Letter from the editor

And the award goes to …

I'm no fan of award shows. I skip the Grammys, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, the MTV Movie and Video Awards and especially the Award Show for Awards Shows.

My disdain for these events is why on June 16, when people much more famous and influential than I gathered for their 2006 Montana Newspaper Association Awards, I was enjoying a cool swim in Flathead Lake.

And really, who do you think had more fun? The choice between Bigfork or Helena is officially a no-brainer any time of the year, but there is no reason - none - to leave this area between June and October.

Don't get me wrong, I like to be recognized for hard work as much as any one, and I have a large amount of professional pride, but I just don't care about awards. I've never written a story or taken a photograph and thought, "Oh, this one's bringin' home a trophy."

I hope readers get excited or like the product, but I don't go out of my way to please a judge in New Jersey.

Here's my biggest complaint with newspaper awards: There are way too many.

If you've ever seen the movie "The Incredibles," you'll remember the struggle of a little superhero who is forced to act "normal." When he complains that he wants to use his powers to show he is special, his mother tells him that "everybody is special."

"Which is just another way of saying nobody is," the boy replies.

My point exactly.

Every newspaper is an award-winning newspaper. Practically every writer at some point is an award-winning writer. Every photographer can put "award-winning photographer" on a resume.

At some point, the accolades begin to lose their meaning. This year, there were five competing divisions with 35-40 categories each. That means there were about 200 first place awards, not to mention second place, third place and honorable mention.

That totals almost 800 awards.

Are there even that many journalists in Montana? I don't know.

Are we all really that good? No.

What's the point? No idea.

I checked, and newspapers across Montana printed news stories about the awards they won. Now I feel somewhat obliged to do the same. Since nobody cares who placed second (or third or honorable mention), I'll just hit the highlights. Then maybe I'll make a point, and we can all move on with our lives until next year.

The Bigfork Eagle placed first in the following categories for Division I Weeklies (judge's comments in quotes):

? Best Government Reporting: Awarded to Mike Richeson for coverage of local elections in November.

? Best Sports Column Writing: Awarded to Faith Moldan for her "heartfelt and insightful look into the motivation and feelings of someone who loves what she does."

? Best Outdoors Reporting: Awarded to Faith Moldan

? Best Outdoors Section or Page: Awarded for Mike Richeson's "The perfect getaway" story about the Jewel Basin. (The Bigfork Eagle swept every award in this category.)

? Best Sports Pages: "For comprehensive coverage that exudes the paper's passion for the community."

? Best Front Page: "Clean and colorful."

? Best Photo Essay: Awarded to Mike Richeson for photo page of Bigfork Children's Theatre. (We also swept every award in this category.)

? Excellence in Design, Presentation and Use of Photos: "Strong content and presentation for an overall lively and newsy paper. The people presence shines throughout."

? Sweepstakes Award: I honestly don't know what this is for. I think it means best in the division. Moving on.

? General Excellence Advertising and a stack of seconds and thirds.

OK, as much as I may gripe, I appreciate the awards, but none of us here work for wooden plaques. We really try to cover the news in our area for the benefit of our readers.

About a year ago I wrote that I had three main goals for the Bigfork Eagle: that we would be excellent, fair and relevant. We trip and fall now and then, but even the mistakes come from an honest effort to do a lot of work each week. You have a couple thousand people critique your work every week and see if you are error-free!

As for the awards, they are for you anyway. What is a newspaper without a community of readers? Nothing, that's what.

So congratulations. And thanks.