We continue to pour one out for our CosmoGIRL! homies: the zine covering the teen beat will definitely be closing after their December issue. Even though their title is terribly annoying to write (don't use exclamations unless you really mean them!) the world will be a little less helpful in giving you the top ten ways to prep for prom w/out CosmoGirl!

Started as a teen spin-off of Cosmopolitan (duh) in 1999, CosmoGirl! fit snuggle into the gaping wound that Sassy left behind when it went to the snarky catalog in the sky in 1994. Whereas Sassy was accredited with finding Chloe Sevigny and making grunge look sheik, CosmoGirl! found its niche with a more giggly 2.0 version of it's parent company. Instead of sex tips and ten ways to please your man, CosmoGirl! gave advice to teens worried about sex and had Scarlett Johansson spout her political nonsense all over their pages.

Looking forward: Is there anything left in the magazine industry for HS girls?

ELLEgirl folded, Paper is more for college-age Williamsburg hipsters, and Tiger Beat is for your little sister. The combination of the bad financial times (it's the economy, stupid) and the death of other teen titles (goodbye Teen People!) leaves a nice little hole for perhaps a smaller brand to fill. A teen food magazine, perhaps?

Anyhow, here's Hearst publisher's statements about the closing:

Hearst Magazines has made a strategic decision to consolidate its teen publishing activities into Seventeen, the largest-selling monthly teen magazine on newsstands. Effective with the December issue, CosmoGirl will cease as a print magazine, remaining online only at cosmogirl.com. CosmoGirl's subscriber base will be folded into Seventeen.

We are proud of our leadership in the teen category and remain committed to this audience. We will continue to publish Seventeen and its annual Seventeen PROM issue as well as focus on the Hearst Teen Network of websites, which includes Cosmogirl.com, Seventeen.com, Teenmag.com, eSpin.com, MyPromStyle.com, and MisQuinceMag.com. Hearst's Teen Network of sites ranks in the top 10 trafficked entertainment sites on the Web, according to Comscore.

CosmoGirl's Editor-in-Chief Susan Schulz will be staying on at Hearst to work on special projects. Publisher Vicki Wellington will become publisher of Food Network Magazine, which officially rolls out in 2009.