Proud of Ohio

At Ohio Magazine, we’re all about the best. We celebrate the people, the places and the things that make life in the Buckeye State so satisfying and rewarding. Whether it is an educator or an athlete, a winery or a restaurant, a museum or a landmark, nothing gives us more pleasure than to spread the word about the best Ohio has to offer.

You’ll forgive us, then, if we are especially pleased with ourselves this month. The results from the state’s journalism organizations are in and, once again, Ohio Magazine can officially count itself among the best of the best. The contests recognize work published last year.

Thank you to the Cincinnati Press Club for naming Ohio Magazine the state’s best monthly.

The club also recognized Associate Editor Jennifer Haliburton with two awards. Jennifer took first place in the Best Newsmaker Profile category for her story, “The Outsider,” about Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (February 2007). And she took second place in the Human Interest Feature category for “Miracles in the Music,” about renowned music therapist Deforia Lane (January 2007).

The Ohio Society of Professional Journalists also weighed in on its choices for the state’s best. The organization awarded first place for best regional monthly to Cleveland Magazine, our sister publication in the Great Lakes Publishing group. Ohio Magazine picked up second place in the category. And Jennifer Haliburton picked up yet another award, a second place in the Human Interest category, for “Miracles in the Music.”

Finally, The Press Club of Cleveland drew its own conclusions — and Ohio Magazine walked away with six more awards. Elizabeth Weinstein took first place in the Arts Features category for “Connected to the River,” about Ripley author Ann Hagedorn (October 2007). Senior Editor Linda Feagler took second place in the same category for “Mixing it Up,” about Dayton’s Human Race

Theatre Company (June 2007). Another first place went to contributor John Gladden. John took top honors in the Single Essay category for “Weathered Wisdom,” his poignant observations on aging barns (December 2007). And still another first place — this one in the Single Illustration category — went to artist AG Ford for “When Moses Came to Findlay” (August 2007).

Ohio Magazine received two awards in the Pictorial category — a second place to the staff for ”Beautiful Ohio,” our June 2007 cover story, and an honorable mention to photographer Lawrence Hamel-Lambert for “Weathered Wisdom.”

Yes, we’re strutting. But we mean it sincerely when we say that we can hardly lose when we have such great raw material to work with.