The finalists have been announced for the Milwaukee Press Club's annual Excellence In Wisconsin Journalism awards, and Isthmus is again well represented in the contest. This year, as last, the order of the finishers will be announced at the organization's annual Gridiron Awards Dinner, slated for Milwaukee's InterContinental Hotel on May 17.
Bruce Murphy, former Isthmus arts editor and current editor of UrbanMilwaukee.com, has been nominated in the opinion category for his Isthmus piece "Why Voters Rejected the Recall." This was an autopsy of the June 2012 ballot to oust Gov. Scott Walker, in which the author tries to slap lamenting liberals back into reality over the results.
Local graphic satirists Jon Lyons and Alan Talaga, creators of "Off the Square," the comic that runs every week in Isthmus, are contending in the cartoon-or-illustration category. They are being recognized for their cover story "12 Signs of the Madison Apocalypse," which ran back in January 2012, making fun of Madison sensibilities.
Also under consideration, in the column category, is Andy Moore, whose "Close to Home" deals with the vagaries of domestic and community life in Madison. Perhaps Andy will treat Peggy to a glamorous dinner in Milwaukee. There is no truth to the rumor that the column has also been entered in the Kentucky Journalism Awards competition.
The Gridiron dinner also hosts a national news figure with its Sacred Cat Award, named in recognition of the club's dead feline mascot, Anubis; and a Wisconsin-based achiever with the Headliner award. This year's Sacred Cat is news maven Cokie Roberts .Aptly enough, the Headliner will go to Barry Alvarez. Maybe they'll all end the evening by singing "On Wisconsin."