Saturday, April 25, 2009

And the winners are . . . .

The winners of the 2009 Society of Professional Obituary Writers Awards were announced Saturday, April 25, 2009, at the organization's convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Ron Csillag, a freelance writer from Toronto, Ontario, who pens obits for The Globe and Mail, took home two of the five juried awards. He won awards for Best Body of Work and Best Obituary for an Average Joe with his obit for poet Eric Layman.

Holly Crenshaw of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earned top honors in the Best Obituary for a Well-Known Figure category with her obit for pianist/homemaker Dorothy Myers.

Dick Russ of WKYC-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, won Best Obituary honors for Broadcast Media with his obit for Cleveland Indians pitcher and announcer Herb Score.

The Best Online Obituary winner was Kevin Nance for an obituary titled "Don't Tell Chuck" - about Charleton Heston - which was published in Obit Magazine.

SPOW honored Gerry Hostetler, retired Charlotte Observer obituary columnist, with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gayle Ronan Sims, the Philadelphia Inquirer obituary writer who died April 16, was remembered with the unveiling of the Gayle Ronan Sims Award for Excellence, Professionalism and Spirit.

Also announced were the winners of the just-for-fun People's Picks online poll:
Body of Work: Tom Hawthorn, Globe and Mail;
Well-Known Figure: Sandra Martin, Globe and Mail, Richard Monette;
Average Joe: Gayle Ronan Sims, Philadelphia Inquirer,F. Culver, 100;
Online: Judy Bachrach, Obit Magazine, Yves St. Laurent;
Broadcast: Dick Russ, WKYC-TV, Herb Score.

Congratulations to the winners.

3 comments:

Marilyn Johnson said...

congratulations to all the winners -- I wish I were there to celebrate and raise a glass to Gayle...
Marilyn

Kay Powell said...

Sipping a martini to congratulate my very talented colleagues and wishing I were there with you to share the fun.I'm sure Marilyn's raising her martini glass along with me.
Kay

Amelia said...

Missing my first conference in years! Congratulations to all the winners. Not raising a glass, but I'm eating a bagel!

Amelia