It’s not often that somebody a business publication wins a humor column award. But San Francisco Business Times Editor Steve Symanovich took first place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists competition for humor columns at papers with a circulation of 100,000 or less. He gets a $300 prize, which is nothing to laugh at. Topics ranged from the sanctimony of Toyota Prius drivers to using a thesauraus as a performance enhancer in the wake of baseball’s steroid scandal. The columnists association also presented an honorable mention to Chris Coursey of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in the general interest category for papers under 100,000 circulation. The awards were announced July 1 in Boston at the society’s annual conference.