Defying his naysayers, former Archon Nicholas Gander took first prize in the Memoir category at the 2012 Chitter Radio Literary Awards on Friday night for his controversial autobiography, Not Good for the Goose.

Gander, who is new to the literary world, began his working life with The Park’s Goose and Gander Search and Rescue Association. In 2008, he was chosen to serve as Archon and the largest part of his memoir deals with the time he spent in that position.

Gander’s book stirred controversy immediately upon its release last October. One review, published in the Equine Echo, accused his publisher, Herring Press Books, of “profiting from tales told out of school” and another reviewer called the memoir “a big, honking mess.”

On hand at the Awards, Herring Press Manager Alida Silver brushed off talk of the controversy, saying only that the traditional silence of former Archons is “now a thing of the past.”

Other winners on Friday night were veteran novelist Hercule Parrot, playwright D.B. Platypus, poet Storm Walrus, and short story writer Albertina Mayfly.

NIML (Not In My Lifetime) was in fine form on Monday as they wowed the crowd that quickly gathered at The Park’s first pop-up music event.

It was an ordinary, hazy Monday afternoon, spectators said, when lead singer, Beau Ballentyne, grabbed a microphone from inside his shopping bag and began to belt out the group’s signature tune, MYPod or Yours?

The other two members of the group quickly joined him for what turned out to be a half-hour impromptu concert at the Tartan Crab Memorial Pond.

“There’s never been anything quite like this,” said onlooker Zaffi Newt. “They made quite a splash. It was a nice break in the day.”

Not everyone was pleased, though. The end of the concert was marred for some by a few vocal members of the group, “Keep Your Paws Out of Our Ponds.” Holding waterproof placards, they marched in a circle around the pond for a few minutes but, with no response from the crowd, they soon left.

“I don’t think they had many supporters there,” Newt said.

Maple Tree Television has established a new prize that is to be awarded every Autumn to honour The Park’s best merging artists.

MTTV President, Tibor Jelen, made the announcement yesterday at the station’s annual stakeholders’ meeting.

Jelen said the station had experienced “an unprecedented increase in the number of viewers” over the past year and attributed the rise in numbers to the station’s change in focus from news to arts programming.

“We have become, primarily, an arts television station,” he said, “and, for that reason, we decided it was appropriate to reward those who have played a large part in our success.”

Jelen said MTTV chose to honour “merging artists” because some station executives felt that The Park’s collaborating artists were “under-exposed.”

“We thought this was a good way to bring them [merging artists] to the public’s attention,” he said.

Merging artists are artists who work in only one field of the arts and who collaborate with one or more other artists who work in another, distinct field.

The first MTTV Merging Artist prize will be awarded this Autumn. The exact date and location have yet to be determined, Jelen said.