AAN News
Early Registration Deadline for AAN West is Tomorrow
This Friday is the deadline for early registration for this year's AAN West conference, to be held in San Francisco Feb. 1-2. For AAN members, early registration is $75 per person (non-members pay $150). After Friday, both of those rates go up $25 per person. You can register online here. In addition to the four streams of programming (Business, Design & Production, Editorial, and Sales), the AAN West Planning Committee has some parties planned that are sure to please. On Friday night, the North Coast Journal will host a cocktail reception featuring the best in Northern California wine, cheese, and beer. On Saturday night, the San Francisco Bay Guardian will throw down at Element Lounge. Be sure to check the AAN West website for full details on events and programming, as well as updates as we get closer to February. The registration deadline for the Web Publishing Conference is Jan. 4.
AAN |
12-06-2007 8:58 am |
Association News
Alt-Weeklies Commemorate Kyoto Protocol Anniversary
Fifty alternative newsweeklies in the U.S. and Canada will publish stories this week to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. The editorial package, conceived and shepherded by staff at Sacramento News & Review, includes a retrospective by author and environmentalist Bill McKibben commissioned by AAN, a look-back by Kyoto participant Ed Smeloff, a drubbing of ABC News Correspondent and global-warming skeptic John Stossel, and a look at the controversial views of Danish environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg. Many of the papers participating in the project are also contributing their own stories focusing on local climate-change issues. Sacramento News & Review Editor-at-large Melinda Welsh says the anniversary was "a chance to reveal to millions of alt-weekly readers how little distance we've traveled these last 10 years toward a solution to this giant problem we've created for ourselves and future generations." Links to Kyoto Protocol Anniversary stories may be found at kyoto.altweeklies.com.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
12-05-2007 10:27 am |
Association News
Call for Entries: 2008 AltWeekly Awards
The 2008 AltWeekly Awards is now accepting entries. AAN's Editorial Committee has made several changes to the contest. For the first time, all entries in the Writing categories must be submitted as URLs or PDFs. The contest will only accept hard copies of materials in the Cartoon, Special Section or Design categories. In addition, the committee added two new categories, Innovation and Public Service, and eliminated four others: Ad Design, Format Buster, Website Content Feature and Wild Card. In the Cartoon category, all entrants will compete in one division. The contest website will close on the contest deadline, Fri., Jan. 25, 2008 at midnight (EST).
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
12-03-2007 9:36 am |
Association News
Medill to Administer AltWeekly Awards Contest
AAN's Editorial Committee will continue to work with staff to select the categories each year and supervise the contest, while Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism will take over the day-to-day activities. AAN decided to look into having a third-party administrator after receiving record numbers of participating members and entries since the contest went online three years ago. Medill was a great fit, since the school already had a standing relationship with AAN. "Ultimately, I want people to think of AAN and Medill the way they think of Columbia and the Pulitzers or Harvard and the Nieman fellowship," says Medill professor Charles Whitaker, who will work with AAN editorial projects manager Heather Kuldell on the 2008 Awards to ensure a smooth transition.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
11-29-2007 12:57 pm |
Association News
Web Publishing Conference Program Set
This year's conference will be held Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 in San Francisco, and is
designed for alt-weekly publishers, editors, electronic publishing
personnel, and any other employees with responsibility for their paper's
website. After two "big-picture" presentations by the New York Times' Nick Bilton and Tacoda Systems' Dave
Morgan, the conference will be dedicated to practical, nuts-and-bolts
programming on topics such as user-generated content, online video, blogging, tagging and social bookmarking, search-engine optimization,
web analytics, social networking, legal issues and the mobile internet. For more information, or to register, visit the conference website.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
11-26-2007 12:56 pm |
Association News
House Ad Targeting Potential AAJ Applicants Now Available
It's time to recruit our next class for the Academy for Alternative
Journalism, the training program for long-form writing and
reporting that AAN funds every summer at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. To help spread the word, AAN is making available to members a display ad (PDF file) to run between and now and
the Feb. 8 deadline. Feel free to amend the size of this ad to support your
format, add your logo, or add additional language urging interested applicants to contact your paper directly about the
program. If you have any questions about AAJ, contact Donna Ladd at the Jackson Free Press or Debra Silvestrin at the AAN office.
AAN Staff |
11-12-2007 2:19 pm |
Association News
AAN Membership Application Process Begins
AAN is now accepting applications for the 2007-08 membership year. Alternative newspapers that are interested in applying for membership in the association can download an application here (PDF file). Applications must be received in the AAN office in Washington, D.C. by Dec. 31 to be eligible. As papers that have run the gauntlet know, the AAN membership process is rigorous. To learn more about how the association determines whether a paper qualifies for membership, we encourage potential applicants to read our membership guidelines -- there is a short version and a long version (Word doc). For questions about the process, papers should contact Debra Silvestrin at 202-289-8484 or debra (at) aan.org.
