Thank you to our awesome judges! Here are there comments for our 2018 winners.
General interest category over 50,000
First Place
Mike Newall
The best Metro columnists can write about anything and find the angle that makes the subject soar. Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Newall is as good as it gets with that. Example: His column about a long-time city bakery and it’s founding family. Newall focuses on the old wooden table in the bakery that has held and seen so much.
But the best of his best is a column about a celebrity death pool organized in a South Philly food market. Pick out of a hat, or a salami bag, the name of the next elderly celebrity to die and you win the bucks. Debbie Reynolds paid off $850. Macabre? You bet. But Newall crafts this black humor piece with a gentle touch in between outright laughs. Many newspaper writers would kill (maybe not such a good word choice) for a story idea like this. Newall not only found it, he delivered it with line after line of humor like “Betty White is the Secretariat” in this pool. “Mikey Inquirer,” as the food market customers call him, writes this column like Jimmy Breslin with a bit of Damon Runyan thrown in. But heck, Newall is better than Breslin. I LOVED this column. I love Mike Newall!
Second Place
RICK TELANDER
There are many technical reasons why Rick Telander and this entry probably shouldn’t be awarded a prize for general interest newspaper column. First he’s a sports columnist. And then the 3 pieces entered are all about the same subject. And are they even columns? But forget the technicalities. This series is so strong it should win an award for every contest it’s entered in. “A Season Under The Gun” of which 3 parts were entered in this contest is what feature column writing is all about. Telander goes far beyond sports writing when he follows the basketball team from the most violent high school in Chicago. As he writes, “if you want a ground zero in Chicago’s world of violence… you can’t go wrong with Orr…” Orr Academy Public High School has only 400 students – in a building made for 2100. It’s where basketball athletes weight/ height are listed from their arrest records, and where a player can report it’s worse to be stabbed than shot – since he’s endured both. Telander’s vignettes, quotes, descriptions just flow, and then this team- this school that he writes about for a full season wins the State basketball championship! Wow. So after Telander gets his book contract or movie contract for this incredible series of columns, hopefully he’ll remember the first joy he received from it — that incredible feeling in finding the perfect subject, and reporting and writing the bajingies out of it.
Third Place
Markos Kounalakis
When a column teaches you something, you know its creator is worth reading. Kounalakis’s world affairs columns not only offer strong prose and strong opinions, they offer an education. What to do with all the Confederate monuments? Kounalakis suggests doing like former communist countries like Hungary have done. Make a Memento Park—a museum and grounds to display them all. Interesting idea with a history lesson thrown in. His other two entries are just as thought provoking. Why was there no outpouring of world aid after Hurricane Harvey as there was after Katrina? Kounalakis has his theory. And the challenges of devising an election process for Russia’s Putin? Voter apathy is one. For as Kounalakis says “who wants to vote for a guy who’s already won?” Well-done Markos Kounalakis.
Honorable Mention
Rob Cuthbert
An army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, freelancer Cuthbert offers insightful columns on veteran subjects like the transgender ban and mental health support for young soldiers. We should be reading more about Veteran issues, and Rob Cuthbert has the talent to write about it. Are you listening syndicate managers? This writer needs a weekly column.
Honorable Mention
Amanda Beam
Simple, yet poignant, Beam’s columns about life in Kentucky and Indiana – the challenge of keeping farmers, a husband and wife who adopt only to have the wife die, and those who suffered childhood abuse — are all well written and perceptive.
General Interest (Print – Publications — Under 50,000 circulation)
First Place
Malcolm Gibson
His columns read like you’re talking to an old friend. I wish he was my neighbor.
Second Place
Rebecca Regnier
Fun, sassy style
Third Place
Amanda Beam
Hers is a compassionate look at the world around us.
Honorable Mention
Ken Tingley
No comments
General Interest (Online, Blog, and Multimedia Columns — Over 100,000 Monthly Unique Visitors)
First Place
Richard Parker
Richard Parker had me at “the Texas Legislature is transfixed by toilets.” He provides a clear analysis with sharp writing about the slowing economic growth in Texas, its broad impact, and lawmakers distraction with cultural politics rather than economic realities. His voice engages the audiences and challenges the to face problems with state government obsessed with bathroom bills, evolution v. creationism, bigotry and racism. Found myself laughing at his sharp wit, and irritated with his targets. His Voice carried over from one column to the next.
Second Place
Shannon Shelton Miller
Shannon Shelton Miller has a lively and conversational tone on subjects of motherhood and family – the problems and pains of breastfeeding; anxieties when her mixed-race son starts to notice skin color and make associations as a toddler; and her sports bonds with her deceased father. She approaches sensitive subjects thoughtfully and directly, putting the reader at ease to engage honestly.
Third Place
Helen Ubiñas
Helen has a powerful voice that takes issues of race and politics head on – pointing out the racism behind AP’s delayed response in separating persons from their disease when heroin became a white problem. She tackles the explicit racism contradicted by denials of being a racist because grand kids are bi-racial. She gets to the heart of race issues, and took a reflexive look at expectations of reporters of color. Always an engaging read.
