Judges' Comments
	"He surprises readers with his wit, insight and bite. The columns make readers think, challenging their assumptions about life and the human condition."
	Our Enemies Might Have Reawakened Our Genius

Frank Cerabino is one of the best newspaper columnists in the United States.

He would say it’s because he has the richest material in the country -- South Florida and its strange brew of news. Deadly anthrax in the offices of a tabloid empire. Hijackers-in-residence. Butterfly ballots. The latest flaky incarnation of O.J.

But even that wealth of weirdness is not enough to account for Cerabino’s folk hero status in Palm Beach County, where he is a must read from the mobile home parks of Boynton Beach to the luxury condos overlooking West Palm Beach’s new European-style city center.

What makes the man so special is his skewed world view. His three-times-a-week column in the Palm Beach Post uses a lethal blend of dark humor and slapstick, a sort of rollicking social commentary that leaves readers both amused and outraged. Often, it’s not until they’ve finished chuckling at the one-liners that they realize he’s made a powerful social statement.

The best competitions enact tough standards, and a year’s work must be narrowed to three columns in a Best of Cox entry. The first by Cerabino observed how white powder that looked like anthrax seemed to be turning up everywhere in the Palm Beach area.

The second column reflected on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He found hope in an odd source, the letters of FBI agent and accused spy for the Soviet Union, Robert Hanssen.

The U.S. "can easily be mistaken for a cacophony of petty interests," according to Cerabino. However, Hanssen wrote to his Russian handlers that "once convinced of a goal," the U.S. could "go from bumbling to brilliant."

The third column took on a favorite target of Cerabino’s, the Florida Legislature. This time he dubbed its members the "Tallahassee Taliban."

The august body threatened to cut funds to Florida Atlantic University because a student play "Corpus Christi," offended some theatergoers.

"The play’s message was one of love and understanding," Cerabino wrote.

"Making Christ gay merely challenged the audience’s perceptions of what unconditional love really means and who the most pernicious sinners among us might be."

An early life amid some strict military orthodoxy hardly impaired the fine wit in the mind of Frank Cerabino. He grew up on Long Island and graduated from the Naval Academy, then served as an officer in the Navy for five years.

Exercising an interest in writing, he earned a Master’s in journalism from Northwestern University. He was a reporter for the Miami Herald before joining the Palm Beach Post and launching his column.

Cox’s large newspapers employ many good columnists. Cerabino is paramount among them after capturing first place in the column-writing category for the last two years.