AAN Staff |
11-08-2007 11:25 am |
Association News
Membership Application Guidelines
AAN Staff |
11-01-2007 11:15 am |
Association News
AAN Introduces HTML Newsletters
If you thought your daily AAN.org newsletter looked a little different this morning, you were right. AAN has transitioned the daily and weekly AAN.org emails from staid plain-text to rich HTML. Newsletters for AltWeeklies.com will soon make the same switch, once the site redesign is complete. To sign up for daily or weekly AAN newsletters or to update your preferences, click here (if you are an AAN member) or click here (if you aren't an AAN member).
AAN Staff |
10-18-2007 10:12 am |
Association News
Registration for AAN West Conference Now Opennew
This year's AAN West conference was organized a bit differently than years past: A committee of AAN members in Northern California did most of the heavy lifting, and they've put together a wonderful staff training program that includes business, design & production, editorial, and sales tracks. "The committee's focus was on staff training and providing an opportunity to network with others in the alt-weekly world," says the News & Review's Deborah Redmond, who chaired the committee that organized the event. The conference will be held Feb. 1-2 at the the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. The early-bird registration rate is only $75 for AAN members and $150 for non-members (the rates increase by $25 after Dec. 7). Hotel options include the Cathedral Hill Hotel and the Kabuki Hotel (formerly the Miyako), which is also the site of the Web Publishing Conference that will immediately precede AAN West. (AAN members can also register now for the Web Publishing Conference, although the complete program won't be announced until next month.)
AAN Staff |
10-17-2007 9:27 am |
Association News
AAN CAN Announces New Contest: Win a European Vacation
The AAN CAN sales rep who generates the most money in new business between Oct. 11, 2007 and Jan. 25, 2008 will receive a 10-day European dream trip for two. The trip includes round-trip airfare and 3 nights each in London, Paris, and Rome. In addition, the sales manager of the winning rep also wins a trip for two to Europe. Sales reps must sell at least $10,000 in new business during the contest period to be eligible to win. For more details, travel restrictions, moral support and/or sales ideas, call Tiffany Kildale at 202.289.8484.
AAN Staff |
10-12-2007 10:23 am |
Association News
2007 AAJ Class Was 'Ambitious and Industrious'
The ten young journalists who spent eight intensive weeks this summer at the
Academy for Alternative Journalism at Medill School of Journalism were among the best that program director Charles Whitaker has seen, he tells AAN News. Two of them have already been offered jobs by AAN papers. This year also marks the first time the fellows have produced a website, rather than a
print product. Whitaker says he hopes to grow the website as an alumni
resource over the coming years.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
10-11-2007 10:58 am |
Association News
Tags: Editorial
AltWeeklies.com Surpasses 25,000-Story Marknew
It took us a little more than 40 months, but yesterday, the 25,000th story was posted to AAN's collaborative news site. While we'd love to say the milestone was marked with one of the in-depth investigations our members are so well-known for, alas, the 25,000th story was a recipe for "Drunken Cherries" from Philadelphia Weekly. It's true: it takes all kinds, especially here at AAN, but perhaps it's fitting that the milestone was marked by a food story, considering alt-weeklies' domination of food-writing awards over the past few years. Either way, there's plenty of content on AltWeeklies.com, be it about politics, food, or whatever else you may be into. "I'm not usually big on milestones, but this one is significant to me because it shows the real development of AltWeeklies.com as a deep, valuable resource for readers and for editors," says AAN senior editor Jon Whiten.
AAN Staff |
09-27-2007 5:38 pm |
Association News
Second Annual AAN Film-Industry Event is a Hit
Over 150 AAN member delegates and film industry types converged last Thursday at the Avalon Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles for TrAANsformers, an event designed to demonstrate gratitude to film ad-buyers for their support. Twenty-seven door prizes, all donated by AAN members, were handed out, including a Mexican Riviera cruise and an "Apple" fruit basket with an iPhone, an iPod Nano, and Apple TV. During the two hour event, attendees noshed on sliders and other hors d'oeuvres and drank from the hosted bar, but the party didn't end there. "One of the best signs was that both guests and AAN paper folks hung out way after the free booze was gone and the presents had already been doled out," says The Stranger publisher Tim Keck.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-25-2007 10:58 am |
Association News
AAN Board Member Resigns, Two Others Appointed
Executive editor Mike Lenehan (pictured) left Chicago Reader, Inc. on Aug. 30, and
as a result he has stepped down from his position as Diversity Chair on the
AAN Board of Directors. AAN president Stephen Leon appointed Jackson Free Press editor and current at-large
board member Donna Ladd to serve the one year remaining in Lenehan's term as
Diversity Chair, and appointed East Bay Express publisher Jody Colley to take Ladd's
at-large seat for the one year remaining in her term. "I think I speak for everyone on the board in expressing our gratitude for
Mike's service over the years," Leon says. "We're going to miss his dry wit, and also his common sense." Lenehan has served on the board since 2002 and was elected as the association's first Diversity Chair in 2004.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
09-18-2007 10:17 am |
Association News
