Accepting the 2007 Marshall McLuhan Award for Outstanding Book in the Field of Media Ecology from Thom Gencarelli, Vice President of the Media Ecology Association, while MEA President Lance Strate looks on.

It was an emotional -- and somewhat surreal -- moment as I thanked the MEA for this unexpected recognition of my work. This year's conference, held in Mexico City, marked the eighth time the McLuhan Award has been presented. The eight winners are:

2000 - ~~Neil Postman for Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future

2001 - ~~Thomas J. Farrell for 'Walter Ongs Contributions to Cultural Studies: The Phenomenology of the Word and I-Thou Communication

2002 - Douglas Rushkoff for Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say

2003 - Frederick Wasser for Veni, Vidi, Video: The Hollywood Empire and the VCR

2004 - Francis Fukuyamafor Our Posthuman Future: Consequences of the Biotechnology Revolution

2005 - Donald N. Wood for The Unraveling of the West: The Rise of Postmodernism and the Decline of Democracy

2006 - Thomas de Zengotita for Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It

2007 - Peter K. Fallon for Printing, Literacy, and Education in Eighteenth Century Ireland : Why the Irish Speak English

With Janet Sternberg, Thom Gencarelli, and Lance Strate of the MEA looking on, I express my appreciation for having been a student in NYU's Media Ecology program, and for having had the opportunity to study under Neil Postman, Christine Nystrom, Henry Perkinson, Terry Moran, John Mayher, and so many others.

Finally, I got the opportunity to tell Dr. Eric McLuhan, son of the late Marshall McLuhan and a media scholar in his own right, what a thrill and a privilege it was to win an award named in honor of his father.