Miami New Times' Lee Klein won a first-place award for Newspaper Restaurant Criticism in this year's Association of Food Journalists awards. Robb Walsh of the Houston Press and Randall Roberts of Riverfront Times took second and third place, respectively, in the Newspaper Food Feature category; and Seattle Weekly's Maggie Dutton finished second in the Newspaper Food Column category. Winners were announced last weekend at a banquet in Houston.
In the non-daily print division, both the Memphis Flyer and Miami New Times won four first-place awards in the annual contest which "recognizes outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states." The Flyer placed first in disaster coverage, editorial writing, feature reporting, and political reporting. It also tacked on two third-place finishes. Miami New Times finished first in consumer reporting, courts and law reporting, criticism (a category swept by alt-weeklies), and non-deadline news. New Times added one third-place finish as well. In addition, New Times Broward-Palm Beach took home two awards, including a first-place win for sports reporting; while both Mountain XPress and North Carolina's Independent Weekly went home with a second-place award. Winners were announced Saturday in Atlanta.
Three AAN papers won a total of 12 Sunshine State Awards, given out by the South Florida Pro Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. Miami New Times nabbed four awards, including first-place finishes in Serious Feature Reporting, Arts Reporting, and the Gene Miller Award for Investigative Reporting. Creative Loafing (Tampa)'s six total awards including a first-place finish in Election Reporting. New Times Broward-Palm Beach won two awards, including first-place kudos for Non-Deadline Business Reporting.
In the non-daily print division, AAN members comprise 16 of the 30 finalists in the Society of Professional Journalists' Green Eyeshade Awards, which "recognizes outstanding journalism in 11 southeastern states." The Memphis Flyer and Miami New Times each has six finalists, New Times Broward-Palm Beach has two, and the Independent Weekly and Mountain XPress each has one.
Miami New Times' Isaiah Thompson was awarded a IRE certificate in the local circulation weeklies category for his stories on how residency restrictions forced sex offenders to live under a Miami bridge. In the same category, the AAN-commissioned "Who Killed Brad Will?" was a finalist, along with Peter Byrne's series on Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the North Bay Bohemian and Wayne Barrett's reporting on Rudy Giuliani in the Village Voice. The Texas Observer's reporting on sexual abuse at a state-run youth prison and the cover-up that followed it was also a finalist, in the Magazine/specialty publication category. The Chauncey Bailey Project, which the San Francisco Bay Guardian took part in, was awarded this year's Tom Renner Award, which honors "outstanding reporting covering organized crime or other criminal acts."
In this year's installment of the Education Writers Association's journalism contest, Rob Jordan of the Miami New Times and April Jimenez of the Long Island Press both received first-place awards in the Feature, News Feature, or Issue Package category in different circulation divisions (Jordan in under 100,000; Jimenez in over 100,000). In addition, Westword's Luke Turf took home a special citation award in the same category for papers with a circulation under 100,000.
In 1987, Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin, who started Phoenix New Times in 1970 and bought Denver's Westword in 1983, "bought a South Beach rag named The Wave for $50 and a hot dog with plenty of relish," and Miami New Times was born, managing editor Chuck Strouse writes as the paper celebrates its 20th anniversary. "Miami is a city that reinvents itself every few years," he writes. "Indeed between the time I left town in 2000 to edit New Times Broward-Palm Beach and my return two years ago, the place went from cultural wasteland to visual arts mecca. Miami New Times, though, has become a constant -- brassy, iconoclastic, and, well, sometimes tasteless."
Josh Schonwald took home a first-place award in the Florida Press Club Excellence In Journalism Contest's "light feature writing" category. Winners will be honored at an Oct. 20 reception.
AAN members were well-represented when the South Florida Chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists announced the winners of the 2007 Sunshine State Awards Saturday night. New Times Broward-Palm Beach took home three first-place awards, and Miami New Times had one first-place finish. Those two papers and Creative Loafing also accounted for 10 second- and third-place awards in the yearly contest.
