JUDGES’ COMMENTS ARTS CRITICISM Circulation 50,000 and over First Place: Washington City Paper, “Pine of the Times,” “Sheet Smart” and “Pain by Numbers” by Jeffry Cudlin • Cudlin’s work is rich in historical knowledge while never paying too much homage to the edifices of tradition. It’s a pleasure to read: lucid, intimate in tone, teaching the reader something without making it feel like a lesson. His piece on Christo and Jeanne-Claude was my favorite of anything I read. It really made me think differently about an artistic team whose work I thought I already understood. (Powers) Second Place: Village Voice, “Kill One for the Gipper,” “What We Learned about the Election in This Summer’s Movies” and “Deep Freeze” by Jim Hoberman • So much fun, such a great gift for contextualization, so supple at drawing lines between cinema and sociopolitics. (Patterson) • This guy is very knowledgeable, with excellent insights into politics. (Drabelle) Third Place: LA Weekly, “Benjamin Button,” “Diary of the Dead” and “The Visitor” by Scott Foundas • Foundas’s piece on George Romero’s “Dead” movies was my second-favorite of the whole bunch. It really got at some larger ideas but was also very grounded in the material at hand, and its tone was friendly without being too flip. The take-downs of “Button” and “The Visitor” were also very effective - unsparing but, again, not flip, with the objections at their core very relevant and well-stated. (Powers) Honorable Mention: LA Weekly, “From Reverence to Rape,” “Waugh and Remembrance” and “Was Roman Polanski a Pedophile?” by Ella Taylor • Taylor is tough and unsentimental without veering into the arrogance that many critics who see themselves as ‘speaking truth to power’ often express. (Powers) • I like this reviewer’s excellent writing and her ability to tie the review of a single movie together with a discussion of some larger issue, such as Waugh’s sexuality, the nature of the Holocaust movie, etc. (Drabelle) Circulation under 50,000 First Place: Metroland, “Not as They Seem,” “Branching Out” and “Everything Is Illuminated” by Meisha Rosenberg • This critic writes strongly but unpretentiously, with astute comments and a particularly nice sense of organization. As you read her, you feel confidence in her judgment and a sense of assurance that her pieces are going somewhere. (Drabelle) • Confident & clear & charming. Informed by theory without being enslaved to it. Accessible to the layman without pedantry or oversimplification. (Patterson) • Rosenberg’s work is a great example of a critic making a difference in her region. She isn’t afraid to make interventions, arguing for patronage of certain institutions and helping readers see certain artists’ work in totally new ways. But her writing is ego-free, reasonable, and unpretentious. She was my favorite in her category. (Powers) 2009 AltWeekly Awards Judge Comments & Bios Page 1 Second Place: Independent Weekly (NC), “Kipper Kids,” “El Greco” and “USPO” by Amy White • White’s writing is ambitious and brave–two qualities that don’t always combine in criticism. Her piece on the Spanish art show at Duke University expressed serious opposition to certain curatorial decisions in a way that was forceful without being snide or dismissive. (Powers) Third Place: Metro Pulse, “So, This Is My Life...” by Charles Maldonado ARTS FEATURE Circulation 50,000 and over First Place: LA Weekly, “No Exit Plan” and “The Life and Death of JT Leroy” by Nancy Rommelmann • This piece surprised me. I was tired of the subject (JT Leroy) but it went deeper and to weirder and less predictable places than I’d expected. I also thought it was very well-reported and structured. It had a kind of detective vibe to it. Great lede. (Frey) • Precisely written and superbly structured and reported. But this story’s most impressive accomplishment may be its sneaky grafting of some sophisticated, nuanced cultural criticism to a rollicking, readable profile. (Roberge) Second Place: Chicago Reader, “Life Without a Script” by Anne Ford • I thought this was a totally solid profile: good reporting, nice dedication to a local micro-celeb, and a kind of portrait of non-failure. Someone else could have made this a tragic story, or a cloying tale of redemption. I thought it walked a nice line. (Frey) • Nicely executed profile told from just the sort of unexpected angle that alt-weeklies have traditionally–and fruitfully–specialized in. (Roberge) Third Place: The Pitch, “A Picture of Hope” by Jason Harper • This story is not as slick as some other finalists, but it does the best job of placing the artist at its center into a wider context, asking the reader to think about the conditions in which musicians do their labor. It takes a refreshing step beyond the bubble, offering an evocative profile of one artist while also opening the story out for an informative discussion of how artists scrape together health coverage (or not). In this respect, it’s the most SIGNIFICANT