An Eye on Journalism

Stories on union troubles, unusual art exhibits, and a male anorexic earned New Times Broward*Palm Beach two first-place awards and a finalist recognition respectively at the 49th annual Green Eyeshade Awards, which took place in Atlanta last week.

Open to all forms of media in 11 Southern states and sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the Society For Professional Journalists, the contest recognized the best regional work published in 1998. New Times competed in the weeklies and monthlies category.

Staff writer Paul Belden took first place for Business Reporting with "United They Fall," an article on an employment battle at the former Kitchens of the Oceans shrimp-processing plant in Deerfield Beach. When workers there tried to unionize, Belden reported, the company moved its operations to Jacksonville.

A first-place award for Criticism went to contributor Michael Mills, whose entry consisted of three columns: "Trading Places," which compared the annual Hortt show to the Salon Des Refuses Competition; "Crash, Bang, Ewww," a review of artwork inspired by the films of David Cronenberg; and "Grand Illusions," which analyzed the career of op artist Richard Anuszkiewicz.

Staff writer Bob Norman was a finalist in the Feature Reporting category. His story "The Hunger Artist" looked at the life and death of a man who'd written a book about his struggle with anorexia.