I first learned about this award when I picked up a copy of the June 2002 issue of West Salem’s community newspaper, the West Side, which contained an announcement very similar to this one. A few days later, when I was bragging about the recognition to the paper’s contributing editor, columnist Tim Hinshaw, he reminded me that I was the one who had submitted the item. Somehow, I had forgotten that I had not only given myself the award, but created it as well. Then I remembered a similar situation, wherein a local business who shall remain nameless actually did the same thing in order to gain credibility in its field, and then actually sent out news releases telling all the papers about its accomplishment. We had a big laugh over it when it happened. If I remember correctly, they won the award several years in a row before people wised up and they finally went out of business.