ARTS CRITICISM circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Pulling the Strings; King Lear; and Beautiful Disaster by Edie Adelstein, Colorado Springs Independent

2nd Place: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Shame isn’t as shaming as it thinks it is; and Disappointing Disney adaptation of pulp hero John Carter by Craig D. Lindsey, INDY Week

3rd Place: Lincoln; Skyfall; and Flight by Scott Wilson, The Pitch

ARTS CRITICISM circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: The Bourne Legacy; Take This Waltz; and Anna Karenina by Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

2nd Place: Breaking Down Monstrous Coupling; Dallas Homeless’ Are Showing Art; and On the Hunt for Dallas’ Best Street Art by Betsy Lewis, Dallas Observer

3rd Place: Punk-Goth Magnificence; The Nacirema Society; and Mamet’s November Lacks Bite by D.L. Groover, Houston Press

ARTS FEATURE circulation under 50,000

1st Place: The Shrinking Stage by Rachel Swan, East Bay Express

2nd Place: Rebel Girls by Steve Haruch, Nashville Scene

3rd Place: Last Picture Show by Margot Harrison, Seven Days

Honorable Mention: Disappearing Ink by Chris Davis, The Memphis Flyer

ARTS FEATURE circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Flash Forward by Tara Murtha, Philadelphia Weekly

2nd Place: Video Paradiso by Karina Longworth, L.A. Weekly

3rd Place: Mad Recent by Brian McManus, Philadelphia Weekly

BEAT REPORTING circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Environmental Reporting by Kera Abraham, Monterey County Weekly (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5)

2nd Place: Tech Reporting by Justin Kendall, The Pitch (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5)

3rd Place: Environmental Reporting by Heidi Walters, North Coast Journal (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)

BEAT REPORTING circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Race Reporting by Steve Bogira, Chicago Reader (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6)

2nd Place: Homelessness Reporting by Nick Miller, Sacramento News & Review (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)

3rd Place: Environmental Reporting by Chris Sweeney, New Times Broward-Palm Beach (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5)

Honorable Mention: Fiscal Policy Reporting by Daniel Denvir, Philadelphia City Paper (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3)

BREAKING NEWS circulation under 50,000

1st Place: The Waldo Canyon Fire (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) by Pam Zubeck, Bill Forman, Chet Hardin, Kirk Woundy, Edie Adelstein, Bryce Crawford, Kirsten Akens, Jeff Koch, Matthew Schniper, J. Adrian Stanley and Claire Swinford, Colorado Springs Independent

2nd Place: Athens Power Outage (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3) by Jim Phillips, The Athens NEWS

3rd Place: Sick of It (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) by Billy Manes, Orlando Weekly

BREAKING NEWS circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: The Miami Zombie (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) by Kyle Munzenrieder, Francisco Alvarado, Tim Elfrink, and Gus Garcia-Roberts, Miami New Times

2nd Place: Esme Barrera Murder Case (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5) by Jordan Smith and Monica Riese, Austin Chronicle

3rd Place: Hell Breaks Loose by Curt Guyette, Metro Times

COLUMN circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Columns by Donna Ladd, Jackson Free Press

2nd Place: Columns by Denise M. Reagan, Folio Weekly

3rd Place: Columns by Pete McCommons, Flagpole Magazine

COLUMN circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Columns by Margaret Downing, Houston Press

2nd Place: Columns by Chuck Strouse, Miami New Times

3rd Place: Columns by Rodney Carmichael, Creative Loafing Atlanta

COLUMN — POLITICAL circulation under 50,000

1st Place: How Obamacare saved my life; South Carolina campaigning has infected national races; and The Prairie Populist: George McGovern by John Grooms, Creative Loafing Charlotte

2nd Place: Guns Don’t Kill People, The NRA Kills People; Don’t Buy The Bulletin’s Self Serving Sob Story; and Let’s Make Sandy Hook the Fulcrum for Change by Bruce Miller, Eric Flowers, Jim Stenson O’Neal, The Source Weekly

3rd Place: A Romney Runs Through Us; The Southern Strategy’s Last Stand?; Beware the GOP’s (Un)Scientific Sexism by Donna Ladd, Jackson Free Press

COLUMN — POLITICAL circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Columns by Tim Elfrink, Miami New Times

