Saturday, July 17, the Press Club of New Orleans honored excellence in journalism in the Crescent City. In a ceremony at the Harrah’s Hotel, OffBeat was recognized in several categories. Art director Elsa Hahne was honored with the Hal Ledet Award for Print Photography. In addition, Hahne received first place for her feature photo of Tab Benoit in the October 2009 issue. In the same category Hahne’s feature photo of Allen Toussaint received third place. Her November 2009 cover photograph of the Noisician Coalition received third place honor as did her portrait of Jeremy Davenport.

For the second year in a row OffBeat’s Weekly Beat email newsletter took first place.

Drew Hinshaw’s “In Search of Jockomo” received a second place honor. In the critical review category, Editor Alex Rawls received a third place honor for Kermit Ruffins’ Livin’ a Treme Life and food critic Rene Louapre received an honorable mention for his Dooky Chase review. OffBeat.com was recognized with an honorable mention.