The Evening Standard appoints Dylan Jones

The Evening Standard has appointed journalist Dylan Jones as its next editor-in-chief, effective 5 June. Dylan, who has been working with the London newsbrand as an editorial consultant since April, will lead The Evening Standard’s newsroom and oversee all aspects of its editorial output. He succeeds acting editor Jack Lefley, who has been promoted to managing editor of The Evening Standard.

Dylan brings to The Evening Standard extensive experience from a celebrated journalistic career spanning four decades, added the publisher. As the editor of GQ magazine, a position he held for 22 years, he won the British Society of Magazine Editors [BSME] “Editor of the Year” award a record eleven times. In 2013, he was the recipient of the prestigious Mark Boxer Award, awarded by the BSME for an outstanding contribution to magazine publishing in the UK; GQ won over 80 awards throughout his tenure.

Commenting on his appointment, Dylan Jones said: “I am thrilled to be joining the Evening Standard at such an exciting time in its development. It is an iconic title with a brilliant team, and I’m looking forward to helping steer the brand into its next phase.”

Lord Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of The Evening Standard, said: “I am delighted to welcome Dylan as our new editor. I have always had the utmost respect and admiration for his work and am excited to see his vision for London’s paper come to life as we begin a new and exciting chapter in the Evening Standard’s 200-year-old history.”

A former editor at i-D, The Face, Arena, The Observer, and The Sunday Times, Dylan is also the author of several books, including the Sunday Times best-seller David Bowie: A Life, the New York Times best seller Jim Morrison: Dark Star, and the much-translated iPod, Therefore I Am and Mr. Jones’ Rules. He collaborated with David Cameron on Cameron on Cameron: Conversations with Dylan Jones (shortlisted for the Channel 4 Political Book of the Year).

He is a board member of the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and a Trustee of the Hay Festival. He was previously the chairman of The Prince’s Trust’s Fashion Rocks Monaco, and a board member of the British Fashion Council. In 2010 he spent a week in Afghanistan with the Armed Forces, collaborating on a book with the photographer David Bailey: British Heroes in Afghanistan. In 2014 he was made an Honorary Professor of Glasgow Caledonian University.

Dylan joins The Evening Standard at a time when it is also expanding its reach through a growing live events programme, added the publisher, with a new exhibition arm engaging audiences through events such as SME XPO, which brought together thousands of entrepreneurs and business leaders at ExCel London last month.