As AAN prepared to return to its earliest roots, the very first gather of independent counter cultural media happened in Boulder in 1972 or 1973, the AAN Board figured it was well past time to start recognizing those individuals who built and defined our industry, bending the arc of our history ever closer to one that is just for all. While there are many legends in this group, there is an even more select few that also shared their talents and times to build the association and help our members grow.
The AAN Lifetime Achievement Award was created and a preliminary process set-up with the Alternative News Foundation to recognize these individuals in early 2019.
It was unanimous that our inaugural awardee would be Patty Calhoun of Denver’s Westword, former AAN President, staple of AAN’s writers workshops and the embodiment of what an AAN paper can do in its community and in many instances, the country.
