Madison Magazine selected as finalists for two national awards

Madison Magazine was selected as finalists in two categories by the City and Regional Magazine Association’s national awards competition.

The first finalist is for “Life Sentences” by Rudy Bankston which was selected in the essays/commentary/criticism category. Bankston was a guest columnist to Madison Magazine in the August 2021 issue. Bankston shares his painful personal experience of growing up as a young Black man in Milwaukee and turning himself in to police with his mother on a rainy Mother’s Day. In prison, he turned to the dictionary and books by Black authors, resulting in a literary and life transformation that led him to find himself, mentor others and even write a novel while behind bars. Read Bankston’s story here.

Rudy Bankston wrote a guest column for Madison Magazine. (August 2021)

Photo by Paulius Musteikis

The second finalist is in the civic journalism category for Associate Editor Maggie Ginsberg’s “When Safer at Home Isn’t.” The story in the January 2021 issue takes a look at domestic abuse amid COVID-19. This story might have gone untold beyond a shocking headline that domestic abuse services’ help line call volumes dropped sharply when Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order went into effect in March 2020, then exploded to nearly triple the usual numbers by July. “When Safer at Home Isn’t” uncovered that although Wisconsin has a mandatory arrest statute, it’s up to responding officers to determine whether a suspect’s acts constitute probable cause for domestic abuse, and Madison’s arrest numbers are disproportionately low compared to the domestic abuse calls they receive. Read Ginsberg’s story here.

The magazine has won several CRMA awards in the past, most recently winning general excellence award in 2021, the first time the magazine has won in that specific category. Madison Magazine will find out the results in May.

In addition to CRMA awards, Madison Magazine was awarded in  eight categories for Milwaukee Press Club’s Excellence in Journalism Awards. The place of awards will be announced May 6. Click the links below to read each of the stories:

Best Pandemic Story in Print — The Lion Hearts
Best Long Soft Feature Story — The Untold Story of Nirvana in Madison
Best Single Editorial, Statement of Editorial Position or Opinion — Rudy Bankston’s Life Sentences
Best Explanatory Story or Series — Where the Grass is Greener + Wisconsin’s Original Green Cemetery
Best Personal Profile — The Next Course
Best Illustration or Cartoon — When Safer at Home Isn’t
Best Single Story or Feature Design — Seeing Stars
Best Overall Design