Kay Powell, former Atlanta Journal-Constitution obits editor, is the recipient of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers (SPOW) Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010.

Marilyn Johnson, author of “The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and The Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries,” made a surprise appearance at the 2010 SPOW Convention Friday, April 23, 2010, to make the announcement and to praise keynote speaker Jim Nicholson, retired Daily News obit writer, who was the first recipient of the Lifetime honor.

Jim, who was the first recipient of the honor, presented the award to Kay, who was uncharacteristically speechless.

Receiving top honors in the Body of Work category are Andrew Meacham of the St. Petersburg Times for long-form obits (over 800 words) and Evin Demirel, former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obit writer, for short-form obits (under 800 words).

Both men were present to accept their awards.

Andrew also won the award for the Best obituary that goes beyond summing up a life for his nontraditional obit for “Hope Witsell,” a 13-year-old girl who took her own life.

Tom Hawthorn won the SPOW Award for Best long-form obit about a well-known figure with his obit for "Frank Williams", which was published in the Globe and Mail of Canada.

Maureen O'Donnell of the Chicago Sun-Times won the SPOW Award for Best short-form obit about a well-known figure, “L. Scott Deatherage".

Winner of the Best long-form obit about an Average Joe is Ron Hayes, a freelance writer who penned the obit for “Bill Dunn” for The Coastal Star, Ocean Ridge, Fla.

The SPOW Award for short-form obit about an Average Joe went to Sally Downey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Sally says there was nothing average about her subject, "Hayward Ford," a master gardener.

Joan Harvey won the SPOW Award for Best tribute, column, memoir or retrospective for her Oregonian Op-Ed piece on teacher "George Katagiri.”

Natasha Gruneberg won the award for Outstanding Radio Obituary for the obit she put together on “Sir Clement Freud” for BBC Radio.

The work of the top five finalists from each juried category has been posted on this website for the People's Picks poll. The public was invited to read the finalists' work and vote for their favorites online The online poll was just for fun and had no bearing n the selection of official SPOW Award winners.

Winners of the People's Picks poll are as follows:

Best body of work (long-form) by one writer, based on exactly five obits, published in 2009 in a print or online news publication. (Long-form obits have 800 words or more.) Laurence Arnold, Bloomberg News

Best body of work (short-form) by one writer, based on exactly five obits, published in 2009 in a print or online news publication. Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times

Best long-form obituary about a well-known regional figure. Ron Csillag, Globe and Mail, "Clarence Peterson"

Best short-form obituary about a well-known regional figure. Evin Demirel, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "Albert Zoppe"

Best long-form obituary about an Average Joe. Ron Hayes, The Coastal Star, "Bill Dunn"

Best short-form obituary about an Average Joe. Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times, "Danny Stanton"

Best obituary that goes beyond summing up a life. Maureen O'Donnell, Chicago Sun-Times, "Danny Stanton"

Best tribute, column, memoir or retrospective in print or online. Josh Farley, Kitsap Sun, "Robert and Darlene Moser"

Outstanding radio obituary. Natasha Gruneberg of BBC Radio for her obituary for Walter Cronkite.

Congratulations to all the winners. More photos will be added to this page later. For more, visit Obituary Forum.