Sailing industry trade association Sail America has named Harry Munns winner of the 1999 John Southam Award, established to honor journalism that excels in communicating the pleasures of sailing.

Munns received the trophy and a $5,000 check at the Atlantic City Sail Expo, February 4-7. His winning submission, entitled, "Wind Powered: For an Elite Few, Sailing Transcends Mellow and Becomes a Gutsy Action Sport," appeared in Men's Fitness magazine. According to Randy Repass, Sail America president, the piece was chosen for "creating a fresh portrait of sailing as a challenging activity both physically and mentally.

"His story was perfectly tailored to the audience the magazine reaches and he succeeded in meeting all of the award criteria," adds Repass.

The four runners-up of the Southern Award each received a $1,000 check. They are: G. Patrick Pawling of the Press of Atlantic City in the newspaper category; Susan Tyler Hitchcock, author of "Coming About: A Family Passage at Sea," in the book category; Marsha Walton of CNN in the electronic media category; and Angus Phillips for his coverage of the Whitbread 'Round-the-World Race for National Geographic Magazine in the "Spirit of Adventure" category.

The competition, named after the former publisher of Sailing World and Cruising World magazines, drew a record high of 138 entries across several forms of media, including newspapers, magazines, radio, television, the Internet and books.