AAN News
LEO Acquired by Ex-Nashville Scene Publisher's Companynew
The Louisville Eccentric Observer was acquired by SouthComm Communications, a company headed by former Scene publisher Chris Ferrell, according to LEO. The change was announced to staff this morning. Pam Brooks will stay on as publisher, but other LEO staffers were not so lucky. Brooks told a local blog that editor Cary Stemle, sales director Kelly Gream, and two other employees weren't offered positions with the new company. SouthComm, which was formed late last year, owns a custom publishing company based in Atlanta, as well as various Nashville websites and magazines.
Louisville Eccentric Observer |
05-22-2008 4:21 pm |
Industry News
Index Newspapers & DesertNet Unveil New Content Management System
The company that owns The Stranger and Portland Mercury announces the release today of Foundation, "a highly customizable, fully integrated
content-management system for alt-weeklies." The new system, which was developed in partnership with DesertNet, includes dynamic calendars, city guides, user profiles, and extensive editorial tools. "With its customizable layouts and
components, Foundation will reduce alt-weeklies' reliance on
expensive web development," the Index Newspaper press release says.
(FULL STORY)
Index Newspapers Press Release |
05-22-2008 8:35 am |
Press Releases
AAN.org Introduces Comments
AAN this week is launching a comments feature on stories posted to this site. AAN members must be logged in to read and/or make comments.
AAN |
05-19-2008 4:22 pm |
Association News
| Comments (1)
Make the Most Out of Your Mornings in Philly
In case the seminars, parties and after-parties aren't enough to fill your days at the Convention, our sponsor GPTMC has created special guided morning experiences (from 7:30-9 am) just for convention attendees. On Friday, June 6, you have a choice of a trip that includes a visit to Philadelphia's Magic Garden (and a soft pretzel fresh out of the oven), or Punk Rock Boot Camp, a fun and effective fitness alternative. Saturday morning offers a running or walking loop on the Schuylkill River Trail, as well as a private tour of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall -- including a trip to the rarely visited second floor of Congress Hall. All tours are limited to 25 participants. To register, please email Debra Silvestrin at debra (at) aan.org. Please visit the Special Events page on the Convention website for full descriptions. And if you're looking to explore on Sunday morning after the Convention is over, GPTMC has created a handy guide of potential self-guided tours, including "Brewadelphia," "Philly: A Green Kind of Town," and seven others that you can check out in this PDF.
AAN |
05-19-2008 2:07 pm |
Association News
AAN and Medill Announce Editorial Layout Finalists in AltWeekly Awards
Washington City Paper and Santa Fe Reporter each add another finalist to their awards counts, bringing the papers' totals this year to seven. Click here for the Editorial Layout finalists or here for the full list of finalists. AAN and Medill will reveal the order of finish at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on June 7 in Philadelphia.
AAN |
05-19-2008 11:53 am |
Association News
Tags: Design & Production, Editorial
L.A. Weekly Wins Five Best of the West Awardsnew
The Weekly's winnings in the annual awards "designed to reward journalistic excellence" in the 13 states West of the Rocky Mountains included two first-place awards: Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood" column in Special Topic Column Writing, and Tim Foley's "The Case of the Dogged Detective" in Illustration. "Nikki Finke is a badass. Period," say the judges comments. "Good stuff, written with passion and an utter disregard whether any of the studio heads, or anyone in 'the industry,' will ever buy her lunch." The judges say Foley's "stylistic comic book illustration, creative use of color and the comic book-like typography all worked so perfectly well together in this illustration ... Foley did a fantastic job of bringing it all together."
First Amendment Funding Inc. Press Release |
05-16-2008 9:34 am |
Honors & Achievements
Santa Barbara Independent Wins EPpy Awardnew
Independent.com has won the EPpy for the best weekly newspaper-affiliated website in the country, Editor & Publisher, which sponsors the contest with Mediaweek, reports. The winners of the annual awards honoring online work were announced yesterday in Las Vegas, and publisher Randy Campbell was there to accept, thanking his staff "for their hard work in taking the website from a skeleton to a fully operational daily source of news for the Santa Barbara community," the Independent reports. "There are no secrets to publishing, either online or in print, so I'm thrilled the hard work and commitment of our web team has been recognized on a national level," said Campbell back in April when the site was first nominated.
Editor & Publisher | Santa Barbara Independent |
05-16-2008 9:21 am |
Honors & Achievements
2008 Academy for Alternative Journalism Fellows Named
Ten fellows have been chosen from a field of about 330 hopefuls to attend the Academy for Alternative Journalism summer residency program at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, to be held June 22 to August 15. The academy trains young journalists in long-form feature writing with the aim of recruiting them into the alternative press. "This class has a lot of career-changers, including a flight attendant, a former truck driver and an elementary school teacher," says program director and Northwestern journalism professor Charles Whitaker. "It's one of the most diverse classes we've had in several years."
