This summer, Association of Alternative Newsweeklies members will get to remember the Alamo as our 27th annual convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas, June 24 to 27. Click here to see the complete convention schedule.

Those who partially disrobed and downed shots for The Stranger editor and sex columnist Dan Savage at our 2002 convention may be happy or terrified to know that he will once again be hosting the Awards-Lunch Smackdown. Winners of the 2004 Alternative Newsweeklies Awards will be announced at the lunch.

Ad reps who wonder if their papers are reaching the most coveted readers will be especially interested in Jonathan Berry’s presentation of the results of a Roper study on influential consumers and alternative newsweeklies. Sessions aimed at publishers include salary strategies and copyright issues, to name a few. Design and production people will find training workshops for InDesign, Photoshop and Acrobat 6.0, as well as advice on making your publication’s redesign as painless as possible. And editorial staff will learn new ways to reach Latino readers, cover the environment and handle special sections.

Special events include a golf outing, an Old West Hootenanny and two fiestas. The convention hotel, Hilton Palacio del Rio, is two blocks from the Alamo, the Spanish mission that Davy Crockett and others defended during the Texan struggle for independence from Mexico.

Deadline for early bird registrations this year is Friday, May 7. Early sign-up is recommended for those sessions with limited enrollment. Visit the 2004 Convention Web site for more details.