Top honors for Daily Herald auto columnist

A Daily Herald auto column written by Matt Avery was named Best in Newspapers on Sunday among all winners in that division in the International Automotive Media Competition.

Avery also won a Gold medal in the newspaper column category.

Avery began writing the Classic Recollections column for the Daily Herald's Auto section in 2010. His column features suburban owners of classic and collector cars.

"I think when I started this, it's interesting, my goal was just to be around cool cars, and this was a way to do that," he said. "I loved the technical side of it."

Avery once worked as an auto technician after high school.

"But over the years, as I've been doing this, I really got interested in the stories associated with these cars. All of them have very interesting backgrounds and stories."

This year's award ceremony was held at the Concours d'Elegance of America, a prestigious auto show at the Inn at St. John's, a golf course resort near Detroit.

The awards are judged annually by the International Society for Vehicle Preservation, based in Tucson, Arizona. This is the 24th year for the society's media competition.

Avery is a professional photographer and freelance writer from Palatine. He has written Classic Recollections for the Daily Herald's Sunday Auto section for five years.

In that time, he has profiled the suburban owners of more than 200 cars and trucks, 18 motorcycles, two bicycle collections and three restored wooden boats.

He also has featured about 10 automobile museums within a day's driving distance of Chicago.

Avery's award was based on three Daily Herald columns from last year that were submitted for judging.

Those columns featured a 1966 Ford Thunderbird once owned by the late actor Jay Novello, and now owned by his nephew; a Lake Barrington man's 1934 Chrysler that has been passed down for three generations; and a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass that languished in a barn for 20 years after its racing career ended.