The Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage is designed to honor a journalist whose body of work is distinguished by insight and impact through engaging features on LGBTQ+ individuals, the LGBTQ+ community or LGBTQ+ issues.
The award is named for the pseudonym Edythe Eyde used for her pioneering publication, Vice Versa, which she had to hand deliver to avoid running afoul of laws on the books that made it illegal to send material about lesbians through the mail. In the 1950s she wrote under with the pen name Lisa Ben for The Ladder, the first nationally distributed lesbian magazine.
Lisa Ben was inducted into the NLGJA Journalists Hall of Fame in 2010 for her work that paved the way for many LGBTQ journalists to follow.
This Year’s Winner
Jim Provenzano
Jim Provenzano is the Arts & Nightlife Editor for the Bay Area Reporter, where he has worked since 1992 as a staff writer, editor, photographer and cartoonist, and wrote the award-winning syndicated column Sports Complex from 1996 to 2006. He co-created the B.A.R.’s nightlife pocket magazine, BARtab, from 2010 to 2014. He began his journalism career at OutWeek magazine in New York City, first as an administrative assistant and writer, then as editor of its spinoff magazine, Hunt, and freelanced for The Advocate, Frontiers and other publications. He is the author of seven novels, four of which are also audiobooks, including the Lambda Literary Award winning “Every Time I Think of You” and its sequel, “Message of Love,” a Lammy finalist; his first novel, “PINS,” was adapted into a commissioned stage production. He has also published novellas and a short story collection. He holds a BFA in Dance from Ohio State University and an MA in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. A journalist in LGBTQ media for more than three decades, he was the guest curator of the GLBT Historical Society’s “Sporting Life,” the world’s first LGBTQ athletics exhibit, from 2005 to 2006. He was born in New York City, raised in Ohio, and lives in San Francisco.
Past Award Winners
Stephanie Loh
Stefanie Loh is the 2025 recipient of the Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Loh began her career covering college football for media organizations in West Virginia at The Dominion Post, in Pennsylvania at The Patriot-News and in California at the...
Scott Evans
Scott Evans is the recipient of the 2024 Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Evans began his career as the youngest person ever to host and emcee the NBA's Indiana Pacers and the WNBA's Indiana Fever games. Next, he became a reporter for multiple...
Imara Jones
Imara Jones is the recipient of the 2023 Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Imara Jones, whose work has won Emmy and Peabody Awards, is the creator of TransLash Media, a cross-platform, non-profit journalism and narrative organization, which produces...
Chuck Culpepper
Chuck Culpepper is the recipient of the 2022 Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Culpepper covers national college sports, golf, international sports and some tennis for The Washington Post. He wrote previously for Sports On Earth/USA Today, The...
Tre’vell Anderson
Tre'vell Anderson is the recipient of the 2021 Lisa Ben Award for Achievement in Features Coverage. Anderson is the Editor-At-Large for Tornoto’s Xtra Magazine and co-host of two podcasts, “What A Day'' and “FANTI.” Before joining Xtra Magazine, Anderson served as the...
Claudia Eller
Claudia Eller was the recipient of the 2019 Lisa Ben Award. She is the editor-in-chief of Variety. Eller is among the best known and most respected journalists in the entertainment industry. She came to Variety from The Los Angeles Times, where she spent 20 years as a...
Henry Goldblatt
Henry Goldblatt was the recipient of the 2018 Lisa Ben Award. Goldblatt was named editor-in-chief of Entertainment Weekly in 2015, where he previously served as the brand’s deputy managing editor and director of brand development. In 2014, Goldblattwas named deputy...
Marc Malkin
Marc Malkin was the recipient of the 2017 Lisa Ben Award. Malkin served as a reporter and editor at E! News for over a decade. He was the Managing Editor for film at E! News as well as an on-air correspondent. He's also been a reporter, a writer and an online...
Diane Anderson-Minshall
Diane Anderson-Minshall is the CEO of Pride Media. She previously worked as editor-at-large of The Advocate Magazine and editor-in-chief of Plus Magazine. She co-authored the 2014 memoir Queerly Beloved, about her relationship with her husband Jacob Anderson-Minshall...
Cyd Zeigler
Cyd Zeigler identified an area of LGBTQ life that was largely uncovered by mainstream media and provided a service to the community. Together with co-founder Jim Buzinski, Zeigler has grown OutSports.com, founded in 1999, into a must-read for stories of LGBTQ athletes...
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