AAN News
Four Alt-Weeklies Named Finalists in Food Journalism Awardsnew
The Association of Food Journalists (AFJ) has announced the winners in its 2010 awards competition, and four AAN members are in the mix. Miami New Times has placed in three categories -- Best Newspaper Food Feature (under 200K circ.), Best Newspaper Food Story and Best Newspaper Food Criticism. The Village Voice staff is competing in the Best Newspaper Food Coverage (150-250K circ.) category, while the L.A. Weekly staff is in the running for Best Food Blog. And the Mountain Xpress' Hanna Raskin, who recently decamped to the Dallas Observer, is competing in the Best Newspaper Food Column category. The placement of the winners will be announced at AFJ's annual conference in September.
Association of Food Journalists |
05-06-2010 1:34 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Three Alt-Weekly Writers Pick Up James Beard Awardsnew
Writers from the Chicago Reader, L.A. Weekly and Westword all took home top prizes at this year's James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, which recognize excellence in food writing. The Reader's Cliff Doerksen won in the Newspaper Feature Writing category for his feature on mince pie, and Westword's Jared Jacang Maher came out on top in the Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs category for his piece on the pay-what-you-want SAME Cafe. Meanwhile, the Weekly's Pulitzer-winning food critic Jonathan Gold added another awards notch to his belt with a win in the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews category.
James Beard Foundation |
05-03-2010 1:56 pm |
Honors & Achievements
Former LA Weekly Classical Music Critic Alan Rich Diesnew
Rich died on Friday at his home in West Los Angeles. He was 85. Rich was the chief classical music critic at the Weekly from 1992 to 2008; he later briefly found a home at LA CityBeat before it closed up shop. On Twitter, Weekly food critic Jonathan Gold eulogized Rich as "the last great critic in LA."
The New York Times |
04-27-2010 8:15 am |
Industry News
Designers Turn Copies of L.A. Weekly into Dresses at L.A. Fashion Weeknew
A show called "Paper Dresses" that hit runways during the recent L.A. Fashion Week featured clothes made out of the L.A. Weekly. "It might have had a Project Runway challenge feel, but there was no denying the crafting skills, creative construction and whimsy of each and every piece on display," the Weekly's Lina Lecaro writes. "The presentation also served as a reminder of one thing print journalism will always have over web: cool, colorful cover pages."
L.A. Weekly |
03-31-2010 9:10 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Gets Five Nominations in Entertainment Journalism Awardsnew
Finalists for the third annual Los Angeles Press Club National Entertainment Journalism Awards were announced this week. L.A. Weekly received five nominations, including three for former film critic Scott Foundas, who was included in the best critic category. The Weekly's film issue was nominated for "best entertainment publication," and staff writer Libby Molyneaux got a best feature (under 1,000 words) nod.
L.A. Weekly |
03-24-2010 8:37 am |
Honors & Achievements
Alt-Weeklies Nominated for a Number of James Beard Awardsnew
As usual, AAN members are well-represented in the list of finalists for the 2010 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards, which recognize excellence in food writing. The L.A. Weekly's Jonathan Gold and Westword's Jason Sheehan (who is now at Seattle Weekly) are both nominated for the Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Reviews, and Gold is also a finalist in the Writing on Spirits, Wine or Beer category. Elsewhere, the Newspaper Feature Writing category is comprised only of AAN members, with two Chicago Reader pieces and one from the Village Voice vying for the top prize. Westword nabs another finalist in the Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs, where it is joined as a finalist by Washington City Paper. And last, but certainly not least, the Houston Press is a finalist in the Multimedia Food Feature category. Winners will be announced on May 2.
James Beard Foundation |
03-23-2010 10:24 am |
Industry News
True/Slant Columnist Picks Two Alt-Weekly Pieces as 2009's Bestnew
Conor Friedersdorf, in his annual roundup of the year's best journalism, spotlights two very different pieces from alt-weeklies as exemplary work. First, Mark Groubert's "Box of Broken Dreams," which appeared in LA Weekly in January, gets a nod for "Exceptional Storytelling," along with pieces from This American Life, the Washington Post and Esquire. Meanwhile, Matt Taibbi's New York Press takedown of Thomas Friedman -- "Flat N All That" -- gets the nod for "Best Rant," with Friedersdorf writing that it puts Friedman "so far up a creek he'll need three shovels and a steering wheel to spelunk himself out."
True/Slant |
02-23-2010 11:45 am |
Industry News
Mr. Fish's Contract With L.A. Weekly Expiresnew
The cartoonist's contract expired on Friday; he spent nearly six years as the Weekly's regular cartoonist. Booth tells Neon Tommy he had known for a few months about the contract, so he hired an agent and has been working on new ventures in recent months, including two book proposals, which are currently being pitched to publishing houses in New York City. But the Weekly's editor says that the paper likely hasn't seen the last of Mr. Fish. "We still plan to use him from time to time and may renegotiate contract for regular use," Drex Heikes says. "I have an email from him and plan to talk to him soon." MORE: Mr. Fish sounds off on the state of the Weekly on his blog.
