This Afternoon: The First Annual Mirror Awards

It was with abundant anticipation the reporters and editors from B&C headed over to the W Hotel in midtown this afternoon to attend the Newhouse School’s first annual Mirror Awards–an award that honors the best in media industry reporting.

While we are always flattered to be invited anywhere socially, the reason for today’s excitement was because a piece by B&C’s  Allison Romano and the late, great John Higgins, "Why Journalists Risk Their Lives to Cover Iraq" received a nomination for Best Coverage of Breaking Industry News. 

While we didn’t take home the glass statuette, we were pleased– as they say– to have been included among such a distinguished group of nominees and presenters–and to have the opportunity to honor Reed’s own Peter Bart, the editor-in-chief of Variety, for earning the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meredith Vieira was our mistress of ceremonies–not missing an opportunity to inform Newhouse Dean David Rubin that she agreed to host the gig in order to get her son into Newhouse one day. Wink, wink– and the awards were given out by presenters Floyd Abrams, Liz Smith and Ester Dyson and Lou Boccardi.

We kept our misbehavior to a minimum at Table 3 as we hope  to be invited back–and maybe even win one–at the event next year.

The 2007 Mirror Award Winners
(bold indicates winner, * *indicates shameless pride and self promotion)

Overall Excellence:
American Journalism Review
CNN, "Reliable Sources–Turning a Critical Lens on the Media 2006"
Thirteen/WNET New York, "America’s Investigative Reports"

Excellence in Media Information Services:
Benton Foundation, Bentons Communications-related Headlines
mediabistro.com
HealthNewsReview.org, University of Minnesota, School of Journalism & Mass Communications

Best Commentary:
Kurt Andersen, New York Magazine, "The Imperial City"
David Carr, The New York Times, "The Media Equation"
Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post, "Media Misfires"

Best Profile
Ken Auletta, The New Yorker, "Mad As Hell: Lou Dobbs Populist Crusade"
Rachel Smolkin, American Journalism Review, "Life With Brian"
Philip Weiss, New York Magazine, "A Guy Named Craig"

Best Subject Related Series
Brooks Barnes and Matthew Karnitschnig, The Wall Street Journal, "Viacom Coverage"
Andreas Kluth, The Economist, "Among the Audience: A Survey of New Media"
Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher, "Mixing, Matching and Multi-Media" 

Best Coverage of Breaking Industry News
David Folkenflik, NPR, "Critics Question Reporter’s Airing of Personal Views"
**John M. Higgins (in memoriam) and Allison Romano, Broadcasting & Cable, "Why Journalists Risk Their Lives to Cover Iraq"
Dean Miller, Nieman Reports, "A Local Newspaper Endures A Stormy Backlash"

Best Single Article
Katherine Seelye, The New York Times, "The Day The News Left Town"
Clive Thompson, New York Magazine, "Blogs to Riches"
Clive Thompson, The New York Times Magazine, "Googles China Problem (and China’s Google Problem)"
Linda Tischler, Fast Company, "Al Jazeera’s Global Mission"
Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, The Wall Street Journal, "Dividing Lines: Why Book Industry See the World Split Still By Race"