What It’s Like to Win an Ellie

Author Thomas E. Kennedy relates the story of his big win at the National Magazine Awards for “I Am Joe’s Prostate” in New Letters:

Finally, Charlie Rose was on stage to present the award in the essay category, and we experienced this surreal moment of having the pages of Bob’s magazine with my essay projected up on a huge screen on the stage while 500 people looked on and the voice of a woman who sounded equally educated and merry was saying over the sound system, “Wince-inducing, outrageously honest and wickedly funny, Thomas Kennedy’s account of his prostate-cancer scare is essay writing at its most original…”

Then Charlie Rose was saying, “The winner is New Letters, Robert Stewart, and Thomas E. Kennedy’s essay, ‘I Am Joe’s Prostate.’” Bob yelled in triumph, pumping his fist in the air, while his wife Lisa and staff members Betsy and Amy screamed from the balcony (that scream was reported by the New York Observer), and I muttered, “Holy shit.”