2nd Place: Columns by Stephen Lemons, Phoenix New Times

3rd Place: Columns by Enzo Di Matteo, NOW Magazine

ELECTION COVERAGE circulation under 50,000

1st Place: RNC 2012 Coverage by Creative Loafing Staff, Creative Loafing Tampa

2nd Place: One Word and Wedding Day by Heidi Groover, Pacific Northwest Inlander

3rd Place: Grand Old Punch-Up by Zach Hagadone, Boise Weekly

ELECTION COVERAGE circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Desperate Ballot Measures by Randy LoBasso, Philadelphia Weekly

2nd Place: How Undocumented Immigrants Helped Change Phoenix’s City Council Race and SB 1070 Fuels a Movement of New Voters by Monica Alonzo, Phoenix New Times

3rd Place: 2012 Portland Mayoral Race – The Evolution of Eileen Brady; Precinct Zero; Bus Boy; The Road to Hales; What Money Can’t Buy; Campaign Confidential; Jefferson Smith Cited for 1993 Misdemeanor Assault; Police Report And Victim Contradict Smith’s Version of 1993 Assault; and Knocking Himself Out by Corey Pein, Nigel Jaquiss, Aaron Mesh, Heidi Groover, and Laura Frazier, Willamette Week

FEATURE STORY circulation under 50,000

1st Place: The Sick and the Damned by Luke Baumgarten, Pacific Northwest Inlander

2nd Place: The Soul of Super Pimp by Kyle Swenson, Cleveland Scene

3rd Place: Rebel Land by R.L. Nave, Jackson Free Press

Honorable Mention: Young and Sick by Cari Wade Gervin, Metro Pulse

FEATURE STORY circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: The Man Who Smelled Too Much by Gendy Alimurung, L.A. Weekly

2nd Place: The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Alan Prendergast, Westword

3rd Place: Collaterally Damaged by Nathan Comp, Isthmus

Honorable Mention: From Porky’s to Hell by Michael E. Miller, Miami New Times

FOOD WRITING circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Eating Invertebrates at the Museum of Life and Science; Growing Kiwis in North Carolina; and Is There a Future for North Carolina Hops Farming? by Lisa Sorg, INDY Week

2nd Place: The Post-Husk Era; Rye Revival; and Guy Fieri and the Perils of Middlebrow Food by Robert Moss, Charleston City Paper

3rd Place: Into the Fire and The Girl From Ipanema by Melissa Scott Sinclair, Style Weekly

FOOD WRITING circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Jason Quinn Will Meet You at the Playground by Michelle Woo, OC Weekly

2nd Place: The Artisan Food Movement Digs for Gold; The Seattle Dog: An Oral History; and Charitable Korean at Chan by Hanna Raskin, Seattle Weekly

3rd Place: Working at Miami Restaurants and Food Trucks: The Inside Scoop by Laine Doss, Miami New Times

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING circulation under 50,000

1st Place: The Deadliest Place in Mexico by Melissa del Bosque, The Texas Observer

2nd Place: The Ghosts of Valmont Butte (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7; Part 8; Part 9; Part 10) by Joel Dyer, Jefferson Dodge, and Elizabeth Miller, Boulder Weekly

3rd Place: Death by Indifference by Betty Brink, Fort Worth Weekly

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Rikers Violence (Part 1 and Part 2) by Graham Rayman, Village Voice

2nd Place: San Francisco’s Transit Agency Has Neglected Maintenance for Years by Joe Eskenazi, SF Weekly

3rd Place: Coral Capers (Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4) by Chris Sweeney, New Times Broward-Palm Beach

LONG-FORM NEWS STORY circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Methbusters by Kyle Swenson, Cleveland Scene

2nd Place: Skip ReVille was Unstoppable Until a Mother Found Him Out by Paul Bowers, Charleston City Paper

3rd Place: How Much Garbage Does It Take to Treat a Patient? by Kathleen Richards, East Bay Express

LONG-FORM NEWS STORY circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Identifying Princess Doe by Jaclyn Gallucci, Long Island Press

2nd Place: Minding Her Own Business by Edward Ericson Jr., Baltimore City Paper

3rd Place: When a Mentally Ill Child Becomes a Mentally Ill Adult by Michelle Woo, OC Weekly

