Metro Times writers took first place wins in three categories in the 2016 AltWeekly Awards.
Investigative reporter Allie Gross won first place in the feature story category for alt weeklies with circulation over 45,000 for the story “Out From Under,” a Nov. 2015 feature about the repercussions of the
massive annual Wayne County tax foreclosure auction.
Jack Lessenberry won first place in the political column category — the third time he’s done so — for his column Politics & Prejudices, a Metro Times feature since 1993.
Curt Guyette, an investigative reporter at the ACLU and former Metro Times editor, won first place in the public service category for a series of five articles last year chronicling the poisoning of Flint’s water with lead:
-“Independent water tests show lead problems far worse than Flint claims”
-“An ACLU of Michigan investigation has found a stream of irregularities in Flint’s water tests”
-“More evidence of Flint’s water problems found in study of children’s blood”
-“Why strict federal oversight is needed to safeguard Flint’s water”
-“Are Flint’s lead problems just incompetence or something worse?”
The winners were announced over the weekend at a convention in Austin, Texas after a field of 821 entries submitted by 70 alternative publications were judged by the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Alt weeklies from Metro Times parent company Euclid Media Group won a total of nine awards. Cleveland Scene’s Vince Grzegorek won first place in the feature story category for publications with circulation under 45,000 for “The Corvette Thief,” while the Scene’s staff blog, “Scene & Heard,” received an honorable mention.
Orlando Weekly won an honorable mention for arts criticism at publications with circulation under 45,000 for Richard Reep’s “Jess T. Dugan’s Portraits Look Into You” and “Visual Anthropology.”
San Antonio Current’s Matt Stieb won first place in music writing for circulation under 45,000, and Eli Miller won second place in editorial layout for “Wanted: Shelter.” Sarah Flood-Baumann won third place in editorial layout for “San Antonio emojis.”