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
05-15-2008 1:15 pm |
Association News
AAN's Louisiana Contingent Piles Up the State Press Awardsnew
Both Gambit Weekly and The Independent Weekly went home last month with awards from The Louisiana Press Association. The Independent won a total of 38 awards in the editorial and ad/design competitions. These included first-place finishes on the editorial side in Community Service/Service to Readers
Website; Continuing Coverage of a Governmental Issue; Continuing Coverage of a Single News Event; Editorial Cartoon; Feature Story; Lifestyle Coverage; and News Coverage. On the ad/design side, the Independent won first in Ad Campaign; Black and White 1/2 Page or Under (Staff-generated); Black and White Over 1/2 Page (Staff-generated); In-Paper Promotion (Color); and Multiple Advertiser Page. Gambit Weekly took home a total of seven awards in the editorial competition, including a first-place finish in Regular Column.
Louisiana Press Association (PDF file) |
05-15-2008 8:59 am |
Honors & Achievements
AAN and Medill Announce AltWeekly Awards Finalists
The finalists this year, selected from more than 1,400 entries and over 90 participating papers, run the gamut from investigations of errant public officials to stories about green living. L.A. Weekly leads the pack with eight winners. Washington City Paper and Santa Fe Reporter follow closely with six nominees each. The order of finish for the 13th annual AltWeekly Awards contest will be announced on June 7 in Philadelphia.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
05-14-2008 5:29 pm |
Association News
Tags: Design & Production, Editorial
Alt-Weekly Cartoonist Details Her Methods in New Booknew
Lynda Barry, who has been authoring "Ernie Pook's Comeek" for 30 years, explains her method of making drawings and stories in What It Is, which was released yesterday by Drawn and Quarterly. She talks to the New York Times about her work and her long career as a cartoonist. "It was a happy accident that Ms. Barry graduated [from college] just as alternative weeklies were springing up around the country and searching, as she put it, 'for oddball comics,'" the Times reports. "She soon became one of a small elite, her strip appearing with [Matt] Groening's 'Life in Hell' alongside the work of Jules Feiffer." Barry will be making some appearances on the East Coast in June and at Comic-Con in July, according to Drawn and Quarterly.
The New York Times |
05-14-2008 10:59 am |
Industry News
Tags: Design & Production, Management
Alt-Weekly Photographer: I Was Assaulted While Shooting Concertnew
Freelance photographer Nichole Torpea says she was snapping photos for Riverfront Times at a My Chemical Romance concert in St. Louis on Saturday when she was assaulted by a member of the band's security team. According to Torpea, she was taking pictures in the balcony when a man grabbed her arm, led her through a door to a stairwell and forced her to the ground. "I had no idea what was going on," she says. "He had no ID and wouldn't tell me who he was. He kept saying, 'You know what you did. Give me the fucking camera.'" He took her camera, but returned it a few minutes later after deleting all the images on the memory card. When the band learned about the incident, they offered to make amends by flying Torpea and her boyfriend to their show tonight at New York's Madison Square Garden. She initially had some misgivings about the offer but ultimately decided to let bygones be bygones. "Last weekend was pretty crappy," she says. "So if they're going to make it up to me with a good weekend, I can't complain."
Riverfront Times |
05-09-2008 12:40 pm |
Industry News
Philly 2008: Gourmet Food, Historic Surroundings and Great Music
Philadelphia City Paper today announced the details of the evening
festivities at this year's AAN Convention, and, as always, there will
be plenty to ingest, imbibe and experience as attendees catch up with their
AAN colleagues. From the opening night "Get on Board the Love Train" reception, featuring food from some of Philly's most well-regarded restaurants, to a closing night party across the street from where the U.S. Constitution was drafted, City Paper has our party needs covered. Other events include a restaurant and pub crawl through the hip environs of an historic neighborhood known as Northern Liberties, and a Saturday afterparty for about 75 attendees at The Roots Family Picnic. More afterparties are in the works -- be sure to check the Convention website for details.
(FULL STORY)
AAN |
05-08-2008 3:51 pm |
Association News
Convention Early Registration and Hotel Deadlines Approaching
This Friday, May 9, is the deadline for early registration for the 31st Annual AAN Convention, June 5-7 in Philadelphia. Early rates are $295 per person for members, and $425 per person for non-members, and each will increase by $50 per person after this Friday's deadline. Registration is available via the Convention website. Next Friday, May 16, is the deadline to book a room at the special AAN rate of $169 single or double occupancy at the Marriott. Hotel rooms can also be booked online. Remember that the hotel could sell out before May 16, so book your room(s) as soon as possible. In addition, this Friday is the deadline for trade show exhibitors to receive a confirmed listing in the convention program. If you have any questions about your listing, or the trade show in general, please contact Debra Silvestrin at debra (at) aan.org or 202-289-8484.
AAN |
05-07-2008 2:25 pm |
Association News
Digital Video Ad Guidelines Releasednew
The Interactive Advertising Bureau this week announced the release of guidelines to the most widely used in-stream ad products, including linear video ads, non-linear video ads and companion ads. A committee of 145 leading interactive companies contributed to the guidelines, which aim to simplify video ad buying across multiple sites and make it more efficient.
Interactive Advertising Bureau |
05-07-2008 11:57 am |
Industry News