story in the batch. (Solomon) Circulation under 50,000 First Place: Metro Pulse, “Lowbrow Genius” by Coury Tourczyn • A thoroughly reported look at a subculturally resurrected figure–a classic alt-weekly mode. Nicely captures the spirit of fun embodied by its subject. (Roberge) • Well-reported story that vividly evokes the work of a fascinating, forgotten artist and the drive of the people trying to restore his work. (Solomon) Second Place: Fort Worth Weekly, “Magical Misery Tour” by Jeff Prince • I thought of all the entries this was the best written and most colorful. The writer got great quotes and really created a vivid picture of Ft. Worth past. I thought it was a lot of fun. (Frey) • A complete surprise. My expectations for a tour of defunct rock clubs couldn’t have been lower, but this one is well-paced and gracefully written, with just the right number of no-they-didn’t! anecdotes. (Roberge) Third Place: Metro Santa Cruz, “Unlock & Roll” by Curtis Cartier • Who knew? Interesting and enjoyable read about the ingenuity of bands finding a work-around for economic and municipal restrictions that make it hard for them to practice. (Solomon) 2009 AltWeekly Awards Judge Comments & Bios Page 2 BLOG Circulation 50,000 and over First Place: Houston Press, “Hair Balls” by The Houston Press Staff • Clear voice, consistent wit and short and snappy posts. (Futterman) • I loved this blog. The writers clearly understand that they are writing FOR THE INTERNET and take full advantage of all of its capabilities - while also writing posts that are smart, funny, engaging, and original. Nice work! (Shafrir) Second Place: Washington City Paper, “City Desk” by The Washington City Paper Staff • Nice range of subjects covered, good use of multimedia. I liked the original reporting as well. The writers seemed to understand how to write for the web and engage the audience. (Shafrir) Third Place: San Francisco Bay Guardian, “Politics Blog” by The San Francisco Bay Guardian Staff • Tightly written posts with a clear voice. (Futterman) Honorable Mention: Austin Chronicle, “Newsdesk” by The Austin Chronicle News Staff Circulation under 50,000 First Place: Santa Fe Reporter, “Swing State of Mind” by Dave Maass and Staff • Clear voice, well-written. (Futterman) • LOVED this blog. Great original reporting done in an opinionated way and good use of Internet tools. (Shafrir) Second Place: Gambit Weekly, “Blog of New Orleans” by The Gambit Weekly Staff • Sharp, funny and successfully makes national news/topics relevant to locals. (Futterman) Third Place: Arkansas Times, “Arkansas Blog” by Max Brantley 2009 AltWeekly Awards Judge Comments & Bios Page 3 CARTOON First Place: “Tom the Dancing Bug” by Ruben Bolling • Consistently inventive, great at parodying other strips, and not afraid to tackle the big topics (i.e. God). (Heer) • In one of the most laugh-out-loud strips that currently runs in the print media, Bolling smartly boils down centuries of spiritual searching into ‘Worst ... super-hero ... partner ... ever!’ and economic theory into ‘Lucky Ducky.’ Bolling’s sly, playful parodies are equal parts thought-provoking and fun to read and look at. (Tisserand) Second Place: “Slowpoke” by Jen Sorensen • I really enjoyed the variety of topics which Jen Sorenson commented on, as well as admiring her for finding a number of topics which have not been satirized as often, and coming up with witty takes on these. I would enthusiastically argue that this was the real standout of all the cartoon entries. (Marguiles) Third Place: “Worst-Case Scenario” and “Hip Tip” by Kenny Be (Westword) • I thoroughly enjoyed Kenny Be’s entries. He makes excellent points, his drawing style is completely original and the amount of research and time spent in executing these pieces from start to finish could not be anything but a labor of love. I particularly enjoy the caricatures of local and national figures, and the unexpected scenarios in which we find them. The pieces made me laugh out loud, and I was amazed at the amount of information he is able to pack in to one cartoon, without losing your attention. (Winters) Honorable Mention: “Mr. Fish” by Dwayne Booth (LA Weekly) 2009 AltWeekly Awards Judge Comments & Bios Page 4 COLUMN Circulation 50,000 and over First Place: Phoenix New Times, “Globe High School Censors its Student Newspaper,” “Peter Singer to Talk at ASU” and “Sarah Fenske’s in Dogged Pursuit” by Sarah Fenske • These columns are the best in class–she reported the hell out of each piece, even the personal one, and the results are fair but strongly argued, presented in an easy, persuasive style. The newsier passages are clear and move nicely, and then every once in a while, there’s a writerly sentence that’s more than pretty–it’s moving or even paralyzing in its power: “You never meet anyone who regrets having kids, only people who regret not having them.” Probably someone has written those words before, but it works beautifully here.