It has been a couple of good weeks for New York magazine. The weekly, which has been revamped since being bought in December 2003 by Wall Street deal-maker Bruce Wasserstein, was nominated for three National Magazine Awards. This is the first time since 1986 that New York has received three nominations in the same year, and it ties the magazine’s record.

Such attention has made New York’s new editor in chief Adam Moss cheerful but not very cheerful. “I am constitutionally unable to feel too much satisfaction,” explains Mr. Moss, who was assistant managing editor for features at the New York Times when he was offered the editorship of New York just over a year ago. “I thought about it for about a minute before I accepted the job,” he recalls. Before that, Mr. Moss was the editor of The New York Times Magazine. “It is really hard for me to feel too pleased. But I am very proud of everyone here. This is an amazingly talented staff, and I have put them through hell. I hope they now feel it was worth it,” he said. New York’s award nominations were for General Excellence, Photography, and the magazine’s new service section “Strategist.” Mr. Moss explained, ” ‘Strategist’ was nominated in a new category for a section that appears regularly in a magazine. Like the ‘Talk of the Town’ in the New Yorker.” Was “Talk of the Town” nominated? “No,” said Mr. Moss, finally sounding very cheerful.

Several scoops in the past few weeks haves also pleased the editor, and attracted more attention to the magazine. In the current issue, there is an interview with the scandal-plagued former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, who, for the first time, gives his side of the story. The week before, the magazine scored an interview with James Dolan, the combative CEO of Cablevision who is currently battling both Mayor Bloomberg and his father. “And weeks ago we reported that our subway system is falling apart,” Mr. Moss said. “As a New Yorker, I am horrified this is happening. As a journalist, I am overjoyed we were ahead on the story.”

“They are doing a good job with their reporting about New York. And that’s an important part of the magazine,” said Ed Kosner, who was editor of New York between 1980 and 1993. During Mr. Kosner’s tenure, the magazine set records in advertising and circulation. “I think the magazine is certainly better than it was and is going in the right direction. The thing about editing New York, it looks easy but it’s very hard. Every week someone is always complaining or criticizing – and then they look back and say, ‘Wasn’t it great?’ “

Even staffers who left the magazine after it changed hands have good things to say about the current Moss-ification. Elizabeth Spiers, who wrote for the Intelligencer column and is now the editor in chief of Media Bistro, said “It’s a different magazine. The feature well is stronger. And I am surprised by the amount of service in it. And the look is very different, very retro. I think a lot of things happened because of the way the magazine was redesigned.” Mr. Moss, while retaining most of the editorial staff, completely changed the art and photo departments, bringing in Luke Hayman, formerly of Travel&Leisure, as design director; Chris Dixon from Time magazine as art director, and Jody Quon, a longtime associate from the New York Times Magazine, as photography director.

But not everyone is so enthusiastic about the direction the magazine has taken. Some readers find the magazine less entertaining than it once was . One former staffer said, “The best thing about New York is when it tells stories about people, especially powerful people making it or losing it. All the juicy, gossipy stories that we read and then want to talk about. The Kerik story is fine – but don’t you think it’s a bit late?”

Others complain that New York should have more stories that reflect the temper of the times and reflect the current interests of the upper-middle-class audience that is the bulk of the magazine’s readership. Back in the 1960s when the magazine was launched by Clay Felker this meant things like Tom Wolfe’s devastating send-up of Leonard Bernstein’s party for the Black Panthers. More recently a 1998 cover story on Lizzie Grubman – and other short-skirted, longhaired, hot-shot publicists – who the magazine dubbed the “Power Girl” received a lot of buzz.

Said Mr. Moss, “You hope you can find the story that defines the moment. You always look for it. But it is getting harder to find. This is a very polarized time. The different classes in New York have a hard time relating to each other. I’m trying to broaden the appeal of the magazine.”

Is it working? According to the Audit Bureau of Circulation’s latest figures, newsstand circulation from July to January dropped over 9.3% while circulation as a whole is down 1.2% to just over 430,000. “Both Ed and Kurt [Andersen], – another former editor of the magazine who now writes a weekly column called “The Imperial City” – told me not to worry about newsstand, and I don’t. It is a very tiny part of our circulation. I do know now that Ethan Hawke worked on the cover and Jude Law didn’t.” But Mr. Moss added, “The last few weeks we are trying to make the headlines bolder and briefer and that seems to be having some effect.”

The publisher, Larry Burstein, says he is very pleased with how the magazine is doing. “Advertising is up. We expect to finish the full year up 9%. Some advertisers have always been loyal to magazine. Federated Department Stores, AmEx, Time Warner have always been there for us. But during the last year lots of advertisers have committed or re-committed to the magazine. Polo has recently made a big commitment and Bank of America, Verdura, BMW. Can you believe we weren’t carrying Donna Karan? Now we are.”

One advertiser, Matthew Serino of Serino Coyne, an agency that places Broadway advertising, has been especially pleased with the magazine’s redesign. “I absolutely love it,” he said. Comparing it to other magazines in which he advertises, he said: “TimeOut is for a younger audience. The New Yorker is for sophisticated people, but older. I think New York is for the middle-aged but hip – people who spend a lot of money.”

But publishing insiders doubt the magazine itself is, or can be, much of a moneymaker. When it was on the block and sought after by several media moguls including Mortimer Zuckerman, owner of the New York Daily News, and American Media’s David Pecker, the magazine was barely breaking even. Mr. Wasserstein bought the magazine from Primedia for $55 million, and has invested an additional $15 million dollars improving production systems and increasing editorial budgets. He is apparently satisfied with the way things are going. The former editor, Caroline Miller, had to work with very small budgets and fielded constant interference from Primedia (which is controlled by merchant banker Henry Kravis of KKR).That has not been a problem for the new team. “Larry and I meet with Bruce when he’s in town, and he’s been great.” said Mr. Moss. “We have not had one disagreement.”