AAN News

2009 AltWeekly Awards Finalists are Announced

The 2009 award winners come from 57 different member papers, including one paper that will be receiving honors in its first year of eligibility. The final placement of the winners will be announced at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon to be held on Friday, June 26 during the 32nd annual AAN Convention in Tucson. (FULL STORY)
AAN  |  05-19-2009  1:28 pm  |  Association News

City Pages Nabs 27 State SPJ Awardsnew

The Twin Cities alt-weekly did well on Thursday night, when the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists held their annual Page One Awards banquet to honor the best journalism in the state. City Pages took home 27 awards, including 15 first-place honors. The impressive showing led MinnPost.com media critic David Brauer to wonder if City Pages might be the best newspaper in Minnesota.
City Pages  |  05-18-2009  8:04 am  |  Honors & Achievements

The Stranger Runs Photo That Got Photographer Arrestednew

Last Friday Seattle police arrested a 29-year-old man and banned him from a REI store after he used his phone to photograph two security guards who were servicing an ATM inside the store. The Stranger put the photo on the cover of this week's issue, and has a story on the controversy.
Photo District News  |  05-15-2009  1:58 pm  |  Industry News

Two Alt-Weeklies Win EPpy Awardsnew

Las Vegas Weekly has the best entertainment website with fewer than one million unique monthly visitors, and Baltimore City Paper is the best weekly newspaper-affiliated website, according to the 2009 EPpy Awards, which "honor the best websites in the media world." This is City Paper's second EPpy -- it won the Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek sponsored contest in 2006 as well.
Editor & Publisher  |  05-07-2009  4:03 pm  |  Honors & Achievements

Webinar on Print Workflow Solutions is Tomorrow

AAN members are invited to participate in a webinar hosted by Enfocus' Alex Hamilton on Thursday, May 7 from 2 to 3:30 pm EDT. The 90-minute session will focus on workflow automation and will feature a question-and-answer session. For information about how to join the webinar, contact Ellen Meany or email the AAN office at web (at) aan.org.
AAN  |  05-06-2009  1:38 pm  |  Association News

Did RedEye Rip Off a Chicago Reader Cover?new

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Reader media critic Michael Miner points out the striking similarity between a cover RedEye ran yesterday and one the Reader ran less than a month ago. But RedEye's editor claims no one from his paper ever saw the alt-weekly's April 9 issue. "As for the design, I had not seen that issue of The Reader, nor had my staff," Tran Ha says. "I mean, it was a story about parking meters - and some parking meters say 'fail' when they don't work."
Chicago Reader  |  05-06-2009  9:09 am  |  Industry News

Jen Sorensen Explains Her 'Ironic Great Depression' Cartoonnew

In this weekend's Washington Post, the "Slowpoke" creator talks about how she got the idea to do a strip on how our irony-drenched culture will handle the economic downturn. Sorensen says that a number of readers tuned into a "tiny background gag" -- a billboard advertising The Grapes of Snark -- and told her they thought it was the funniest part of the strip.
The Washington Post  |  05-05-2009  3:17 pm  |  Industry News

The Other Paper Parent Company Files for Bankruptcy Protectionnew

Texas-based American Community Newspapers has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection two years after purchasing the Columbus, Ohio, alt-weekly as well as other media properties in the area. The company says the filing will not affect its day-to-operations and that its newspapers and magazines will continue to publish.
Business First of Columbus  |  04-29-2009  8:47 am  |  Industry News

Louisiana Alt-Weeklies Grab Dozens of State Press Awardsnew

Lafayette's The Independent Weekly won 29 awards and New Orleans' Gambit Weekly won 10 in the Louisiana Press Association's annual contest. The Independent snagged first place for Editorial Cartoon, Feature Story, Lifestyle Coverage, Multimedia Element, Web Project and six advertising awards. Gambit won firsts for Regular Column and online advertising. The two papers tied for first place in Community Service/Service to Readers.
Louisiana Press Association  |  04-28-2009  8:44 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Phoenix Media Tightens Beltnew

The Boston Phoenix and its sister publications are the latest alt-weeklies to cut expenses as the media industry struggles through the recession. The parent company laid off six employees, suspended its 401K matches and cut salaries across the board, with the highest-paid employees giving up considerably more than the lowest.
Boston Phoenix  |  04-24-2009  3:25 pm  |  Industry News

Metro Times Wins SPJ Awards, Announces Job Moves

The Detroit alt-weekly took 10 awards, including three first-place finishes, in the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists' Excellence in Media competition. Metro Times has also hired Travis Wright as its arts editor, and promoted features editor Brian Smith to managing editor. (FULL STORY)
Metro Times Press Release  |  04-24-2009  2:56 pm  |  Press Releases

Sacramento News & Review Celebrates 20th Anniversarynew

"In the early years, SN&R was panned, dissed, scoffed at and boycotted. We were also loved and welcomed," founding editor Melinda Welsh writes. "Somehow -- story by story, column by column, brainstorm by brainstorm -- the paper managed to take root and gain ground." The alt-weekly celebrates the anniversary this week with a special issue featuring pieces from a wide variety of folks involved with the paper over the years.
Sacramento News & Review  |  04-23-2009  8:12 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Ted Rall Loses Job at United Medianew

His position for the syndicate -- editor of acquisitions and development -- has been eliminated. Over the past few years, Rall had successfully brought several alt-cartoonists into the fold at United, including Keith Knight ("The Knight Life") and the Weekly Dig's Tak Toyoshima ("Secret Asian Man"). Rall, who had held the acquisitions job since 2006, says he will still be drawing comics and writing columns for United.
Rall.com  |  04-22-2009  12:18 pm  |  Industry News

Philadelphia Weekly Wins State Press Awardsnew

The Weekly won 11 Keystone Press Awards this year, including first place finishes in the Column, Feature Photo, General News and Personality Profile categories.
Pennsylvania Press Association  |  04-21-2009  8:50 am  |  Honors & Achievements

Keith McGinnis Talks About Philadelphia Weekly's Site Redesignnew

McGinnis, who is management information systems (MIS) director for PW parent company Review Publishing, says they started sketching out the new site at the end of 2007. The Weekly unveiled the redesign early last month. "From a design perspective, it was about making [the site] look more pleasing," he says. "From a traffic perspective it was about decreasing bounce rate and increasing time on site."
Technically Philly  |  04-16-2009  12:07 pm  |  Industry News

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