Creative Loafing Senior Editor Mara Shalhoup has been with the paper for nine years. Before that, she was a crime writer for the Macon Telegraph. Her first book, based on her 2006 CL series about national cocaine and hip-hop syndicate the Black Mafia Family, will be published in March 2010 by St. Martin's Press.
Mara's don't-miss stories include: Tremayne Graham: Drugs, murder and deceit, The Year of the Black Lips, What Makes Kenny Crucial?, Learning to hit a lick, Losing Hanna, and Locked out
Awards:
2007: Livingston Award (finalist), Atlanta Press Club Journalist of the Year Award (winner) and Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award (first place, Web Content) for "BMF: Hip-hop's shadowy empire"
2007: Atlanta Magazine's Best of Atlanta Award — Best local reporter
2006: Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award (third place, Feature Writing) for "Losing Hanna"
2005: Clarion Award (first place, Feature Writing) and Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award (first place, Feature Story) for "Learning to hit a lick"
2003: Livingston Award (finalist) and Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award (third place, Investigative) for "Locked Out"
2002: Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award (first place, Investigative) and Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award (third place, Investigative) for "The Bad Cops Club"
2002: Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Award (third place, Health Care) for "Dealing drugs the legal way"
