Beam wins top prize for commentary

The Boston Globe has won three awards from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors, including a first-place prize for columnist Alex Beam.

Beam, 54, has been a Globe columnist since 1989. He joined the paper in 1987 after working for Newsweek and BusinessWeek magazines. He is also the author of two novels and a book about McLean Hospital. His second nonfiction book, about the Great Books movement of the 1950s and '60s, will be published in November.

The Globe's awards were for newspapers with circulations over 300,000. Beam won in the general commentary category. Neil Swidey, a staff writer for the Globe's Sunday magazine, won third place in the narrative feature category. Film critic Ty Burr won third place for arts/entertainment commentary. The awards, which honor work published in 2007, will be presented in October at the AASFE's convention in Houston.