By far, the last two weeks have been an incredible time for us here at PGN and for me personally. Last week it was announced that this publication had been awarded journalism prizes in news writing and photography by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. That organization is home to members who work in LGBT media, as well as to LGBT journalists who work in mainstream media.
We also were notified that PGN had won two awards from the National Newspaper Association, which is an organization of all newspapers, daily and weekly, across the nation.
If that were not enough, to my surprise I received an email informing me that at NLGJA’s national convention in Boston later this month, I’ll be inducted to the NLGJA’s LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame. It came as a complete surprise. I’m usually good at intel, but I really had no idea. In fact, a friend on the West Coast had suggested it, and I told him it wasn’t true. But, the next day I received the email from NLGJA president and CNN producer Jen Christensen that I, along with Bob Ross, the former publisher of San Francisco’s Bay Area Reporter, would receive NLGJA’s highest honor. Can you spell C-H-I-L-L-S?
When I think of the 38 years I’ve devoted to this newspaper, community and profession, it brings about a rush of feelings of all types. Proud of my fellow publishers around the nation who have built our profession into an incredibly strong and honored form of communication for our community. Amazed at how we learned to write about a plague, and give information on how to survive, and fight a system that at first didn’t care. Satisfied at how we have been able to introduce new and exciting people into our community and trumpet those allies that we count on for so much.
This was a time to pause and laugh as I recalled the numerous calls to public officials, where I had to literally yell that they will treat PGN’s journalists with the same courtesy they treat any reporter from mainstream media. Then there was our fighting to gain entry into journalism organizations, sometimes which took many years. And now I sit on the board of directors of one such organization. I also got to thinking about our first office and about how, when it rained, it really rained in our office. Or the night a team came in after hours and ripped out our electric and plumbing … and we still got this paper out on deadline. In fact, we have never missed a deadline, which brings me to two special groups.
A big thank-you to those advertisers who have stuck by us through the years. You make it possible for us to do stories that no one else would do with such depth, like the Boy Scouts saga or, for more than 10 years, the Nizah Morris case. No other LGBT or mainstream media outlet has devoted the skills or resources to such reporting. Which brings me to the team at PGN. What more can I say than this honor also belongs to you? We’re a team. You make me proud every day, and your work has helped make this city one of the nation’s most LGBT-friendly (according to the Human Rights Campaign). I could go on, but I’ll save some of this for my acceptance speech in Boston.
I’m a very happy and proud man to be recognized by my peers. But guess what? Work goes on. Today is deadline, and my editor is yelling for this column …
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. He can be reached at [email protected].