And the winner is ... Tony Phyrillas

It's award season. Although I was shut out at the Golden Globes, I have some good news to share with loyal readers.

I learned today that I won First Place for Best Opinion Column in the 2006 Editorial Contest sponsored by the Suburban Newspapers of America, a national trade association with more than 2,000-member newspapers.

My newspaper, The Mercury, won a total of seven awards in the contest. Although the list of winners is long and I just glanced through it, I believe The Mercury received more awards than any other newspaper in Pennsylvania.

I've received several state awards in the past, including two first-place Keystone Awards from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, but the SNA recognition is the first national award for me. It's always nice to be recognized by your peers.

I'll try to make my acceptance speech brief. I don't want to forget all the little people who got me here. First, I have to thank my readers, who started following me in the pages of The Mercury three years ago and continue to find me today on the Web. (I've had 4,000 visitors to this site in the past two months).

I'd like to thank all the bloggers who direct people to me, especially Chris Lilik at GrassrootsPA and John Micek, the maestro of Capitol Ideas. I start my day at both of those sites. (I mentioned the other blog sites I post to or that link to my columns in an earlier posting about my 2006 adventures in radio and television).

I also need to thank Ed Rendell and John Perzel for providing me with an endless supply of material to write about. And judging from the antics so far this year of the comedy team of Rendell and Perzel, I will be drawing from the same well for a long time to come.

The 2006 SNA contest was judged based on three writing samples. I don't have the actual columns in front of me, but I can bet they dealt with the sad state of affairs that passes for state government in Pennsylvania.

I'll try not to let all the attention go to my head, but does anyone know the name of a good agent?