The Society of Publication Designers, SPD, announced the finalists for its yearly magazine design awards [2]. This year's entrants are terrific eye candy. The awards are considered one of the industry's premier laurels. There are too many to list in a single blog post, so we've culled some highlights for you:

Blender, under creative director Dirk Barnett, underwent a complete redesign this year, and was shouted out for that effort in the Redesign category [3], in addition to several section spreads [4] such as this one:

 David Curcurito also got a section-spread nod, for his work in Esquire:

Fred Woodward, of GQ, is already a giant in the field for bringing original graphic design to the forefront:

A stunning and witty work for W, directed by Edward Leida:

In the photography awards [5], Edward Burtynsky [6], who has photographed man's impact on the environment for many years, produced a stunning photo essay on rock quarries, for Dwell:

SPD breaks up its awards into multiple and single-page categories. Here are some winners from the single-page photography section [7]. Bon Appetite, under the creative direction of Matthew Lenning:

Fortune, under Robert Perino:

Illustration [8] was very strong this year. Edward del Rosario [9]'s quiet, poetic work for The New York Times Magazine:

Hope Gangloff [10] is a very talented young artist and illustrator. Here's her work for New York:

Maira Kalman [11]--a superstar among illustrators and a founder, with her late husband Tibor [12], of the massively influential M&Co--for Departures:

On to single-page illustrations [13]. Bryan Christie [14] for the now-deceased Conde Nast Portfolio:

Christoph Niemann [15]--a regular in The New York Times--for Money:

A brilliant photo illustration [16] by Andrew Nimmo and Beth Bartholomew for Vanity Fair, which says a lot more about Bob Dylan's mind space than most 4,000 word profiles:

Infomation graphics are white-hot these days, and they got their own awards section [17]. Catalogue Tree [18] is among the best in the business. For Fortune, they represented the relative sizes of the Fortune 500 with bubbles corresponding to yearly revenues:

Scott Stowell [19], creative director for GOOD:

Scott Dadich, of Wired, is only in his early 30s, but he's made the magazine into one of the most admired in the design world. He's been a regular in the SPD awards since he worked at Texas Monthly. Here, he commissioned Stephen Doyle [20] for an illustration of global crop yields:

Judging by this crop American graphic design---which for a long time has been a step-child on the international scene--is stronger than ever. Your thoughts? Favorites? You can view all of the finalists here [2].