ascent editor Sarah Truman with this year's award winning issues.

Ascent magazine has won the 2005 Utne Independent Press Award for Best Spiritual Coverage!

Taking pride in a job well done, ascent editor Sara Truman said: “The award is a wonderful affirmation of what our team has been doing all year - staying true to the principals with which the magazine started, and continuing to reach out in a creative ways. It’s great to know that the quality of what we’re doing is recognized by other magazine professionals.”

Utne refers to the list of this years winners as “this year’s most inspiring, enlightening, and essential periodicals.”

Chosen from a short list of quality spiritual magazines such as Image, Parabola, Shambala Sun and Tricycle, this is ascent’s second shot at 1st place for Best Spiritual Coverage, winning the same category in 2003.

Complimenting this year’s win, utne described ascent in glowing literary terms. "Subtle, haunting essays and serialized re-renderings of the Gita as a Snoopy cartoon intermingle in this inspiring read. Devoted to Eastern spiritual philosophy and practices, this stark but striking black-and-white magazine lifts up both body and soul."

As a further compliment, Inspired Lives: The Best of Real Life Yoga from ascent magazine has become timeless books runaway best seller this year. Clearly ascent is moving into the yoga mainstream as it continues to win awards while increasing its warm and devoted readership.