MUSIC CRITICISM circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Ain’t Talkin’ About Hate; Blunderbuss on the Tracks; and Who’s First by Adam Gold, Nashville Scene

2nd Place: Canadian Music is Boring by Josiah Hughes and Mark Teo, Fast Forward Weekly

3rd Place: A Musical Family Affair; From the Ukulele to ’60s Pop; For the Sheer Joy of It by Briana Robinson, Jackson Free Press

MUSIC CRITICISM circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: The Last of the Jewish Cowboys; Japandroids; and 24-Hour Party People by Martin Cizmar, Willamette Week

2nd Place: Coachella; Neon Reverb Report; and Peter Gabriel by Spencer Patterson, Las Vegas Weekly

3rd Place: Miami Rapper SpaceGhostPurrp Releases Debut; Thurston Moore and KURT During Art Basel Miami Beach; and Madonna Strips for Dirty Dollar Bills by Sean Pajot, Miami New Times

PUBLIC SERVICE circulation under 50,000

1st Place: The Keystone Pipeline Battle – Your Land is My Land; Drawing a Line in the (Tar) Sand; and Down But Not Out by Peter Gorman, Fort Worth Weekly

2nd Place: Voices Carry: Evolution of the Modern Fight for Women’s Rights – Culture Shock; Mission Aborted; Crimes of Expression; and Red Faced by Melissa Scott Sinclair, Jason Roop, Scott Bass, Vernal Coleman, Scott Elmquist, Thad Williamson, Adria Scharf, Dale Brumfield, and Zack Budryk, Style Weekly

3rd Place: Fire and Failure: The Waldo Canyon Tragedy – Inside the Nightmare; Seeing Through the Haze; Misfire; and Fire Proof by Pam Zubeck, Colorado Springs Independent

PUBLIC SERVICE circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Membership Has its Privileges – Is Nassau County Police Department Selling Preferential Treatment To Private Citizens?; D.A. Probe Ongoing; Nassau County Top Cops Surrender; and Nassau Cops Indicted by Shelly Feuer Domash and Christopher Twarowski, Long Island Press

2nd Place: The War on Women’s Health – Jumping the Shark on Women’s Health; The Destruction of Texas Health Care; Perry’s Magic Wand; The War on Women’s Health; Do No Harm; Perry’s Tantrum; and It’s About Community by Jordan Smith, Michael King, and Jason Stout, Austin Chronicle

3rd Place: Barred from Freedom: How Pretrial Detention Ruins Lives by Albert Samaha, SF Weekly

ONLINE CATEGORIES

INDIVIDUAL BLOG All Publications

1st Place: Feathered Bastard by Stephen Lemons, Phoenix New Times

2nd Place: Pulp by Chris Joseph, New Times Broward-Palm Beach

3rd Place: Haire of the Dog by Chris Haire, Charleston City Paper

MULTIMEDIA All Publications

1st Place: Ripple Effect by Rashed Mian, Christopher Twarowski, Michael Conforti, Scott Kearney, and Sal Calvi, Long Island Press

2nd Place: Clam Wars by Christopher Twarowski, Rashed Mian, and Jon Sasala, Long Island Press

3rd Place (tie): Reinventing the Wheel by Mike Kooiman, Bre McGee, and Erika Wolf, City Pages (Twin Cities)

3rd Place (tie): Corrosion of Conformity: An Oral History of 30 Years by Bryan C. Reed, D.L. Anderson, and Grayson Currin, INDY Week

MUSIC BLOG All Publications

1st Place: Crossfade by Jose Duran, Sean Pajot, Arielle Castillo, and Kyle Munzenrieder, Miami New Times

2nd Place: Nashville Cream by Edd Hurt, Lance Conzett, D. Patrick Rodgers, Seth Graves, and Adam Gold, Nashville Scene

3rd Place: Gimme Noise by Reed Fischer, City Pages (Twin Cities)

STAFF BLOG All Publications

1st Place: PhillyNow, Philadelphia Weekly

2nd Place: The Bleader, Chicago Reader

3rd Place: Pith in the Wind, Nashville Scene

DESIGN CATEGORIES

COVER DESIGN circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Covers by John Lang and Corey Johnson, Santa Fe Reporter

