rabkin Prize
in Visual Arts Journalism
The early-May email from Susan Larsen, executive director of the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, stopped me short. She told me I had been nominated for an inaugural Rabkin Prize in Visual Arts Journalism.
In her words, “The Rabkin Prize was created to acknowledge the role played by visual arts journalists who create the important ground of understanding between artists and the general public. We hope our awards will provide a bit of time and security and a space in your life for exploration, dreaming, growth and personal fulfillment. We do this in sincere gratitude for the work and sacrifice offered by our visual arts journalists everywhere and every day. You are among the best in the field and we wish you success in our competition.”
Each of eight winners would receive $50,000.
In July, I learned that I won, this time in a phone call from Larsen. I said this about the prize on Facebook:
A few words about the Rabkin Prize:
Thank you – for reading the newspaper, for caring about your community and for the outpouring of support and kindness expressed on FB and elsewhere over the past 24 hours. I am accustomed to writing about artists who win awards like these, and have interviewed several in Maine in recent years. Being on the receiving end is thrilling and humbling. I am grateful to the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation, to readers who value arts coverage and to my journalism colleagues in Maine and elsewhere.The intent of the prize is to give time and space to writers to think more deeply about their work and more room to breathe. The prize money absolutely will allow me to slow down and think more. I’m not changing my work routine – I am writing stories for Sunday’s Audience section this morning – but I will think differently about the work I do, and I will aim high in the other projects I pursue. I have several ideas, and am eager to explore those opportunities.
The prize also recognizes the vision of editorial team at the paper.At a time when many media outlets are reducing or eliminating arts coverage, we are bolstering it.
We put arts news on the front page more than any other newspaper I know, because the editors understand the importance of arts and culture economically and culturally. The arts are a vital part of Maine’s future and essential to the state’s legacy. Cutting our coverage is simply not an option.
I also want to say something about the Rabkins. Leo was an abstract artist from New York, by way of Ohio. He made his mark in the art world by creating colorful box-like sculptures, often with found objects. Arts and education were a part of his life from his very early days. Dorothea grew up in Germany, and her Jewish father was targeted by the Gestapo and died early in the war. She came to the United States with the help of others, who protected her and helped ensure her safe passage to a better life.
Together, they represent much of what makes this country great: Hope, idealism, community and individual expression.
I could not be more grateful. Thank you.
july 19, 2017
What I’ve enjoyed most about the award is the realizing how important arts coverage is to so many readers in Maine. People care about the arts in Maine, and people appreciate reading about artists and others who are active in Maine’s creative community. It’s tremendously gratifying to know that people care. Newspapers are a difficult business these days, and arts coverage is precariously thin at most news organizations. I do not take for granted the opportunity to write with sustained depth about painters and composers and actors. I’m proud of the work I’ve done at the Press Herald and proud to work in a newsroom that’s never used limited resources as an excuse for slacking off. We push each other to work hard.
The Rabkin Prize recognizes the newspaper’s historic commitment to the arts. I’ve been doing it since 2002, but there’s a history of visual arts journalism at the paper dating to Eddie Fitzpatrick and Phil Isaacson. The Rabkin Prize honors their legacy.
Portland Press Herald Staff photo by Gregory Rec