Neon Tommy |
01-19-2010 9:24 am |
Industry News
Jonathan Gold Finally Joins Staff of L.A. Weeklynew
Gold, who has won a Pulitzer Prize for his work at the Weekly, had always been a freelancer for the paper -- until now. He's now on staff, where he'll continue writing his columns and also beging contributing to Squid Ink, the Weekly's food blog.
LA Observed |
01-07-2010 8:37 am |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Hires Karina Longworth as New Film Editornew
Longworth, who is the co-founder of Cinematical.com and former editor SpoutBlog, will replace Scott Foundas, who last month announced he was leaving the Weekly to become the associate program director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center. Longworth will begin her tenure at the Weekly on Jan. 18. In other Weekly news, the paper has hired a new staff reporter: Gene Maddaus, formerly of the Daily Breeze.
LA Observed |
12-28-2009 12:30 pm |
Industry News
Website Calls for Medical Marijuana Ad Boycott Against L.A. Weeklynew
Just last week we noted that medical marijuana-related advertising was filling up the pages of Denver's Westword; now a medical marijuana website is calling on shops that advertise in L.A. Weekly to pull their ads. The boycott, proposed by the site WeedTRACKER, comes after the paper ran a cover story that looked at Los Angeles' inability to regulate the city's medical marijuana shops. "The person who calls for the boycott obviously wasn't pleased with what we found," Patrick Range McDonald writes, "even though the Weekly takes local politicians to task for allowing non-permitted, opportunistic pot shops to give a compassionate cause -- the legal use of medical marijuana by truly sick people -- a very public black eye."
L.A. Weekly |
12-07-2009 12:43 pm |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Responds to Neon Tommy Storynew
Last week, the USC Annenberg web publication Neon Tommy ran a lengthy piece on the future of the Weekly as new editor Drex Heikes settles in. After correcting a few factual errors, Weekly news blogger Dennis Romero turns his focus to the larger context of the piece -- the changes at the paper since it came under control of Village Voice Media in 2006. "What's seen as a reduction of the editorial department is also a changing of the guard," he writes. "While some liberals and the ex-Weekly writers who catered to them lament the loss of the paper's crusty, bell-bottom voice, we'd argue that the future here is bright -- and digital."
L.A. Weekly |
11-23-2009 8:47 am |
Industry News
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New L.A. Weekly Editor Talks About The Paper's Futurenew
Drex Heikes, the veteran journalist who came to the Weekly from the Las Vegas Sun this summer, tells the USC Annenberg publication Neon Tommy that he was brought in specifically to beef up the paper's reporting, and that's exactly what he will do. "We're pushing things that are very deeply reported," he says. "We want good, hard-nosed investigative work." Heikes acknowledges that the Weekly has seen some tough times in the past few years, but says he remains confident in the paper's future, in part because he's been told by VVM executive editor Michael Lacey that there won't be any more newsroom contractions (as the story notes, the Weekly is actually hiring again). "I would say, God willing, the place is going to grow and we can be judged on where we are a year from now or two years from now," Heikes says. NOTE: The Weekly points out that the Neon Tommy story has an as-of-yet uncorrected error -- the paper has five full-time editors, not three.
Neon Tommy |
11-18-2009 2:42 pm |
Industry News
L.A. Weekly Film Critic and Editor Leaves for Film Societynew
Scott Foundas has been named the new associate program director of The Film Society of Lincoln Center, where he will work on series and event programs, including the New York Film Festival. "Scott's writing is an exhilarating dialogue with artists and audiences alike," society executive director Mara Manus tells Variety. "It is this vibrancy, along with Scott's deep film knowledge, that will contribute greatly to our growing organization, ensuring we continue to offer a vital place of serious film culture." IndieWire's Anne Thompson says Foundas' move is another nail in the coffin for the "dying art" of film criticism. "As one of the best critics working today, Foundas should be anticipating a long and happy career," she writes. "He's giving it up to program movies. This should not happen."
Variey | IndieWire |
11-12-2009 8:33 am |
Industry News
New Yorker: Jonathan Gold is 'High-Low Priest of the L.A. Food Scene'new
This week's New Yorker has a profile of the Pulitzer-winning L.A. Weekly food critic that has reportedly been "almost a year in the making." While the full article is available only to subscribers, here's an interesting tidbit from an abstract on the magazine's website: "To Gold's readers, his reviews have the ontological status that the New York Times has for people interested in current events: he doesn't write about it because it is, it is because he's written about it."
The New Yorker | LA Observed |
11-03-2009 11:30 am |
Industry News