2nd Place: Covers by Chad Smith, Walter Coker, and Denise M. Reagan, Folio Weekly

3rd Place: Covers by Dave Kirby and Sue France, Boulder Weekly

COVER DESIGN circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Covers by Alex Izaguirre, New Times Broward-Palm Beach

2nd Place: Covers by Mike Kooiman, City Pages (Twin Cities)

3rd Place: Covers by Jandos Rothstein, Washington City Paper

EDITORIAL LAYOUT circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Food & Drink by Elizabeth Jones, Nashville Scene

2nd Place: Fantastic Voyager by John Zara and Nathanael Roney, Mountain Xpress

3rd Place: The Silver Ball by Katie Thompson, YES! Weekly

EDITORIAL LAYOUT circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Never Mind the Crab Cakes, Here’s the Cheese Fish by Ryan "Rarah" Stevenson, Frank Klein, Alex Fine, and Joe MacLeod, Baltimore City Paper

2nd Place: Big Vision Awards by Reseca Peskin and Brenna Adams, Philadelphia City Paper

3rd Place: The Year of Eating Fabulously by Tracie Louck and Catherine Downes, Dallas Observer

ILLUSTRATION circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Scholastic Fantastic by Jeff Drew, Pacific Northwest Inlander

2nd Place: Mind Over the Apocalypse by Adam Rosenlund, Boise Weekly

3rd Place: Year of the Snake by Jeff Drew, Seven Days

ILLUSTRATION circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Spring Books by Johnny Sampson, Chicago Reader

2nd Place: ‘Straight’ Talk by Desiree Kelly, Metro Times

3rd Place: Code Dead by Tim Lane, Riverfront Times

PHOTOGRAPHY circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Photos by Young Kwak, Pacific Northwest Inlander

2nd Place: Republican National Convention Photos by Joeff Davis, Chip Weiner, Nick Cardello, and Robert Azmitia, Creative Loafing Tampa

3rd Place: Photos by Sara Sanger, North Bay Bohemian

PHOTOGRAPHY circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: Dallas People 2012 by Tracie Louck and Mark Graham, Dallas Observer

2nd Place: Photos by Ryan “Rarah” Stevenson, Baltimore City Paper

3rd Place: Photos by Joeff Davis, Dustin Chambers, and Brandon English, Creative Loafing Atlanta

OUTSIDE-THE-BOX CATEGORIES

CARTOON

1st Place: Ed Harrington, Style Weekly

2nd Place: V.C. Rogers, INDY Week

3rd Place: Jen Sorensen, Slowpoke Comics

INNOVATION / FORMAT BUSTER

1st Place: My Madison Day (Print Feature and Website) by Jason Joyce, Kristian Knutsen, Stu Levitan, Dean Robbins, Judith Davidoff
Michana Buchman, Joe Tarr, Jessica Steinhoff, Linda Falkenstein, Ellen Meany, Carolyn Fath, David Michael Miller, Todd Hubler, Tommy Washbush, Thom Jones, Bob Koch, Cameron Connors, Janell Palmer, Chris Majchrzak, and Lucas Graves, Isthmus

2nd Place: Best of Phoenix 2012 by Staff, Phoenix New Times

3rd Place: The President of Beers (Print and Web Feature) by Martin Cizmar, John Locanthi, and Brian Yaeger, Willamette Week

SPECIAL SECTION circulation under 50,000

1st Place: Dining Out: The 10 Things to Eat Before You Die by Mike Bookey, Pacific Northwest Inlander

2nd Place: The Walkers’ Guide to Comic-Con by Staff, San Diego CityBeat

3rd Place: Athens County Annual Manual 2012 by Kristen Rogers, The Athens NEWS

SPECIAL SECTION circulation 50,000 and over

1st Place: How to Succeed on YouTube: A User’s Guide by Staff, L.A. Weekly

2nd Place: Philadelphia Weekly’s Binder Full of Women by Staff, Philadelphia Weekly

3rd Place: Artbreaker: A Ballerina, a Best-Seller and a Violinist Take High Culture Slumming by Brett Campbell, Heather Wisner, Ruth Brown, Richard Speer, Laurie Notaro, Martin Cizmar, Willamette Week