AAN 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
Yahoo's New Ad Venture: Newsletter PDF'snew
Mediaweek |
11-30-2007 5:07 pm |
Industry 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
Philadelphia Weekly's Jewish Hamster Ruffles Some Feathersnew
The cover of the paper's annual gift guide depicts a tan-and-white hamster with a yarmulke and traditional payes, resting a front paw on a dreidel. "A rodent as a symbol for the Jew has a long and notorious history, which becomes apparent even if you do a rudimentary search on the internet," the Jewish Exponent reports. An angry letter to the Weekly reads: "Where did your art director receive her training? At the Heinrich Himmler Academy of Design?" The hamster, ironically enough, is the pet of the Weekly's Liz Spikol, who is Jewish. She tells the Exponent she doesn't find the image offensive, and she doesn't "understand why Orthodoxy would be offensive. I just thought it was a fun image in context of our theme," Spikol says. "I didn't find it problematic," adds an Anti-Defamation League regional director. "We don't find anything objectionable about this."
The Jewish Exponent |
11-26-2007 8:55 am |
Industry News
Research Shows Ads With Arresting Imagery Can Hijack Brandingnew
Brandweek |
11-26-2007 9:34 am |
Industry News
Taglines Lose Their Starring Role in Adsnew
Brandweek |
11-26-2007 9:31 am |
Industry News
Alt-Weekly Reporter Takes Issue With 'Hey, That's Not an Alt-Weekly'new
Dave Maass, currently a staff writer at the Santa Fe Reporter, doesn't think it was fair of AAN executive director Richard Karpel to single out Santa Fe's The Sun News in his inaugural column this week. "I've read the full piece four or five times now, and I can't find a single cogent argument why The Sun can't be an alternative newspaper," Maass writes. "What right does [Karpel] have to censor the words 'alternative' and 'newspaper' from being used, by his own admission, quite properly to describe The Sun? We're all standing up, speaking out, aren't we?" He adds: "Obviously, The Sun News isn't an alt-weekly in the contemporary conventional sense. But surely there's room in the taxonomy for them." More blog response to Karpel's column here, here, and here. UPDATE: Dave Maass has also posted a follow-up.
Maassive.com |
11-16-2007 11:28 am |
Industry News
Hey, That's Not an Alt-Weekly!
According to AAN executive director Richard Karpel, reporters often
mistakenly apply the term "alternative newspaper" to the wrong publications.
So in an effort to "make some small contribution to human understanding and
the brand equity of our member papers," he decided to note every time he
sees the term used incorrectly. In this first edition of "Hey,
That's Not an Alt-Weekly!" -- an irregular series devoted to the correct use of
the term "alternative newspaper" and all its variants -- Karpel explains what an alternative newspaper is and why The Sun News in Santa Fe, N.M., doesn't qualify.
(FULL STORY)
AAN News |
11-14-2007 8:07 am |
Industry News
Former Mountain XPress Staffer Lands at Newly Launched Competitornew
Cecil Bothwell, who was fired from the XPress last month, is now a business partner in and news editor of Asheville City Paper. The paper, which is being started by the independent weekly Columbia City Paper, will be monthly at first and hopes to go bi-weekly by Spring. A press release posted at Bothwell's blog says the City Paper, "targeting an 18-45 liberal demographic, will feature hard-hitting investigative journalism and will cover national politics, local news and music." Managing editor Todd Morehead tells the Ashvegas blog: "We're all super excited and Cecil already has a gutsy investigative piece in the works that he says Mountain Xpress was 'too timid' to publish."
Mountain XPress |
11-12-2007 12:31 pm |
Industry News
'Perry Bible Fellowship' Cartoonist Releases His First Booknew
Nicholas Gurewitch's The Trial of Colonel Sweeto and Other Stories is a collection of the best of his weekly strips, which appear in a handful of alt-weeklies across the country. The hardcover collection will be released later this month by Dark Horse Comics. To celebrate the occasion, Gurewitch talks to New York about, among other things, his comic vision, Gary Larson, and the one strip he regrets publishing. "It's the beginning of a race. And the second frame shows the racers just standing there after the gun had gone off. And the third frame reveals that the runners are not running at all but are, uh, defecating, and on the banner it says 'Poo,'" he says. "I thought that was very, very funny at the time, but now I'm undecided whether it has widespread appeal."
New York Magazine |
11-09-2007 8:15 am |
Industry News
Tags: Design & Production, Management
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
The Santa Fe Reporter Picks Up Some State Press Awardsnew
In this year's New Mexico Press Association contest, the alt-weekly took home a first place award for business writing; a second place award for investigative reporting; and honorable mentions for reviews and design & typography.
Associated Press via the Clovis News Journal |
10-29-2007 8:26 am |
Honors & Achievements
Justin Bilicki Doing Editorial Cartoons for New York Pressnew
Editor & Publisher |
10-29-2007 10:15 am |
Industry News
iPhone App Enables Sales Reps to Show Customers Ad Previewsnew
Editor & Publisher |
10-26-2007 3:49 pm |
Industry News
