In the latest installment of Hairballs, Richard Connelly relates the amusing tale of the Houston Press Club’s “Lone Star Awards”:
The Houston Press Club handed out its Lone Star Awards June 3, but what was supposed to be a banner event turned into something of a farce, at least for print publications.
Several years ago the HPC boldly announced it was expanding its contest to include papers from all over the state, not just Houston. This was intended to create a little competition in categories like “Breaking News, circulation over 100,000,” which was pretty much limited to the Houston Chronicle. (Although no one will forget the 2000 contest, when the Chron took second and third place — and no one was deemed worthy of a first-place award.)
Okay, I have to pause there because that’s pretty darn funny!
Connelly continues:
The HPC’s move to open up competition has hit some snags, due to both self-inflicted wounds and the apparently prevalent attitude that the Lone Star Awards are no big deal.
Only two large newspapers entered this year: the Houston Press and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. (The Bloomberg wire service also entered.) This may not be shocking to the average reader, but you’ve got to understand that journalism contests are an obsession to most media outlets. Having no one enter is like taking a bag of rocks to Cracktown and hearing “No thanks, I’m good.”
You know a contest is poorly run if you can’t get the hometown daily to enter.
“We didn’t decide not to enter it,” Chron managing editor John Wilburn says. “I have a vague recollection of someone saying, ‘Oh, it’s the deadline for the Houston Press Club,’ and it was a busy day and we went, ‘Oh, let’s think about it later,’ and it got away.”
Well, a Lone Star Award probably isn’t quite as prestigious as a Pulitzer…
What’s really sad is that two Chronicle editors are listed as being on the 2005 HPC Board of Directors.
