We Wouldn't Want to Belong to a Club That Would Have Us As A Member

We’ve mentioned before the many, many awards that are minted each year for every little print publication under the sun. Some forms of industrial recognition are more credible than others, of course, but mostly they are an exercise in narcissism. We’re not sure anyone outside the industry cares that much, given that any publication that has been around for more than ten years has, at some point, with or without its own knowledge or participation, become a bonafide “award-winning” publication.

Last week, the City and Regional Magazine Awards were announced, and in our view this is a middling to negligable honor. Usually, it’s a good sign when a third party conducts the judging process, and the CRMAs are peddled along by the University of Missouri School of Journalism, using a full-to-bursting masthead of credible magazine professionals.

The problem with the CRMAs, though, is that the City and Regional Magazine Association itself limits who can enter the competition. As a point of policy, anyone can enter. As a point of practice, the people at the offices of the CRMA get to decide who is allowed into the competition, and they are happy to reject the applications of anyone they might feel threatened by.

We’re strictly observers of it all, not participants, but we find it interesting that bloom is off the rose when it comes to perennial favorite Texas Monthly. Anecdotally, everyone agrees that it’s one of the best magazines in the nation (we think so too), but TM has been getting shut out in the CRMAs and the ASMEs in the past two or three years. (Well, bronze and silver awards are not exactly getting shut-out. But a magazine that regularly receives national notice against Big Leaguers like The New Yorker and The Atlantic should easily dominate the somewhat silly CRMAs. It’s a little like having a Pulitzer winner come in second at the local library’s “what I did for my summer vacation” competition.) Probably the judges are eager to give others a chance, and wish to let TM lie fallow for a few years. Be that as it may, we think it’s about time Chicago magazine got some recognition, even at Texas Monthly’s cost.