Harmon Receives National Press Club Award
JEM Professor Mark Harmon received the National Press Club’s Angele Gingras Humor Award for humorous column writing in an awards ceremony at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on August 30. Competition Judges praised Harmon’s columns for “Crisp, clever writing often taking a creative look at a simple idea or detail.”
This award, named for Angele Gingras, a longtime National Press Club member who specialized in writing amusing stories for magazines and newspapers, honors excellence in humor writing.
“The award is bittersweet,” said Harmon. “I learned about it just a few weeks after the News Sentinel dropped four local columnists, including me. I like to think the award speaks to the need to keep community voices as many newspapers struggle.”
Harmon also received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi national award for general column writing in 2013 and 2017.