As publisher, let me state my obvious pride in the PGN staff, since they write for the most professionally produced newspaper for the LGBT community in the nation. How can I state that?
Simple: Our peers in journalism let us know it, and this year they’ve done so by giving us so many awards, we can’t even list or promote them all.
While we’re proud of the awards we get from LGBT organizations, we are most proud of those we get from non-LGBT journalism media or press associations because we’re up against every weekly, or in some cases every newspaper, in the nation. And in that field, we can easily say we are the most award-winning newspaper for the LGBT community in the nation, period.
So why write this now?
Because we just won 11 additional awards from the Local Media Association and five from the Society of Professional Journalists. Among them:
• Community Service Award, third place
• Best Special Section, second place:World AIDS Day Supplement
• Best Opinion Column, second place:
Mark My Words
• Best Breaking News Story, first place: “Pennsylvania Says ‘I Do’”
• Best Breaking News Story, honorable mention: “PA Treasurer Enters Marriage Fray”
• Best Local Election Coverage, second place: Philadelphia 2014 Primary Election
• Best Front Page, second place
• Best Non-Page One Layout, second place: Arts & Culture Feature Story
• Best Coverage Life Under 30, first place: LGBTQ Youth Supplement
• Best Arts & Entertainment Feature Writing, second place: “Meshell Ndegeocello’s New Album Burns Bright”
• Best Arts & Entertainment Writing, honorable mention: “Runaways Singer to Perform in Philly”
• Photo Story, first place: Philly Pride 2014 by Scott A. Drake
• Spot News Story, first place: “Pennsylvania Says ‘I Do’” by Jen Colletta, Angela Thomas, Scott A. Drake and Sean Dorn
• Editorial Writing, second place: Jen Colletta
• Spot News Story, second place: “City Mourns LGBT director Gloria Casarez” by Jen Colletta and Sarah Blazucki
• Commentary, third place: “Mark My Words” by Mark Segal
In addition to these 16 very-recent awards, I wan to recognize a prestigious honor one of our own also received last week: Scott A. Drake received the SPJ’s 2014 Sigma Delta Chi Award for Sports Photography — a first for any LGBT publication in this category. The Sigma Delta Chis Awards date back to 1932 and are among the premiere prizes given for professional journalism.
Please note that those awards represent almost all the departments here at PGN — and it’s why I am so proud of each and every one who works so hard each week to put out a product that not only we can take pride in, but is worthy of being published in the nation’s most LGBT-friendly city.
Congrats to my family at PGN.