Utne Mag­a­zine announced its 2003 Inde­pen­dent Press Awards win­ners today, with _The Amer­i­can Prospect, The Onion, Mother Jones_ and _Grist_ pick­ing up some of the top hon­ors.
The Amer­i­can Prospect took top prize for Gen­eral Excel­lence, while The Onion took best Cultural/Social Cov­er­age. Utne com­mented: “America’s fun­ni­est news­pa­per is also one of its sharpest crit­i­cal voices. Read The Onion for a good laugh and at the same time get real insight into many of the issues, large and small, fac­ing us today.” This is a great move for _The Onion_ out of the humor cat­e­gory and into the social com­men­tary slot, as it seems satire, ala _The Daily Show,_ Al Franken’s Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them, has become the pre­ferred method of cul­tural and polit­i­cal crit­i­cism.
The Nation picked up the prize for best Polit­i­cal Cov­er­age and Grist was picked for best Online Polit­i­cal Cov­er­age. (Back​-to​-Iraq​.com was also nom­i­nated for the same cat­e­gory, but con­grat­u­la­tions, Grist!)
“The com­plete list of winners”:http://www.utne.com/pub/2004_121/promo/11017 – 1.html is truly a rogue’s gallery (I mean that in the most com­pli­men­tary sense!) of inde­pen­dent and alter­na­tive media out there, and I urge every­one to check out some of the win­ners for them­selves. You’ll be delighted, intrigued and hope­fully bet­ter informed.