1. I realized recently that the Free Press Association—the now-defunct group that gave out the Mencken Awards in the 1980s and '90s—wasn't memorialized on the web. So Michael Grossberg and I put this site together. https://menckenawards.blogspot.com/ 

2. Among other activities, the group distributed media ID cards to freelancers to help them gain access to news events. Believe it or not, this actually worked.

3. But it was best known for the awards. Writers & cartoonists who won them over the years include @SeymourHersh @JimBovard @DebbieNathan2 @orvilleschell @sullydish @murraywaas @glenngarvin @bloomcounty @lindamizejewski @PJORourke @ayittey @TomTolesToons @vpostrel @robertacaro …

4. And many folks who are no longer with us—Nat Hentoff, Mike Royko, Jane Jacobs, Nicholas von Hoffman, Gary Webb, Alexander Cockburn, Thomas Szasz, Walter Karp...

5. How many organizations were broad-minded enough to give prizes to both The Nation and Soldier of Fortune? (One apiece.)

6. Anyway, a lot of people won these awards, and an even larger group were finalists, and it seemed wrong that there wasn't a record somewhere of who they were. So now there is.

7. (With a couple of gaps, but hopefully we'll eventually fill those in.)

8. One more thing. I was basically running these awards for the last couple of years. In theory, Bill Bradford was in charge; in practice, that just meant he had the power to veto my decisions.

9. (To be clear: That doesn't mean I picked who won. In some cases my faves were outvoted. But I was managing the process.)

10. In this way, I learned something interesting: Many newspapers appeared to just automatically send entries to every award they'd heard of, whether or not the work fit the category. Even, in some cases, if the entries were actively opposed to what we were trying to honor.

11. Two decades have passed & I don't remember any specific examples. And it wouldn't be appropriate to name & shame them anyway. Let's just say that if an organization is devoted to civil liberties, you probably shouldn't send them a series calling for criminalizing something.

12. But bless 'em: They paid their entry fees and it helped keep the institution afloat. Until I stopped working for Bill & the awards promptly died. But that's another story.