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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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Nice national wins for Honolulu Magazine
HONOLULU Magazine was a finalist for two City and Regional Magazine Association Awards this year and won in both cases, receiving its awards Monday night in Denver.
It received a bronze award for general excellence among magazines with circulation of 30,000 or less.
John Heckathorn's dining column also won a bronze award in the food/dining criticism category, in which the competition is among all magazine finalists, large and small.
Some members of the Honolulu Magazine team traveled to Denver for the awards ceremony.
"We're thrilled," said Editor A. Kam Napier. Members of the City and Regional Magazine Association share "a real feeling of community" at these annual conferences, during which the awards are presented. "It means a lot to get that recognition from our peers," he said.
Heckathorn, whose Sunday column, "What the Heck," for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin you may already have read, is "happy and grateful" to have been so honored, especially against more than 90 other city magazines, "including some quite large ones. You know the other winners, Boston and the Washingtonian, they're both REAL good."
Heckathorn's gratitude runs deep, he said, because mainland judges are probably not very familiar with the Hawaii food scene. "It's kind of out of the box," for them, he said.
One of the three "dining" columns the magazine submitted was about Filipino food, "and I'm guessing they'd never read about Filipino food before. I was really very pleased."
More than 950 entries were submitted by 80 magazines that were judged by 73 professionals from 35 publications, including Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Sports Illustrated and Gourmet magazines.
The judges said Honolulu Magazine "informs to the point of educating and entertains its readers" and called its design "clean, yet active and reflects the editorial tone and nature of the magazine."
Heckathorn's restaurant writing was praised for being "more than just reviews ... so that they read like stories of investigation or discovery as much as like critiques."
While there was no national broadcast of the CRMA Awards, it is still possible to experience the moment of Honolulu Magazine's bronze win for general excellence.
Yes, it's on YouTube.
A crew member videotaped the video slideshow of the nominee announcements, the winning announcement and acceptance of the awards. Go to YouTube.com and search for Honolulu Magazine @ CRMA or click on the link above, if you're reading this online.
By way of disclosure, Honolulu Magazine is what Napier called a "calabash cousin" of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Honolulu Magazine's parent company, AIO LLC, is owned by Duane Kurisu, a minority investor in the Bulletin.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com