Awake! is a general-interest magazine published by Jehovah's Witnesses.
The magazine's predecessor, first published in 1919 by International Bible Students (an earlier name of Jehovah's Witnesses), was entitled The Golden Age. From 1937 it was called Consolation. (In some countries it was also known as New World for a while.) In 1946 the present magazine called by the name Awake! was released.
Whereas its companion magazine The Watchtower focuses mostly on Bible study and doctrine, Awake! has a wider scope, publishing articles on science, nature and geography, usually with a religious slant.
Other features in the magazine include Bible crosswords or quizzes; "Young People Ask", a column giving Bible-based advice on questions commonly asked by young people; and "Watching the World", a selection of single-paragraph news items from a variety of sources.
The Awake! magazine has 32 pages and is printed in full color. As of the start of 2005, it is available in 87 different languages, including English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Zulu with a total worldwide circulation of 22.8 million - approximately 300,000 more than the previous year.
Awake!, along with its companion magazine The Watchtower, was sold in the United States until March 1, 1990, when the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that religious literature being sold was subject to taxation. (Jimmy Swaggart Ministries v. California Bd. of Equalization, 493 U.S. 378) The sale of Witness literature was gradually phased out throughout the world between 1990 and 2000. Awake! is now distributed free of charge everywhere, although voluntary donations are accepted to support the magazine's further distribution.
From 2006 on, the magazine's publishers plan to shift the focus, putting greater emphasis on articles related to the Bible, although it will continue to publish some material of a more general nature. Additionally, it will be published monthly, rather than semimonthly.
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Last updated: 05-09-2005 23:02:07
