of bids for paving 3 miles of highway from the eastern city limits of Phoenix to Tempe.

Fortunately for lovers of Arizona's scenery everywhere, the pamphlet would be spun off into magazine form starting in 1925.

If you want to know about current projects across Arizona, you can find those on our website. But if you want to see how beautiful a scene drive through the state can be, we suggest subscribing to the current version of Arizona Highways.

You can learn more at ArizonaHighways.com.

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Covering the Holidays: A collection of Arizona Highways December covers

Covering the Holidays: A collection of Arizona Highways December covers

Covering the Holidays: A collection of Arizona Highways December covers

December 3, 2018

PHOENIX ‒ For the past 80 years, Arizona Highways magazine has celebrated the holidays with a special cover for its December edition. In a new book, the world-renowned magazine is celebrating its history of memorable December covers.

“Covering the Holidays: The December Cover Collection from Arizona Highways: 1938-2017” is available at all Arizona Costco locations; Barnes and Noble stores in Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma and Flagstaff; and Changing Hands Bookstore locations in Phoenix and Tempe.

“Over the past eight decades, some of the West’s best photographers and artists have collaborated to create Arizona Highways’ many December covers,” Arizona Highways Editor Robert Stieve said. “From illustrated cowboys to a Christmas tree in Antelope Canyon, each holiday cover is memorable and collectible. Now, they’re together in a beautifully designed coffee table book.”

The first holiday compilation produced by Arizona Highways, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation, the book also is available at ShopArizonaHighways.com.

Stieve, who edited the compilation, will speak at these book-signing events:

7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 5, at Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S. McClintock Drive in Tempe
1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 8, Barnes and Noble, 10500 N. 90th St. in Scottsdale
7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 12, Barnes and Noble-Arrowhead, 7685 W. Bell Road in Peoria

Founded in 1925, Arizona Highways is dedicated to promoting travel to and through the state of Arizona. In addition to the magazine known for spectacular landscape photography, Arizona Highways publishes travel guides, calendars and other products. The magazine has subscribers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Learn more at ArizonaHighways.com.

ADOT’s Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

ADOT’s Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

ADOT’s Arizona Highways magazine recognized for excellence

September 28, 2018

PHOENIX – Arizona Highways magazine, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation, won 17 awards at the International Regional Magazine Association’s recent annual conference in Denver.

Among those, the magazine won three first-place Gold awards for a feature story by frequent contributor Matt Jaffe, a headline by Editor Robert Stieve and a portrait photograph by Scott Baxter.

“I’m tremendously proud of the incredible work being done every day by our team, especially the editorial and design team,” said Kelly Mero, publisher of Arizona Highways. “Every person at Arizona Highways contributed to these awards by making sure we bring the best products to market.”

This is the fourth straight year that the association has honored Arizona Highways with at least 16 awards.

Gold award winners:

Nature & Environment: A Little Cat Goes a Long Way, by Matt Jaffe.
Headline: Growing, Growing, Gone, by Robert Stieve.
Portrait Photo: Dear Jim ..., by Scott Baxter.

Silver award winners:

Profile: The Maverick, by Kelly Vaughn.
Single Photo: In the Frame, by Derek Von Briesen.
Photo Series: The Big Pictures: Monument Valley.
Portrait Series: The Maverick, by Scott Baxter.
Magazine Photographer of the Year: David Muench.
Overall Art Direction: Barb Denney & Keith Whitney.
Department: The Journal.
Cover: February 2017.

Bronze award winners:

Travel Feature: Fringe Benefits, by Matt Jaffe.
General Feature: Identifying Flying Objects, by Matt Jaffe.
Column: Editor’s Letter, by Robert Stieve.
Art Direction Single Story: The Big Pictures: Red Rock Country, by Barb Denney.

Chris Gall received an award of merit for an illustration of Canyon de Chelly, and the magazine received a second award of merit for a Special Focus edition published in December 2017.

Founded in 1925, Arizona Highways is dedicated to promoting travel to and through the state of Arizona. In addition to the world-renowned magazine known for spectacular landscape photography, Arizona Highways publishes travel guide books, calendars and other products to promote travel in Arizona. The magazine has subscribers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries.

Learn more at ArizonaHighways.com.

Photographers: It’s your chance to get noticed by Arizona Highways

Photographers: It’s your chance to get noticed by Arizona Highways

Photographers: It’s your chance to get noticed by Arizona Highways

September 13, 2018

PHOENIX – For the past 93 years, some of the best professional photographers have provided stunning images to Arizona Highways magazine, produced by the Arizona Department of Transportation. Those photographs of landscapes, wildlife and more have helped win the magazine international acclaim.

Now, it’s your turn to share this state’s beauty.

Amateur and professional photographers are invited to participate in the magazine’s annual photography contest. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 15.

Photos will be judged in three categories: landscape photography, macro (close-up) photography and wildlife photography. All photos must show Arizona.

"The photo contest is a wonderful way for photographers to celebrate Arizona," said Arizona Highways Photo Editor Jeff Kida. "From the macro submissions to the sweeping landscape images we receive, it's clear that these shooters have a passion for exploring our beautiful state."

Kida will judge entries based on the quality of composition, framing, light and an overall “wow” factor.

Photographers submitting the three best photos will win prizes. First prize is an in-state photo workshop valued at $2,500. Second- and third-place winners will receive prize packages from Tempe Camera valued at $500 and $250, respectively.

The last grand prize winner, from Bernhard Michaelis of Flagstaff, captured long shadows on a cinder field near the San Francisco Peaks. Tina Wright of Anthem won second place for a photo of Cathedral Rock looming over a stormy panorama in the Sedona area.

