Like the Grammys, only with less Minaj and inkier fingers: Boston Phoenix cleans up at 2012 New England Newspaper and Press Awards

Dunno what your Saturday night Grammy pre-game was like, but ours involved a tough-ass veggie-and-chicken plate, the world's longest power-point presentation, and the company of every newspaper in New England not named the Boston Globe or the Boston Herald. Believe it or not, this is what passes in the fishwrap industry as a hell of a time, and don't be fooled by our cynical description of the festivities: we wouldn't miss this shit for the world. (Well, except for Genie Williamson, who was unavailble to pick up her first-place award for religious-issues reporting . . . because -- true story -- she was seeing Color Me Badd play a bowling alley in Malden.) After looking down our noses at the hype over the Ellsworth American -- famed operators of Maine's ugliest and most successful internet news paywall site -- we ended up spending some time with their broadsheet edition and decided those dudes are just good at stuff. And we now have a special place in our hearts for the 165-year-old Vineyard Gazette, which is not only the widest newspaper we've ever seen in our lives -- what do they print that thing on, an aircraft carrier? -- but also the newish home of ex-Phoenix managing editor Vanessa Czarnecki.

We also walked off with 21 awards, ranging from design and illustration to investigative reporting and humor column. Not a bad night. Since the stuff we won for is also a pretty fine list of our best shit from last year, we put together the following ICYMI Storify list of award-winning goodness. Check it out: