Let’s toot our own horn just for a second. Allegro was awarded best labor newspaper in its circulation class by the International Labor Communications Association, an umbrella group of labor publications.

Allegro also won a number of other top writing awards:

In the “Best Editorial Or Column” category, Allegro won both first and second place. Paul Molloy took the gold for “Why Barack Obama is Good for Musicians.” Joel LeFevre picked up the silver for “On Strikes, Respect and Heroes.”

In the “Best Labor History Story” category, we again won the gold, for “Singing History”& “Music Changes Minds” by Charlie King and Anne Feeney. King and Feeney are members of AFM Local 1000 and are top-tier singer-songwriters from the labor/activist tradition.

In the “Best Feature Story” category, Allegro won second place for “New Orleans Keeps the Beat Alive,” a story written just for us by Matt Sakakeeny, who is the senior contributing producer for the public radio program “American Routes.” We also won third place for “Send a Piana to Havana,” by Ben Treuhaft and Nancy Wallace, about an innovative program to donate pianos to Cuba.

Finally, we won the prestigious Saul Miller award for best collective bargaining story for “Solidarity Wins the Day,” a story about last year’s stagehands’ strike, a collaboration written by Allegro editor Mikael Elsila and the officers and senior staff.

More details of the contest and the ILCA can be found at www.ILCAonline.org.