So - who won the drama contest?

Is it just me, or does it seem to you that even minor press stories in this town play out in a very strange way? Take the tiny tempest kicked up by the Herald's Tai Irwin, who pointed out that the Globe hadn't covered the Massachusetts Drama Guild Finals, even though it was one of the sponsors of the event. Geoff Edgers, of the Globe's Exhibitionist blog, apologized for the gap, but only posted one image - of the event's "alternate" winners (he did link to the event site). Now he's posted again about the event - publishing a long letter from the organization's chair, explaining that the group understood it wouldn't be covered by the paper, since the publicity "would appear as self-promotion for the Globe" (uh - isn't that the idea behind all such sponsorships?).

So the Festival officials couldn't be happier about the fact that they didn't get any publicity (after all, they "highly value the longstanding relationship with the Boston Globe"). And Geoff has had his say. Everyone's ass is covered, but in the meantime, nobody's actually published the winners of the contest! So I thought I would.

And without further ado, the winners are:


Westford Academy
Dancing at Lughnasa


Nauset High School
The Laramie Project

Alternate Winner:


Weston High School
Painting Provenance

The full list of awards is here.

Congratulations, guys, and keep up the good work!

Of inboxes and their overflowingness

Geoff Edgers explains (sort of) the Globe's snub of its own drama festival here. Money quote:

I actually had no idea this event was occurring. I have to say, I get a lot of e-mail pitches in my box each day . . . whether I should or should not have been aware of the Drama Festival Awards, I learned about them through (Tai Irwin's) blog complaint.

To be fair, of course, it's hard to see why this job should fall solely to Edgers (and as he points out, the Herald "didn't do squat either"). On the other hand, it's a bit hard to see why an arts festival sponsored by the Globe should have to beg it for some publicity . . . doesn't that simple fact hint at the sports-centered dysfunction at the paper?

On the other hand, it's been weeks since Geoff posted about Ray Davies. Keep up the good work, Geoff!

Jocks:16; Drama Jocks:0

Tai Irwin's Boston Herald blog takes the Globe to task for ignoring the high school drama festival that the Globe itself sponsored. Money quote:

. . . you’d probably assume that the paper would cover the event and report on the winners – but you’d be wrong. Instead, on Sunday morning we got sixteen pages of the state’s top athletes, all professionally photographed . . . The message is very clear . . . once again it’s sports that matter most, even to the exclusion of intellectual and artistic activities. What a great thing to tell our kids, over and over again. Never mind the brain pursuits – the science fairs and business/educational coops, and never mind the arts, dance, music, drama. The thing that is going to solve all our problems and nurture all our values best is sports. Me, I love sports, team and individual, youth and lifetime. But here’s the great mistake – psst, they really don’t matter that much and we’ve created a monster, telling every kid that the regional soccer game they have to make next weekend is life or death. Truth is that the overwhelming majority of high school athletes are mediocre in the grand scheme of things, won’t be going to the Olympics and are just having fun. Just having fun. JUST HAVING FUN. But you would never know it from the glorifying of Sunday’s Globe.