And the winner is: This year’s Magazine Publisher of America’s Henry Johnson Fisher Award for Lifetime Achievement goes to the founder and chairman of International Data Group, Patrick J. McGovern. At the same time, Time,Inc.’s editor in chief, Norman Pearlstine, will be inducted into the Editors’ Hall of Fame. Both awards will be given out at a black-tie dinner to be held at the Waldorf in January.

Though other billionaire media moguls such as Rupert Murdoch and Si Newhouse are frequently written – and gossiped – about Boston based Mr. McGovern, whose personal worth is estimated by Forbes as $2 billion, is far less well known.

How did he make his fortune? In 1967, Mr. McGovern, an M.I.T. graduate, launched a weekly called Computerworld to provide news and information to those very few people who were then working with those strange new devices, computers. He put out the first issues practically single-handedly, even taking the proofs to the printers. It became the flagship of his media empire, which now includes Macworld, Network World, and PC World.

Almost from the start, Mr. McGovern began to export his Computerworld concept, launching a computer magazine in Japan in 1972. In 1980, he launched one of the first joint ventures between an American company and the People’s Republic of China. Altogether IDG, “thinking locally, acting globally,” has launched more than 300 magazines in about 80 countries. Today more than 100 million people read one of IDG’s publications. The company’s annual revenues exceed $2.4 billion.

A generous boss who established profit-sharing at IDG, which Fortune magazine lists as one of America’s best companies for which to work, he personally delivers greeting cards to his employees. He and his wife have also given M.I.T. a gift of $350 million to establish the McGovern Institute of Brain Research. Said Maryfran Johnson, former editor of Computerworld, “Pat McGovern is one of the heroes of the information technology age. “Though he didn’t stay in the editing trenches long, she said, “If you ask him what he would have been if he hadn’t been a businessman, he’ll tell you ‘a journalist.’ In his heart, he’s always been one of us.”

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Moore is less: In mid-October, new books by liberal gadfly Michael Moore and conservative firebrand Ann Coulter’s were launched within days of each other. Previously, both authors had a couple of top-of-the-list best sellers. Ms. Coulter’s current book “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)”(published by Crown Forum) is primarily a collection of her columns of the past decade and is filled with typical Coulteresque one-liners, including her advice on how to convert liberals to her conservative philosophy: “Have them move out of their parents’ house, get a job, and start paying taxes.” Mr. Moore’s book “Will They Ever Trust Us Again?” (published by Simon & Schuster) is a collection of letters he received from soldiers in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Initially, Ms. Coulter ran into some trouble while promoting her book. A couple of men threw custard pies at her while she was speaking at the University of Arizona. A video, showing the whippet-thin, fast-moving Coulter in action eluding her attackers, who were subsequently arrested, is available on the Internet.

How are these books doing?

Ms. Coulter’s book – no. 3 on this week’s New York Times nonfiction best-seller list is outselling Mr. Moore’s work – no. 10 on the same list – by a considerable margin. According to BookScan that tracks approximately 75% of the book sales in America, Ms. Coulter’s book sold 16,360 copies last week; Mr. Moore’s book sold 3,198. In total BookScan reports Ms. Coulter’s book has sold 122, 675 copies, while Mr. Moore’s has sold 40,071.

But then Mr. Moore, who some commentators say hurt Senator Kerry’s candidacy in a variety of ways with swing-state voters, especially when he was shown during coverage of the Democratic convention sitting in a VIP box with former President Carter, may be on to other things. Last week he said that he and producer Harvey Weinstein plan a follow-up documentary to his Bush-bashing “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

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Are magazine editors getting religion? Not exactly. Although their colleagues in book publishing may be saying prayers of thanksgiving since the sales of faith-based books have increased so enormously in the past few years. Currently, the mega best-seller “The Purpose Driven Life” (published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins) written by California minister Rick Warren has sold more than 19 million copies. Another book climbing the self-help best-seller list is “Your Best Life Now” (Warner Faith) written by Reverend Joel Osteen, the telegenic pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston that is America’s largest congregation where an amazing 25,000 parishioners attend weekly services.

But magazines, in general, even with the results of the latest election confirming that religion is important to millions of their readers, still seem less comfortable with the sacred than with the profane. There are a few exceptions. Seventeen’s editor, Atoosha Rubenstein, introduced a “Faith” section in her magazine in September, which she says has been positively received by her young readers. And Ladies’ Home Journal has several features touching on religion in their December holiday issue, including a piece by Reverend Warren on “The Purpose Driven Christmas.” Details magazine in September included Jesus on their list of “Most Powerful Under 38. ” Jesus ranked 21, which probably offended more religious people than pleased them. At least he beat out rapper Eminen, who ranked 22nd.

Why are magazines that follow trends so assiduously skittish when it comes to religious faith? It’s mainly because of advertisers. “Advertisers are going to avoid anything specifically religious because they’re marketing to a mass audience,” the director of print for Media edge, George Jansen, explained. The director of strategic print services at Universal McCann, Brett Stewart, concurred. Although several magazines for women frequently write about spirituality and promote the products, from yoga mats to candles to bath oils, associated with stress-reducing spiritual endeavors, Mr. Stewart noted, when spirituality veers into religion, “It is too risky.”

No matter that all surveys show that America is a deeply religious country and that 65% of women pray every day. Mediaweek, a trade journal for those who buy ad space in magazines, reports the agency mantra when it comes to religion still remains: Keep it secular, stupid.

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Love Me, Love My Dog: And yet another magazine, new to the pack, is “The New York Dog,” which features Nicollette Sheridan of TV’s top rated “Desperate Housewives” with her dog on its December cover. The magazine, which was launched in October by John Ryan and Dublin based Michael O’Doherty, focuses on sophisticated New Yorkers’ love affair with their pets which the publishers claim can be “child substitutes, date baits, and symbols of success and excess.”

But New York Dog is still a pup compared to Bark, the Berkeley-based magazine that it is the acknowledged leader of the pack when it comes to magazines for upmarket dog fanciers. Bark, which is 8 years old – middle-aged in dog years – has a circulation of 75,000 and has been called The New Yorker of dog magazines.

It includes features such as a long-running series, “Rex in the City” written by Manhattanite E.M. Harrington. In the last installment, Rex fell in love in an apartment on East 82nd Street with a honey-colored German shepherd. In the past, Bark, which has as its tag line “Dog is My Co-Pilot,” has featured works by Ann Patchett, Anthony Doerr, and Pam Houston.

Started by its editor, Claudia Kawczynska, and its publisher and creative director, Cameron Woo, who are “partners in life and in Barkdom,” and have two dogs of their own, the magazine has become increasingly successful. This year, advertising pages are up 32% and ad revenue up 110%. Corporate America appears to be catching on to the huge market that exists among affluent dog lovers. Said Ms. Kawczynska, ” We really walk the walk. We are passionate about dogs and about the subject of life with dogs. And, fortunately, Bark is now able to keep us in more than dog food.”