The Chicago Sun-Times has won Pulitzer Prizes and more Associated Press awards than you can count.
But we're willing to bet those honors couldn't even begin to match the palpable excitment in the newsroom today when Brian, the World's First Human Trophy, presented the Golden Local award for "Best Newspaper."
We've been in this business for about 60 years and it's all been preliminaries until this contest got under way," Sun-Times publisher John Barron said. "This contest has been nerve-wracking -- it's been nail biting time, it's been sudden death, it's been down to the wire -- and lo and behold, it went our way."
Without a doubt, the Sun-Times and Tribune matchup was one of the most contentious Golden Local Debates we've ever seen. Chicagoans tend to pick sides when it comes to choosing their daily newspaper, so it wasn't surprising to see a hearty debate on the Web site and a relatively close vote (58%-42%).
But in the end, the Sun-Times' followers left no doubt that they're No. 1 when it comes to the hearts and minds of the city's news readers.
"I think the columnists are one of the things, myself and my colleagues, that makes the Sun-Times stand out. People get their news everywhere, from elevators nowadays, but what they can't get is the spin we put on it," columnist Neil Steinberg said.
And not everybody can say they have the world's first human trophy.
"Now that's a trophy, that's a trophy. Move over Oscar," an admiring Bill Zwecker said when he got a glimpse of Brian.
With the excitment over, things can now get back to normal at the paper. Barron admitted there were days when the paper barely got out on time because the staffers were too busy voting. But now they're taking their big victory humbly in stride.
"We win! We win! We win! That's better than the other alternative," Barron said.
