Just wanted to share the terrific -- and unexpected -- news, which was today reported at Editor & Publisher magazine. 5280 Magazine today announced that I have been named best columnist in its annual award issue. 5280, which is based in Denver, is one of the largest and most well-respected regional magazines in the country -- and the flagship general-interest magazine in the Rocky Mountain West. I won its readers' choice award -- the one given to the weekly columnist who gets the most votes from readers for his/her work. You can find the official site for my nationally syndicated weekly column here.
Thanks to all of you who voted in the contest -- and all of you who have contacted your local editors asking them to run the column. Your continued help with the latter has resulted in the column becoming one of the fastest growing in the country. It now runs weekly in newspapers with a combined circulation of almost 2 million readers. Those include the Denver Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Seattle Times.
To get this award in the column's first year is such a great honor -- and better yet, a great show of grassroots support. In other words, it's a great honor for all of us, because my column spends so much time promoting the great progressive work of so much of our movement.
In an age of homogenized national news, it's not easy to be one of the only syndicated columnists not living in Washington, D.C. or New York City. So when readers show their support like this, it only reinforces the idea that they are looking for more authentic, outside-the-Beltway perspectives from their news publications. It also shows they want progressive voices - even in one of the most conservative regions of the country. And thanks to your grassroots support, the column is now in many of the leading newspapers in some of the most important swing states and swing nations in the country.
Thanks again for all your support for my work, whether it's the column, or whether it's vaulting both of my books onto the New York Times bestseller list. As always, let me know how you think I can make the column better, or if you have ideas for how I can keep trying my best to build readership.
You can find the official site for my column here. The column relies on grassroots support, so if you'd like to see my column regularly in your local paper, use this directory to find the contact info for your local editorial page editors. Get get in touch with them and point them to my Creators Syndicate site. Thanks, as always, for your ongoing readership and help contacting local editors. This column couldn't be what it is without your help.