8 | SMOOTH JAZZ NEWS OUR WRITERS’ Every musician and artist we interview mentions how much education and time practicing they spend honing their skills. And, although they love the accolades they receive from fans, it is the praise from their peers and musical heroes that o en means the most to them. e same is true for the art of writing. Our writers are professional journalists with decades of bylines to their credit. All of us have been grati ed to win awards for our work. Marcia Luttrell’s feature spotlighting the singer Maysa, published in the February-March 2024 issue of Smooth Jazz News, has been recognized twice. Her Maysa article won rst place at the San Diego Press Club’s 51st Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards in the category of magazine entertainment writing. She is especially proud of this recognition. “For the past three years, I’ve won second or third place for the dance stories I write for e San Diego Union-Tribune arts section,” she said. “In the past, I won both Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club awards writing for San Diego Magazine. But my rst, rst-place for a music story in a magazine is the ultimate win!” she exclaimed. Another honor for the Maysa piece was a second-place award in July from the San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in the arts and entertainment writing category. ese are among the six or seven additional honors she received for her work in other publications. Our principal feature writer, Ken Capobianco, is loaded with journalism credentials. Here is a fun fact about Ken: He is a two-time winner of the Best Humor Columnist award from the New England Newspaper & Press Association. And, it’s not a stand-alone honor. Over his 35-plus-year writing career, he’s been nominated for awards many times for contributions to such publications as e Boston Globe, Billboard, e New York Times, Cape Cod Times and Journal of Modern Literature. Ken earned a Master of Arts degree in English literature from Tu s University, and he has taught writing and literature at Northeastern University and journalism at Emerson College. In addition to all that, he’s also the author of two novels. For me, it was my love of writing and passion for smooth jazz nearly 30 years ago that launched my journalistic endeavors. at journey took me from a lucrative mortgage banking career into the classroom, then onto the printed page as a freelance writer. Interestingly, one of the outlets I wrote for, e Entertainer, Marcia “In the past, I won both Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club awards writing for San Diego Magazine. But my rst, rst-place for a music story in a magazine is the ultimate win!” — Marcia Luttrell WRITERS’
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