Forget the Pulitzers -- 'The Sexies' Want Your Best Work

By: Joe Strupp They will probably not get the prestige of the Pulitzer Prizes, but the new Sex-Positive Journalism Awards, which announced a call for entries this week, may well tap into a news criteria unacknowledged in the past.

The creation of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, the Center for Sex and Culture, "Babeland," and journalist Miriam
Axel-Lute, the awards seek to "promote fair, accurate, and non-sensationalized coverage of sexual topics," according to a release that dubs the prizes, of course, "The Sexies."

"To hear some people tell it, all of 'the media' is a degenerate,
sex-drenched affair. But although there's plenty of talk about the sex lives of celebrities and a willingness to use a scandal to sell a paper, when you get into the content of actual news stories, things often take a turn for the Puritanical: Soccer moms' fabricated allegations about kids being exposed to nudity in a hotel hosting a swingers conference get printed as fact and never retracted," the release states. "Religious minorities are assumed to speak for all religious Americans, or even all Americans, when it comes to whether "abstinence" should be the teen sex-ed gold standard. Usual standards of fairness and objectivity fall prey to reporters and editors' squeamishness."

Organizers are asking potential entrants to submit their nominations at www.sexies.org.

"For the past decade, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom has dealt with media reports that include sensationalized and false information about sexual issues," says Susan Wright, NCSF spokesperson. "These articles cause harm by encouraging discrimination and persecution of adults who engage in consensual sexual expression. NCSF is proud to support the Sexies and sex-positive journalism in America."

Winners will be chosen by a group of judges that include syndicated columnist Dan Savage; Carol Queen, PhD; Liza Featherstone, journalist and author of ?Sex, Lies, and Women?s Magazines?; Jack Hafferkamp, a former journalist, journalism professor and co-editor/publisher of LIBIDO: The Journal of Sex and Sensibility; Judith Levine, journalist and author of the award-winning "Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex"; Doug Henwood, contributing editor to The Nation; Marty Klein, PhD, certified sex therapist and author of "America?s War on Sex"; and Claire Cavanah, an activist, writer, speaker, and educator in human sexuality and a founder of babeland.com.

The Sexies will be given for articles in four categories: news, feature, opinion, and "unsexy." The first three categories have four divisions each: daily newspaper, weekly or biweekly newspaper, online news publication, and sex- or sexual orientation-themed news publication (any print medium).

Articles must have been published in 2007. Article series must have started or ended in 2007. Submissions are due by March 23, 2008.

Organizers state that the criteria include: "pieces of journalism that: touch on sex?sexual practice, health, or behavior--in some manner, but no sexual orientation; are intended for a general audience; and meet high overall standards of reporting, fact-checking, and writing."

"We are not looking for racy or sensationalistic stories," the release stated. "The awards will be something any traditional journalist should be proud to hang on his or her wall?a testament to journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy about a charged and controversial subject."