Bloom Wins 15 Journalism Awards, Abrams Honored

BY RODNEY MARGISON

Bloom Magazine staff and contributors earned 15 Best of the Best Indiana Journalism awards, presented by the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), for work published during the 2017 calendar year. The awards were presented Friday, April 27, during a banquet held at the Indianapolis Marriott North.

Malcolm Abrams, Bloom’s founder, editor, and publisher, was awarded the Gene and Julie Slaymaker Service to Journalism Award. The award recognizes his 12 years providing Bloomington with Bloom Magazine and the website magbloom.com, and for his contribution to quality journalism in the state of Indiana. Bloom has now received 123 awards from SPJ since 2008.

Managing Editor Carmen Siering received three first-place awards for stories she wrote last year. In the Features Writing category for all magazines and non-daily newspapers, Siering won top honors for “The Story of Melanie and Stormy” (December 2017/January 2018 issue). The judges said Siering’s story was a “powerful and compelling read highlighting a little known service for the adoption of adult foster children.”

In Coverage of Minority Issues, publication circulation below 30,000, Siering won first place for “To Be Muslim in Bloomington” (April/May 2017). Of this story, the judges wrote, “Carmen Siering gives a detailed and personal look at life for Bloomington’s Muslim families in the winning story in this category.”

Siering’s other first-place award was for “Voices of Recovery,” (October/November 2017) in Medical or Science Reporting, publication circulation below 30,000. “The writing of each of these brief recovery bios is brilliant and varied, with judicious use of quotes that captures the subjects’ personality and makes reading it a pleasure,” the judges commented.

Other first-place awards:

• Associate Editor Rodney Margison won in the Sports Photography category for his coverage of the December 29 Indiana University/Youngstown State men’s basketball game, published on magbloom.com. “Unique shot of high flying competitors,” the judges wrote. “Perfect peak action.”
• Designer Emilee Stites, contributing photographer Kendall Reeves, and Margison won for Magazine Cover Design, all magazines and periodicals. The winning covers were the June/July Homes & Gardens 2017 issue, which Reeves photographed, and the August/September 2017 issue “A New Era Begins” featuring photographs of IU basketball and football head coaches taken by Margison.

Second-place awards:

• Emilee Stites, Design Other Than Cover for all print media, for the feature story, “Spencer Reimagined” (June/July 2017).
• Contributing artist Joe Lee, Graphics and Illustrations, publication circulation below 30,000, for original drawings he created for “The Plight of Asylum-Seekers” (October/November 2017).
• Contributing writer Peter Dorfman, Investigative Reporting, publication circulation below 30,000, “The Plight of Asylum-Seekers.”
• Contributing writer Julie Gray, Arts and Entertainment Writing, publication circulation below 30,000, for her column “New Books from IU Press.”
• Contributing writer Craig Coley, Coverage of Children’s Issues, publication circulation below 30,000, “New Hope for Families” (December 2017/January 2018).

Third-place awards:

• Rodney Margison, Medical or Science Reporting, publication circulation below 30,000, “‘How Do You Have Fun with Cancer’ And Create a New Paradigm for Chemo?” (August/September 2017).
• Contributing writer Molly Brush, Business or Consumer Affairs Reporting, publication circulation below 30,000, “Spencer Reimagined.”
• Contributing writer Greg Siering, Column Writing, publication circulation below 30,000, for his column, “Tapped Into Bloomington.”
• Contributing photographers Jeff Richardson and Stephen Sproull, Features Photography, publication circulation below 30,000, for images illustrating “To Be Muslim in Bloomington.”