Last year, Acadiana Lifestyle had quite a nice haul at the Louisiana Press Association awards banquet. First place in our division for General Excellence, Best Cover, Best Layout and Design, Best … well now I’m just gushing. We’ve already submitted our entries for this year and included all the stories and photos we think exemplify this magazine. 

The process of choosing which editorial and design elements to submit is really a lot of fun. With all 12 of the 2022 issues spread out on the conference table, we flipped through each one, considering everything from an individual photo or headline to the entire issue as one body of work. January, February, March, April, May…yes, it must have been while reading the May issue when I was reminded of a comment scribbled by a professor at LSU on one of my English term papers back in the day. The paper was on the works of Silvia Plath, and the professor wrote, “Bravo! You are relentless in your position on Plath’s work and leave the reader with no reasonable choice but to enthusiastically agree.” 

As soon as I recalled that comment, I realized this is exactly what Acadiana Lifestyle had become: a relentless and enthusiastic celebration of Acadiana. Through and through. Every story, every image, every advertisement. I don’t know what the judges at LPA will think of our entries this year, but I’m hopeful our relentless position on Acadiana leaves you, dear reader, with no reasonable choice but to enthusiastically agree.