The judges have reached their conclusions, and once again we have Isthmus winners in the annual Excellence in Journalism awards competition of the Milwaukee Press Club, the oldest in the land. Isthmus contributors were awarded two golds and a silver at last Friday's Gridiron dinner in Milwaukee.
Let's start with the graphic journalism achievement of Alan Talaga and Jon Lyons, the guys who create the "Off the Square" visual commentary on the letters page every week. In the first issue of 2012, we let them take over the cover and the inside features space for their opus "The Twelve Signs of the Madison Apocalypse." The result was a gold-winning effort in the Best Illustration or Cartoon segment of the competition.
Best Column: Now that covers a lot of territory, as does the winner, Andy Moore, who pens the "Close to Home" column monthly for Isthmus. Moore, who lives in the popular Marquette neighborhood, regales us with tales from the 'hood, East High School or his past lives in Kentucky, where he grew up, and on the UW swim team, which brought him to Wisconsin. Regardless of the subject matter, Moore strikes an insightful, sensitive tone that is both true to life and down to earth, if that's not redundant.
Garnering silver in the overstated Best Single Editorial, Statement of Editorial Position or Opinion category was former Isthmus arts editor Bruce Murphy, currently editor of the news site UrbanMilwaukee.com. His contribution was an opinion piece in the June 8, 2012, issue of Isthmus, "Why Voters Rejected the Recall."
Congratulations to all our winners. They make us proud and spread awareness of Isthmus' informative prowess. Also doing so is a recently initiated collaboration with local public-supported radio station WORT (89.9 FM). Under way for a few weeks already is a feature in the Thursday 6:30-7 p.m. segment of "In Our Backyard," during which an Isthmus writer or editor discusses a significant story in that week's paper. We all hope you tune in.
