The Beard Awards, a.k.a. the "food Oscars," were awarded tonight, and most went to big NYC food names like Tom Colicchio and Shake Shack's Danny Meyer. KFC, despite the revolutionary Double Down, was shut out. Click through for the list.

The National Enquirer didn't win a Pulitzer today for its reporting on John Edwards' baby mama drama. How's the tabloid coping with defeat? Just after the results were announced, we called Barry Levine, the Enquirer's executive editor, to find out.

The Pulitzer Prizes came out today. One went to a columnist who wrote two years ago that Barack Obama was ethnically unequipped to understand America, and another went to the greatest songwriter of all time. Both of them were mistakes.

We'll be liveblogging the Oscars on Sunday evening. In the meantime, Gawker will be on the ground in LA, covering the build up to the big event (and causing a little havoc along the way, hopefully). Do join us.

In order to honor the tireless, thankless work of actors (all they get is fame and fortune—what about the masturbatory awards shows?!?), here is the mother of Oscar thank you speeches. Oscar Fever—it's spreading. Get the ointment!

Research gives us mixed messages about whether award show trophies are any indicator of quality. Well, scholars, we'll break it down for you: It's all just a shell game bought and paid for by the studios.

Long Island University gave out its prestigious George Polk Awards today. Among the winners: the New York Times' David Rohde, 60 Minutes' Steve Kroft, and the anonymous person who recorded the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan on a cellphone.

The video of Neda Agha-Soltan's death, during protests against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election in Iran, is the first anonymously shot piece to win the prestigious George W. Polk award. David Grann's New Yorker piece on the death penalty and David Rohde's five-part New York Times series on being held by the Taliban were also honored.

Did you write a movie for Weinstein Co., and would you like a Writers Guild of America award for doing so? Too bad: Weinstein's not sending WGA members any screeners. Sorry, Nine, Inglorious Basterds, The Road, and A Single Man.

Ladies and gentlemen, your Hipster of the Decade: Carles, from Hipster Runoff.

The Atlantic's James Bennet is Ad Age's "Editor of the Year." A good pick—The Atlantic is as robust and thoughtful online as it is in print. Although "You (Unpaid)" would have been the zeitgeisty choice. [Ad Age. Pic: Flickr]

In your retro Thursday media column: Vice is having a Halloween party, laid-off journalists get an award, 'Netflix for magazines' is doomed to fail, and the Wall Street Journal is finally as prestigious as USA Today.

Even as the magazine industry has crumbled in the Great Magazine Die-Off, publishers have always been able to assure themselves: "At least we're the only ones who can win National Magazine Awards." ¡No mas! Now, even we're eligible.

If Hollywood were a high school then it would pretty much be exactly like Hollywood, right down to the Most Popular awards, named today by the Hollywood Temp Diaries blog, with the annoucement of their coveted 2009 Brown List.

Whoops! Newt Gingrich accidentally named a porn producer "Entrepreneur of the Year." For like a day. Then he rescinded it, the bastard. Why does he hate capitalism?

That ridic WWF 9/11 spec ad that raised such a ruckus last week actually won an award from the One Club, don't forget. So now the One Club is banning all "fake ads" from their awards show. Wise. [Agency Spy]

So the Emmy nominations were announced this morning and mostly they were surprise-less. Nothing for the well-deserving Big Love actors, another nod for Tony goddamned Shaloub, and Family Guy in Best Comedy. Wait, what?? Family Guy? How did this happen?

It's generally a pretty safe assumption that something ridiculous will happen each year at The MTV Movie Awards, and tonight's version of the show did not disappoint. Sacha Baron Cohen just descended bare-assed from the ceiling as "Bruno" and landed in Eminem's lap in the "69" position. Hilarity ensued.

For a startup founder itching to cash out, the recession can be tough: The economy fades hopes for an acquisition or plum funding round. Perhaps this explains some of the testiness around this year's awards from Silicon Alley Insider.