Is There Any Lasting Value in Journalism Awards?

The managing editor of a Roanoke daily newspaper, Michael Stowe, has a column this a.m. (here) talking about all the awards his paper won at last week's Virginia Press Association contest and how ... well, shucks ... it's not really about the awards; it's about serving you wonderful people.

This is one of those column types that ranks up there in the annals of clichedom with "It's that time of year again ..." and "Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains ...". It is worn out, but unlike most cliches, it doesn't have that strong ring of truth. Competitions among news people, in my opinion, represent the seamy side of the industry and I, for one, don't want to have anything to do with them. I won a number of VPA awards in the past, but that was years ago, before the dark underbelly of cheating and a warped sense of professional values intruded.

Consider this: The VPA yesterday handed out 771 awards and had 3,140 entries. That's seven hundred seventy-one awards! In one night. Of all those, the one that resonates with any lasting credibility, I think, is for integrity and community service. One of those three--based on size--was for my pal Anne Adams' Monterey Recorder up in Highland County and I can vouch for Anne deserving recognition on an annual basis for her morality. I can also vouch for the fact that Anne does it her way.

Stowe makes his case thusly: "Our biggest reward and the goal of our newsroom is reporting stories that resonate and make a difference in this community. In other words, we shouldn't pursue a story because we think it may win a contest ... We believe that the newsroom benefits--by increasing credibility with readers and sources and boosting employee morale--when the quality of our work is recognized outside the community. And readers gain, too, because the competitions push us to constantly improve our journalism and make sure it holds up against our industry peers."

It would seem to me that each publication needs to be its own judge, using its own measures to "make sure it holds up," not so much against other pubs, but against its own values. I don't like rigid uniformity in my profession because it inhibits innovation and keeps journalism boxed in a system of values and standards created for another age. I don't want journalists from West Virginia or Pennsylvania (judges are generally from other states) telling me if my work is good or bad, because I should determine that based on the goals of my publication. When you standardize, you get a sameness that is great in Holiday Inns, lousy in publications.

Stowe makes a point that his paper won "more than two dozen awards" in the contest, putting a premium on numbers, but didn't tell you it didn't win any of the most important awards: Mims for editorial leadership in the community or the valued public service award. Its "two dozen" awards didn't win the sweepstakes category, best in show or (for its various properties) any of the specialty awards.

Granted, some good work was recognized, but did any of the winners learn anything about their work that they either didn't know or find valuable? I doubt it. My own experience in this would underscore that feeling.

Nearly 20 years ago, when I was at the Blue Ridge Business Journal and we were still entering contests, we drew a blank from the VPA because, an official told me, our tabloid size threw off the judges and they "didn't quite know how to judge you." Lordgodawmighty! What the hell would those judges think of a 6"X10" glossy magazine like Valley Business FRONT? The very next year another judge said, in effect, that the BJ had hung the moon. Our size, stories, design and intent were essentially the same as the year before, but this judge thought we were "innovative, creative and far ahead of the field ... blah, blah, blah."

Who were we to believe? How about ourselves? We'd agreed with the second judge all along and our readers tended to agree with him, too, based on our feedback from the people who read us with an almost religious fervor. But that wasn't the point. We found ourselves feeling put out by an issue of absolutely no value. With or without those awards, we knew who we were and were happy with it. Based on what we saw as a daily newspaper bias, a couple of cheating scandals, strong disagreement with the organization's self-interested political stances (and one VPA internal issue we won't get into), we decided it would be in our best interest to vacate the VPA.

Stowe says that staff morale is a benefit of contests. I would suggest that if a publication doesn't have strong morale because it values its people and treats them with dignity and respect, a few VPA awards aren't going to do it for them. Frankly, I think that line of reasoning is a form of bullshit that helps managers avoid the hard part of their job: managing with sense of the value of the individual.

Newspapers are a dying breed engaged in their final bleats and pleas of self-importance so thoroughly characterized by telling you how many awards they won last week.