Below are the 2012 Gerald Loeb Award winners, via Talking Biz News. The Loeb’s are given for excellence in business journalism. Congrats to all.

Large Newspapers

• Ken Bensinger for “Wheels of Fortune” in Los Angeles Times

Medium & Small Newspapers

• Raquel Rutledge, Rick Barrett, John Diedrich, Ben Poston and Mike de Sisti for “Shattered Trust” in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• Spencer Soper and Scott Kraus for “Inside Amazon’s Warehouse” in The Morning Call

Magazines

• Peter Elkind, Jennifer Reingold and Doris Burke for “Inside Pfizer’s Palace Coup” in Fortune

Commentary

• Zanny Minton Beddoes, Edward Carr, John Peet, Patrick Foulis and John O’Sullivan for “Euro Zone” in The Economist

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On Friday afternoon, Vanity Fair and a slew of guests gathered to celebrate the late and great Christopher Hitchens. According to WWD, a few of those in attendance included Graydon Carter, Anna Wintour, Salman Rushdie, Sean Penn, David Remnick, Tina Brown, Stephen Fry and Steve Kroft.

Excerpts from Hitchens’ works were read by many, but Fry probably had the quote of the afternoon. According to Fry, Hitchens thought that “The four most overrated things in life are Champagne, lobster, anal sex and picnics.” Fry then added, “Three out of four isn’t bad.”

For more about the celebration, click through.

The Hollywood Reporter is getting its New York fix with its Spring issue. Inside, the magazine lists the “35 Most Powerful People in The Media,” which is always a fun thing to check out. THR’s list spans the usual suspects, but is heavy on those in TV.

For your enjoyment, we’ve provided a partial list below. They’re in no particular order, either, so don’t start bragging. THR’s “New York Issue” is available today.

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I got several emails last week when I was on vacation alerting me to John Legend‘s presence in the dining room. “You’re missing him!” texted one faithful “Lunch” reader. “Oh well,” I thought, “next time.” Imagine my surprise when the singer magically appeared in the dining room today and even shot me a big smile on the way to his corner table. How thoughtful of him to schedule a return engagement on a Wednesday!

I was joined today by uber publicist Judy Twersky and her agency’s account supervisor, Jennifer Bristol, who I met in this very dining room through our mutual friend, Diane Dimond. A little birdie told me that Judy knows just about everybody and has represented a very interesting mix of famous folks so I knew lunch would be fun. I wasn’t disappointed.

Judy, who once toiled as media director for Ogilvy & Mather, started her own firm in 1992 and has had an impressive roster of clients, including Maury Povich, Dr. Andrew Weil and none other than actor James Earl Jones. (No word on how he felt being banished to the bleachers at the Oscars while Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy took to the stage). Judy, who tells me she gets most of her clients through word of mouth, specializes in authors but also handles her fair share of celebrities. Her current client list includes former CIA agent-turned-photographer Hank O’Neal, who has traveled the world chronicling street art. His new book, aptly titled XCIA’s Street Art Project (Siman Media Works), will debut in March along with a mobile app. None other than Tony Bennett praises Hank’s work as “one of the greatest contemporary works of art I have ever experienced.”

Judy also reps pianist Richard Glazier, whose PBS special, “From Ragtime to Reel Time: Richard Glazier in Concert” premieres on stations around the country next week. Judy first met Richard on a TCM cruise and was enthralled by his skills as a raconteur as he regaled the audience (who stayed up way past their bedtimes) with the stories behind the “Great American Songbook” and tales of his childhood friendship with Ira Gershwin. Richard is coming to New York next month to be feted by violinist Joshua Bell.

Speaking of great parties, Judy’s 60th birthday bash made “Page Six” recently with the news that Paul Shaffer wrote a song especially for her to mark the occasion. (Paul’s wife Cathy is Judy’s best friend, and Judy is now managing the couple’s 19-year-old daughter Victoria Shaffer who has aspirations to host her own talk show). Her good pals also arranged for The Naked Cowboy to come in and sweep her off her feet (literally). “You can book him for 15-minute sessions,” Judy told me with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe it.” Who needs birthday cake when you can be serenaded by a man in his underwear?

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Dan Rather and another important looking gent we didn’t recognize

2. Peter Brown

3. 60 Minutes‘ Steve Kroft and  journo Jackie Leo, engrossed in some important looking papers

4. John Legend (in jeans) and Warner Music Group CEO  Lyor Cohen

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Today on the media- bistro.com Morning Media Menu podcast, Los Angeles Times reporter Matea Gold joined hosts Jason Boog of GalleyCat and AgencySpy‘s Matt Van Hoven to discuss her recent article about CBS News‘ “60 Minutes.”

“I thought it would be a really fascinating time to take a step back and look at what’s going on inside the show because its creator Don Hewitt passed away last month and he had really been a constant presence there even though he retired in 2004,” Gold explained. “’60 Minutes’ is, in some ways, really an anomaly in our new media universe because its an old media show conceived 41 years ago and it still is one of the few that commands regularly and reliably a mass audience every Sunday. And that is a pretty miraculous thing.”

In fact, the show saw viewership grow 10 percent in last season compared to the year before, growth that Gold attributes to the show’s coverage of Barack Obama and the increasing profile of contributor Steve Kroft.

“They also did a lot of really hard-hitting reporting on the financial crisis and in a lot of ways just hewed closely to the formula that Don Hewitt conceived of, which is a really strong mix of newsy features, investigative pieces and fun, lighter take-offs that I think there’s still a really big audience for in this country,” Gold said.

Gold also discussed the aging audience that all television news shows is facing, although she noted that the audience of “60 Minutes” has actually stayed the same age over the years, and it is a year younger than the average age of the audience that watches the evening network news. “60 Minutes” has also stayed fresh by adding correspondents like Katie Couric, Lara Logan, Anderson Cooper and Byron Pitts.

But is there a future for “60 Minutes” and other shows like it? Opined Gold: “I think if programs like ’60′ can evolve enough to provide their content online in an on-demand format, then viewers who are younger will get to know the brand and consistently turn to them. But, it’s a matter of figuring out an economic model that works for that.”

Also discussed: New York Times columnist William Safire‘s death yesterday and his contribution to language and journalism.

Read more of Gold’s article here.

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.