Front Page Award
I take special pride in this award from the Newswomen’s Club of New York. It’s the 2009 Front Page Award for commentary, which means my work was in competition with columns and editorials written on a range of topics by women journalists across the metropolitan area. And I’m only human. It gives me an extra lift to know that my entry was the only work published in Newsday that was honored this year. Not bad for a column the paper decided to dump.

Click here to read the three columns that made up my winning entry:
• “Studiously Painted with Plants” – a stroll through the gardens of Stony Brook University with designer Lynden Miller.
• “A Window Seat for Slimes of Passion” – a peek at the sex lives of slugs.
• “Her Touch is Alive in Brooklyn” – a tribute to the late Judy Zuk of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Garden Writers Association Silver Award
When I decided to write about the late, great Ed Rezek of Malverne, a rock star in the world of dwarf conifers, I didn’t know it would be my final column for the newspaper where I’d spent almost 25 years – the last 14 of them as the garden columnist. Which is why this award from my garden-writer peers means so much to me. Click here to read the winning column – “Inspired by a Master of Miniatures.”

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