Andy BirkeySharing honors with journalists from the Washington Post, the New York Times, Counterpunch,  Playboy and others, the Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey came away with a second place in the 2008 Sexies Awards, a journalism contest that recognizes sex-positive reporting. Contest organizers say, "We are not looking for racy or sensationalistic stories. The awards are something any traditional journalist should be proud to hang on his or her wall — a testament to journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy about a charged and controversial subject." And Birkey’s 2007 piece, "The Scarlet Newscast," which looked at local media hype surrounding police raids on men suspected of indecent exposure, fits the bill. Of his opinion piece, the only Minnesota winner, the judges wrote:

“This piece demanded journalistic integrity from middle American TV news on the topic of public sex. Mr. Birkey’s piece shows clear thinking about the role of journalism in our society, and a maturity about sex that a lot of his peers could learn from! I gave this reporter extra points for his locality. He has to live in his community, and he defended objective reporting perhaps at a cost to his own comfort. It would have been a lot easier to write this piece in New York or San Francisco.”

Birkey was a finalist in the 2007 Online News Association Awards for "best beat reporting." See the full list of Sexies winners.