For more information, please visit the contest website: ArizonaHighways.com/photography/photo-contest.

To learn more about Arizona Highways magazine and to see all of last year’s winners, please visit ArizonaHighways.com.

Win Holden reflects on 18 years as Arizona Highways publisher

Win Holden reflects on 18 years as Arizona Highways publisher

Win Holden reflects on 18 years as Arizona Highways publisher

July 3, 2018

EDITOR'S NOTE: As of this week, Kelly Mero becomes the seventh publisher in the nearly 100-year history of Arizona Highways, the tourism-oriented magazine produced by the Arizona Department of Transportation. In this post, his predecessor, Win Holden, reflects on the 18 years he spent as publisher. Holden is shown above serving as emcee at an ADOT event, a role for which he was inimitably well-suited.

By Tom Herrmann / ADOT Communications

"Don’t screw it up."

Arizona journalism legend Hugh Harrelson shared those words with Win Holden when Holden was named publisher of PHOENIX magazine in 1990. Harrelson at the time was publisher of Arizona Highways magazine, a role that Holden would assume in 2000.

Even if this advice was no doubt offered in jest, Harrelson would have had no cause to worry about Holden's prospects at PHOENIX magazine or at Arizona Highways.

Under the leadership of Holden, who retired June 30 after 18 years as publisher, Arizona Highways has been one of the most respected and widely read tourism publications in the country. Holden is succeeded by Kelly Mero, the magazine's associate publisher and director of sales and marketing since 2004.

It wasn’t always easy. Like Harrelson, who took the helm in 1982 when the magazine was losing circulation and revenue, Holden became publisher at a difficult time.

"The financial condition of the magazine 18 years ago was dire. It took a committed effort by the entire staff to make some tough decisions such as outsourcing the customer service and product pick-pack-ship functions," Holden said. "The balance sheet was very anemic, and we had to undertake a strategic effort to pare costs but, more importantly, find sustainable new sources of revenue."

Today, the magazine has more than 200,000 readers in all 50 states and countries around the globe.

In addition to the popular Arizona Highways calendar, it's added guidebooks and scenic collections, among other products. It's licensed the Arizona Highways name to tourism-oriented businesses such as the airport gift shops and Arizona Highways Television.

An Arizona Highways specialty license plate has generated more than $3 million since its debut in 2009, and managing Grand Canyon State Logo Signs, a program that provides advertising space on blue signs along freeways, has raised more than $5 million.

Few people realize the magazine gets no state funding. "When I speak to groups all over the state, the fact that we do not receive one dime of funding from the state general fund or tax revenue is a major 'Aha' moment," he said.

Holden has been a supporter of Arizona tourism since the 1970s, when he worked in advertising. The Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association recently honored Holden with its Lifetime Achievement Award for service and dedication to travel and tourism. In 2014, Holden received the Tourism Legacy Award at the Arizona Tourism Unity Dinner.

What has he enjoyed most as publisher? Seeing an advance copy as each new issue has come off the press.

"I get a sneak peek and lose myself in the beauty and grandeur of the Grand Canyon State each and every month. That alone is a tremendous perk," he said. "Working with such a talented staff is a true privilege and I will miss that aspect of my job every day during my retirement."

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Kelly Mero named seventh publisher in Arizona Highways history

Kelly Mero named seventh publisher in Arizona Highways history

Kelly Mero named seventh publisher in Arizona Highways history

June 21, 2018

PHOENIX – Kelly Mero, associate publisher and director of sales and marketing at Arizona Highways, will become the seventh publisher in the magazine’s nearly 100-year history effective July 1.

Mero will succeed Win Holden, who is retiring June 30 after 18 years leading the magazine, published by the Arizona Department of Transportation.

“Through Win’s leadership and vision, Arizona Highways has continued to grow and showcase the beauty of Arizona for a global audience,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Kelly is the ideal person to continue Win’s legacy of promoting Arizona not just through a magazine and associated products but through dedication to the broader community supporting this state’s tourism industry.”

The Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association recently honored Holden, a former publisher of PHOENIX magazine and advertising executive, with its Lifetime Achievement Award for service and dedication to travel and tourism.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work with such an extraordinarily talented group of people and in support of a globally recognized and respected publishing brand,” Holden said. “Arizona Highways is special, not just because of the fact that the magazine started in 1925 – just 13 years past Arizona being granted statehood – but also because it is Arizona’s most renowned ambassador with subscribers in every state and over 100 countries.

“I’m fortunate to have been at the helm for the past 18 years, and I have total confidence in Kelly Mero taking the organization to greater heights of accomplishment and success.”

Since Mero joined the magazine’s executive team in 2004, Arizona Highways has increased circulation and has added revenue-producing products including Grand Canyon State Logo Signs, travel guidebooks, photography books, calendars, Arizona-themed home decor and a specialty license plate.

The magazine operates without any revenue from the state.

A 1991 graduate of Arizona State University, Mero has served on the boards of the Fiesta Bowl and Cactus Bowl since 2004. He is a current board member of the Phoenix Air National Guard “PANG” Patriots.

“I am truly honored and humbled to be selected as the seventh publisher for such an iconic publication,” Mero said. “I am so fortunate to continue to work with a great group of people who all share the same goals of producing a sensational magazine and outstanding products that showcase this wonderful state we so proudly call home.”

Arizona Highways, which began as a journal of the state’s roads and highways, has developed into the premier publication for travel and tourism in Arizona. Through it, more than 200,000 monthly readers in all 50 states and in countries around the world enjoy Arizona’s beauty and diversity.

For more information, visit ArizonaHighways.com.

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