THR was nominated this year alongside The New Yorker, New York Magazine and The New York Times, all of which are multiple winners of past Mirrors. (You can see the complete 2026 list here.) Journalists and journalism educators select the nominees.

For his story, which was nominated in a category centered on late night, Zeitchik spoke to nearly a dozen late night writers, executives, historians and other tastemakers to offer a potent argument for what was — and a dissection of why it might not be.

“If late night was born of a postwar America thirsting for national unity and the anesthetizing pleasures of its new suburban contentment, the genre’s death may be equally reflective of a moment — one whose jittery pocket-viewing has little need for expensive production or benign celebrity anecdotes,” he wrote, adding, “We used to watch late night to wind down from a stressful day at the office. Now the office has entered our homes at night, and we’d rather spend the time getting riled up.”

The nomination highlights THR’s increased editorial focus on cultural mainstays as they evolve at this moment of political and technological transition.

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