Wednesday, April 28, 2010

2010 People's Picks

By now, Obituary Forum's faithful followers and the Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) members know that the results of the People's Picks online poll have no bearing in selecting winners of the official SPOW Awards.

We feel it's important to distinguish between the two honors. That's why we did not post the People's Picks results with the official SPOW Award winners. It's not like we forgot or anything. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)

Winners of the People's Picks poll are as follows:

Best body of work (long-form) by one writer, based on exactly five obits, published in 2009 in a print or online news publication. (Long-form obits have 800 words or more.): Laurence Arnold, Bloomberg News.

Best body of work (short-form) by one writer, based on exactly five obits, published in 2009 in a print or online news publication: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times.

Best long-form obituary about a well-known regional figure: Ron Csillag, Globe and Mail, "Clarence Peterson."

Best short-form obituary about a well-known regional figure: Evin Demirel, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Albert Zoppe."

Best long-form obituary about an Average Joe: Ron Hayes, The Coastal Star, "Bill Dunn."

Best short-form obituary about an Average Joe: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times, "Danny Stanton."

Best obituary that goes beyond summing up a life: Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times, "Danny Stanton."

Best tribute, column, memoir or retrospective in print or online: Josh Farley, Kitsap Sun, "Robert and Darlene Moser."

Outstanding radio obituary: Natasha Gruneberg of BBC Radio for her obituary for Walter Cronkite.

Complete list of SPOW winners is posted on the awards page of the SPOW website.

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