A Letter From the Publisher

By John A. Meyers

It is the season for awards in the U.S., a country that takes great relish in judging performances and dispensing accolades. As the spring progresses, the trophy cases fill: Oscars, Obies, Tonys. Journalism is hardly immune to the desire to judge and be judged. Thus last week came the Pulitzer Prizes and two major groups of honors for which magazines compete: the National Magazine Awards and the Overseas Press Club Awards.

It proved a rewarding week for TIME. The magazine won the prestigious award for general excellence among publications with a circulation of more than 1 million. The prize, a stabile designed by Alexander Calder, is presented by the American Society of Magazine Editors and administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The citation commended TIME for "excellence in its coverage and analysis of the week's news, in its notable design and color photography, in its intelligent criticism of the arts and in its finely chiseled essays."

The next evening TIME was cited for its achievements in photojournalism. For the ninth time in ten years, a photographer on assignment for TIME won the O.P.C.'s esteemed Robert Capa Gold Medal "for best photographic reporting or interpretation from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise." For the second year in a row, the winner was James Nachtwey. Said Nachtwey, who is on assignment in Nicaragua, in a prepared statement read for him: "Everyone with whom I have gone into the field owns a piece of this award."

TIME also received, for the fifth consecutive year, the Olivier Rebbot Award,* presented by Newsweek, for the best photographic reporting from abroad. David Burnett won for TIME stories on the Ethiopian famine and the 40th anniversary of D-day, along with coverage of Jamaica for National Geographic. TIME Picture Editor Arnold H. Drapkin summed up the double win: "Although TIME is not generally thought of as a photo magazine, these awards, year after year, underscore TIME's pre-eminence in the field of photojournalism."

Is this examination of journalism by journalists useful for the press? "Without doubt," says TIME Managing Editor Ray Cave. "It helps us see what we achieved yesterday, recognize what we are doing today, and realize how large are tomorrow's challenges."

As publisher, I take particular pleasure in congratulating TIME's staff, whose talents and efforts made these honors possible.

FOOTNOTE: *The Capa medal is named for a LIFE photographer killed in Indochina in 1954. Rebbot was fatally wounded in El Salvador on a 1981 assignment for Newsweek.