Did you know that you’re now reading the best weekly column of any newspaper in the nation with a similar circulation? Yes, “Mark My Words” won first place in the Suburban Newspaper Association 2009 national journalism competition. The organization is one of the largest national newspaper associations in the country, with a membership of more than 2,000 publications.
But there were more pleasant surprises. If you enjoy the great photo art by Scott Drake in PGN, you should appreciate that he took both first and second place in the Feature Photo category for SNA, for “Love Park” and “Gone but not forgotten,” respectively.
If that were not enough, Larry Nichols won third place in the Arts & Entertainment Writing category for his interview with reality-TV comic Ant. To my knowledge and my 34-year history in gay media, this is the most awards won by an LGBT newspaper in a mainstream national journalism contest.
Mark My Words has won many awards over the years, like second place among columns in Pennsylvania. I used to enjoy saying I was always second best since I’ve won that honor twice, but this most recent award comes with some ironic twists.
All of these contests are secretly judged by our peers in journalism, but the judges are not made public until after the winners are announced. In the column category, you must enter three examples. I asked our editor, Sarah Blazucki, to pick the column entries. Here’s where it really gets interesting.
She picked “Bad breaks & missed reunions,” “Republican Party stuck in the past” and, to my surprise, “Shut up, Pope.” [Editor’s note: I must have been feeling feisty that day.] Here’s the kicker: After we had stopped cheering — first place in a national column-writing contest! — we looked at who had judged the contest. And we were bewildered and amazed.
The Journalism Department faculty of Loyola University Chicago, School of Communication judged this contest for SNA. That’s a Catholic university, and they chose as the best columnist one who wrote a column titled “Shut up, Pope.”
Of course, these latest SNA awards don’t include the numerous awards PGN has won from the other professional organizations to which we belong. We’re always proud to say that you’re reading the most award-winning LGBT newspaper in the nation.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].