Duluth, Minnesota - September 18, 1998

Lake Superior Magazine today announced the 1998 winner of its annual Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award. John and Ann Mahan of Gaylord, Michigan, publishers of Lake Superior: Story and Spirit, will receive the coveted award. 

In announcing the award, editor Paul L. Hayden said, “Passion is one of those terms that often gets overused and applied erroneously to people who work on projects for a long and intense period of time. Just because works are complex doesn’t mean that people work on them with passion. However, noted photographers John and Ann Mahan, of Gaylord, Michigan, have never worked on anything without a passion - a love for what they are doing, well beyond the scope the average person considers. And thus, the publication of their book Lake Superior: Story and Spirit conveys that passion about their subject in a way we haven’t seen for a long time.

“This was a book that might not have been, except that John and Ann valiantly pushed the project far past the point at which it normally would have been cancelled,” Hayden said. “When the search for a suitable publisher proved unfruitful, they committed their personal holdings to the effort, always believing that the book’s publication would be more than rewarded in the end. The name of their publishing company says, more than anything, how committed to the project they were: Sweetwater Visions.”

Hayden continued, “It is a spectacular book full of the beautiful photography that the Mahans always produce. It also has meaningful text, again ‘passionate’ in its descriptions and love for the greatest of lakes. It’s a book full of history, facts, revelations and opinion. It can be a guide and a teacher. The Mahans have poured their souls into it, and the Lake Superior community reaps the benefit.”

The annual Lake Superior Magazine Achievement Award is given to a community, organization or people who have made a lasting contribution to the whole of Lake Superior. In the past, the magazine has given the award to international organizations, cooperating groups, cities and an individual. Hayden concluded, “In awarding it this year to the Mahans for their tremendous efforts, we make special note of the dedication to the vision that pushed them beyond their initial goals. This was no mere publishing project. It was a passionate accomplishment. One we should all honor.”

The award is announced in the latest issue of Lake Superior Magazine, a full-color consumer publication issued six times a year in Duluth, Minnesota. The magazine is available by subscription, at newsstands and from the publisher's office at 325 Lake Avenue South, Suite 600, Duluth, Minnesota 55802. For more information, call 888-BIG LAKE (244-5253).