Honorable Mention
Rob Cuthbert
The Berghdal sentence piece was incredible – told a story that has not seen a lot of light – the reason why Berghdal had left his post – to blow whistle on perceived incompetence. Furthermore, he describes the utter squalor and torture he endured while gathering intelligence useful intelligence. Column really sheds new light on a case that had not been so thoughtfully interrogated before.
Honorable Mention
Louis Profeta
Louis is a natural storyteller and brings his background as an ER doctor to show the grittiness of dealing with opiod addicts, a suicidal eldery person, and frat boys that mix alcohol and pills. He brings his medical expertise and natural storytelling together quite well.
General Interest (Online, Blog, and Multimedia Columns — Under 100,000 Monthly Unique Visitors)
First Place
Derrick Z. Jackson
Derrick Z. Jackson writes with grace and clarity on topics that matter: Good science can save threatened species. Maybe. Bad science can imperil the nation’s children. Certainly. Disproportionate investment in student athletes rather than students in general can be insidiously unfair, particularly when some of those student athletes are black and some of those students in general are also black.
Second Place
Sheri Saretsky
Certainly old age isn’t for sissies, but as Sheri Saretsky reminds us – through wit and sly self-deprecation – middle age isn’t either, particularly for American women. But there is contentment and satisfaction in raising sons and melding families and dealing with physicians who aren’t always able to make the crucial distinction between depression and Depression.
Third Place
Chandra Bozelko
For years Chandra Bozelko has won audiences – and awards – for writing from the inside about the indignities and the outrages endemic to the U.S. prison system. But she reasons with subtlety and judgment, willing to point out that not every prisoner complaint is justified, strengthening her case for the very great many that are.
Humor (Print – Publications — Over 50,000 circulation)
First Place
Joyce J. Wadler
Wadler’s writing is flat-out hysterical. She’s adept at creating dialogue, protracted asides and imaginary scenes to dig out all the humor in a topic. Her treatment of sometimes serious topics is revealing and empathetic, and she doesn’t shy away from bringing an edge to her humor . She should be an inspiration to aspiring humor writers everywhere.
Second Place
Leah Eskin
Eskin takes what could a dull, predictable recipe feature and turns it into an entertaining and amusing riff inspired by food. She moves quickly in a small space and doesn’t fail to bring around to the point at the end. A great example of using humor in an unexpected place.
Third Place
Curtis Honeycutt
Honeycutt takes a potentially dry subject and makes it lively and even entertaining, while straightforwardly helpful to the reader. Could go a big bigger with the humor but not if it gets off-track.
Honorable Mention
Dana Milbank
The Bezos column is a truly funny concept. With the others, the humor would benefit from moving beyond sarcasm and going bigger. Best line: “I’m not talking about the 75 percent under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia, known for its world-leading production of parking tickets.”
Honorable Mention
Saralee Perel
Uses humor very well for a personal lifestyle column, very Erma-like at times, but tends to abandon humor at the end for a warm and fuzzy conclusion that drags the humor down.
Humor (Print – Publications — Under 50,000 circulation)
First Place
Lisa Smith Molinari
Molinari has a great grasp of using the small to explain the big. Loved Alexa as “a can of tuna,” the popcorn in the bra and the crabs running amok on the dock. Maybe because I’m a woman in my 50s with grown children, I just “got” where she was going in her columns and enjoyed the big-hearted humor along the way.
Second Place
Kathy Eliscu
Eliscu is a polished storyteller with great timing and a pro’s ability to take the tried-and-true (Hallmark movies, Siri, absurd car trips) and make them fresh and fun again.
Third Place
Paul Lander
Lander’s got a great bead on the national political scene with his “Ripping the Headlines” column. Some really good riffs on Trump & Co. — and every other hiccup on the national scene. Quick and clever reads.
Humor (Online, Blog, and Multimedia Columns — Over 50,000 Monthly Unique Visitors)
First Place
Debra A. Klein
Debra is laugh-out-loud funny. Her ‘Equifax Qwik Kredit Repair Tutorial’ was especially witty, relatable and a pleasure to read … especially as someone who has been through an experience like that.
Second Place
Russell Frank
Russell has a wonderful sense of humor and really connects with the reader. His French Farce Airbnb escapade was an especially funny read, and I loved his detail and play on words.
Third Place
Jason Graves
Jason does an excellent job of taking universal experiences that happen to all of us and finding a way to put an original spin on them for a very enjoyable chuckle.
Humor (Online, Blog, and Multimedia Columns — Under 50,000 Monthly Unique Visitors)
First Place
Dave Jaffe
Writing humor is a far cry from being funny in person. I think it is safe to say, you are proficient at both.
Second Place
Kathryn Mayer
Your writing style is wonderful. My favorite is “Locked and loaded: what breasts and guns have in common.”
Third Place
Tracy Beckerman
Your voice and style are definitely a fun read. Your life is very relatable, and you can find humor everywhere.
Honorable Mention
Elaine Ambrose
Your entries were very good. Your sense of self and sense of humor go hand-in-hand.
Honorable Mention
Lori Duff
Lori, I really enjoyed reading your entries. Choosing the placement of all the entrants was very difficult. “I Hate My Son” struck a chord for sure.
