Award #12 – Magazine of the year

We have another new award today, thanks mainly to Mark Guest. He created Blocks then, for reasons only a select few know, parted ways and created Bricks and Bricks Culture. Add to that Brick Journal and Hispabricks means we had enough publications to warrant an award. With this award both Adam and myself work for rival publications (even though we are anything but rivals!) so our votes basically cancelled each other out. With Brick Journal now hard to get hold of in the UK, and Hispabrick only being an online publication it was left to Luc & Séb to pick their favourite magazine. The results may interest you…

Adam –  Bricks Culture

Bricks Culture has taken the world of LEGO by storm after appearing on the Channel 4 show The Secret World of LEGO and it continues to look at LEGO in a fresh new way.

Luc – Bricks Culture

It took about 3 seconds from the moment Bricks Culture was put in my hand to decide that I liked it… a lot. I’m a serious MOCer so not only did I see how I approach LEGO as a medium within it, but I started to read articles that contained views and ideas that actually affected how my work is now developing. Both enjoyable and influential: my perfect read.

Séb –  Blocks

There are quite a few LEGO-related mags these days, with a variety of kid-friendly comic style mags (Star Wars/Friends/Chima, etc) and Blocks and Bricks/Bricks Culture for the adults. It’s a tough call, but I’m going to say Blocks just clinches it for me. Mainly because the cover is always a bit more colourful and fun-looking than Bricks, and the fact that if you don’t subscribe you can still purchase Blocks in shops. Unfortunately Bricks is currently an online/subscription only so therefore Blocks is my winner.

Richard – Blocks

I have not read either Bricks or Bricks Culture for the reasons mentioned above. I prefer going into a shop, picking it up, buying it, and walking out again as I don’t do subscriptions etc. Blocks had a rollercoaster year as has been well documented but it has come out of troubled waters a better magazine with sales to prove it. Under Rob’s leadership the magazine has gotten better each month and with the likes of LEGO gurus in Chris and Graham, the future looks bright. Ok, so I may be a little biased, but having seen first-hand how the magazine has changed and how popular it is outside the AFOL community means it is the leading LEGO magazine in the world right now and gets my vote.

This year’s magazine of the year – Joint winners

Yes, we could not decide on the same verdict and all 4 judges made excellent arguments for both publications. Therefore, today’s award will be shared by both magazines! Please let us know which one you would pick and why below.