Debate Club

One thing the story didn't get around to mentioning: Swartz is married to Chron managing editor John Wilburn.

So is that why the Chron decided to help Texas Monthly's already aggressive PR machine? "Conspiracy? Favoritism? No. Seek if you like, but this is not it," features editor Kyrie O'Connor says. "Mimi Swartz is a local writer of long standing with a national name, and it was a very big-deal award. That was the consideration. It sure didn't come down from John."

Funny, when Houston Press writer Bob Burtman won the award in 1998, the Chron didn't do a story.

O'Connor wasn't around then, to be fair. (Also, Burtman wasn't married to anyone at the Chronicle.)

And just for the record, one of the finalists for this year's Very Big-Deal award was the Press's Josh Harkinson, who is "a local writer" but who was not mentioned in the story. He also is not married to anyone at the Chron.