Best Local Blogger
Jessica Leigh Lebos
Yo, Yenta! Jewish Mothering from the Edge www.yoyenta.com
While Jews were among the earliest and most influential settlers of both Savannah and Charleston, they haven't always had the easiest time of it below the Mason-Dixon Line. Jessica Leigh Lebos, your 2010 Best Local Blogger winner, seeks to explore the ins and outs of being Jewish in the South.
After she finishes freaking out, that is.
"When I got your message that I won, I was like, oh my God!" she laughs. "I was totally freaking out. It was the biggest surprise ever."
It's Jessica's endearing and personable blend of humility, humor, and curiosity that has made her blog "Yo, Yenta!" a success beyond her dreams.
"I'm getting e-mails from all over the world," she says, somewhat incredulously. "I have people come up to me at the Twelve Oaks Publix and say" - here she adopts the classic Fran Drescher/Queens nasal accent - "‘You don't know me, but sweetheart, I think you're fabulous.'"
Lebos sums up her blog as being for those people "who aren't the kind of person who fits into the clique, not in the definitive group, and are trying to find their way in the world and be comfortable with themselves and who they are. This blog is about my struggle and challenge in doing that within the social structure of Savannah."
"Yo Yenta!" actually began as an offshoot of a Jewish dating site run by Jessica's brother and a friend.
"They hired me to fill it with content. It then developed into its own thing because that seemed to be what was getting the most attention."
Lebos lives in Savannah with her husband Mark and their two young children Abraham and Liberty.
"Being a Jewish mother comes with so many stereotypes I never wanted to shoulder," she says. "It tends to be an unattractive cliche. I have a valid way of presenting that, though it might be different from stereotypes in the past."
For example, "I'm constantly pushing food on my children, but healthy things like quinoa and kale," she laughs.
Challenging stereotypes is not new for Lebos, who grew up in Arizona.
"I left Tucson in a VW bus to go to Alaska," she recalls. "I broke down north of San Francisco, so that's where I stayed.
And that's where I met my husband" - who's actually a Savannah native - "and had my children."
While in California, Lebos's "first real job" was at the Pacific Sun in Marin County, one of the oldest alt-weeklies in the country. After the family's move to Savannah in 2006, Lebos had a stint as editor of Skirt magazine, and is now freelancing and blogging.
"I'm now sort of flying by the seat of my pants. I have a book proposal out there, and I'm hopeful something might happen with that - as long as my mother doesn't try to shut me down for sharing the family secrets," she laughs.
Lebos expounds on the double irony of her existence, which often pops up, usually in humorous fashion, in "Yo, Yenta!"
"I grew up one of four Jewish kids in my high school, so I always had an outsider perspective. But I also feel like an outsider in Jewish culture - I guess a better word would be otherness," she says.
"I'm just trying to make sense of the otherness I've always lived with and reveled in. Who wants to fit in, anyway?" - JM
Best Local TV News Anchor
Sonny Dixon
This politician-turned-anchorman on WTOC is a true Southern gentleman and a staple of the local news scene.
Runner-up: Kim Gusby, WSAV
Best Local TV Sports Anchor
Frank Sulkowski
Nobody covers local sports with more heart than the Big Guy on Fox 28.
Runner-up: Rick Snow, WTOC
Best Local Meteorologist
Pat Prokop
A premier weather prognosticator in Savannah for 30 years, WTOC's Prokop is also an avid gardener.
Runner-up: Kris Poseman, WSAV
Best Local Newspaper Columnist
Bill Dawers
Bill Dawers, Savannah's "Man About Town," is the Savannah Morning News' columnist with an eye and ear on downtown Savannah and the local business and civic community. On Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for almost ten years, Dawers' columns have run in either the business or the entertainment section of the daily newspaper.
Dawers (pronounced "doors") arrived in Savannah in 1995 to take a middle school teaching job. He holds master's degrees in English and history, typically teaches four freshman and sophomore English classes per semester at Armstrong Atlantic State University, and serves in various volunteer efforts.
"The column started off as downtown goings on, with emphasis on business, and new business profiles, which is still pretty much the core of it," says Dawers. "With the recession the Sunday and Tuesday columns have become more numbers based, looking at the serious economics issues. Especially beginning in 2007 when it started to become obvious to me that we had some serious economics problems on the horizon."
His goal for the column:
"I want to give people the kind of information I would want as a resident of the city. What are new places worth checking out? What are data and trends looking like, that a normal citizen would not follow? My main goal is to give people information. My second goal is to give that information concisely and succinctly and entertainingly."
How he decides what to write about:
"At any given moment I probably have three or four different things on my radar screen. Stores about to open, events about to happen, bands about to appear. Also I've got a number of trends I'm constantly following," he says.
"I look at the MLS [real estate data] every month, I look at the Department of Labor data every month. I look at the port data, the airport data. That's all just part of my routine. I look at the sales tax distributions that the state posts on the department of revenue webstie, the state monthly revenue data. A lot of months I never write about them at all, especially right now because there is not a lot that's new. But then there will be a news item or something is happening that I feel is being misinterpreted or spun in ways that I feel are not true. That will compel me to write about it."
What the future holds:
"I'll keep doing this as long as they'll have me. There is a role for a column like mine. I think a lot of other newspapers in small cities should have metro columns. I hope that if I ever quit writing it, there would be someone else who would do something similar, shine spotlights on certain things."
Runner-up: Tom Barton
Best Local Website
Connectsavannah.com
We'll try not to linger too long on how awesome we are, but in all seriousness we're glad you like us. Last year was the first time we bested longtime rival savannahnow.com, so this win marks our second consecutive year of victory.
Runner-up: savannahnow.com
Best Local Facebook Page
Tybee Island
Their sun-soaked status updates remind us all how much we'd rather be on the beach than in the office when the weather is nice.
Runner-up: Glow Medical Spa
Best Local Twitter Feed
Visit Savannah
Nobody does more to promote Savannah in 140 characters or less. From interacting with potential visitors to publicizing local events, @VisitSavannah has given new meaning to our title as the ‘Hostess City' for the 21st Century.
Runner-up: Glow Medical Spa
Best Radio Station
WRHQ 105.3
The last of the independently owned stations on the FM dial in these parts is still going strong.
Runner-up: 97.3 KISS FM
Best Local Radio Personality
Jerry Rogers, WRHQ
As solo owner of WRHQ 105.3 FM, Rogers can program things any way he wants. The 66-year-old New Yorker has been on the air in Savannah since the dawn of popular FM in the late 1960s, and after all those years, he still letting the music do most of the talking.
Runner-up: Bill Edwards
Best Talk Radio Station
WTKS 1290
The home of Rush Limbaugh, Bill Edwards and other conservative voices, this is the station for those who know their Right from the Left.
Runner-up: NPR
COMMENTS