Congratulations to the Portland writers, designers and production staff who picked up honors at the 2009 AltWeekly Awards over the weekend! Portlander Nancy Rommelmann won first place in arts features for her LA Weekly story, "No Exit Plan: The Life and Death of JT LeRoy," about American author Laura Albert and her teenage persona, JT LeRoy.

Portland Mercury News Editor Matt Davis "won" second-place honors for his short-form news stories, "Blog This," about BikePortland.org editor Jonathan Maus being ordered to turn over commenter information; "Taser Eraser," about a Portland police officer accused of lying in court to cover up mistakes; and "Leonard's Secret List," about Portland's unpublished records of top arrestees targeted for special attention. Davis also won a third-place recognition for his column, "In The Shadows." (We consider it a win, Matt.)

Willamette Week's Beth Slovic also won a third-place honor for her long-form news story, "Señor Smith," about low-wage Latino workers at then-Senator Gordon Smith's family business, and the immigration statuses thereof. And Willamette Week's design and production staff won second place in cover design for "The Queer and the Qur'an," "Nope," and "Yeah!"

Davis has the full list of winners on his website [PDF].

Great work, everyone!