The Association of Alternative Newsweeklies announces the call for entries in the 2003 Alternative Newsweekly Awards, the eighth since the contest was launched in 1996.

The Alternative Newsweekly Awards recognize superior journalism and graphic design among AAN member papers, which include alternative newsweeklies across the United States and Canada. The contest seeks to promote excellence by recognizing work that is well written, incisively reported and original, and that presents an effective challenge to established orthodoxies.

The deadline for entries is Jan. 31, 2003. Entries must be received in the AAN office by that date. There will be no extensions.

This year’s wild-card category is Business. The wild-card category is chosen each year at random from suggestions made by the editorial committee. Food Criticism also has been added as a category. The only other changes in the categories from the 2002 contest are that food has been added as a possible subject for Arts Feature entries and that only one entry will be accepted in the News Story (under 1,500 words) category rather than three.

Other changes have been made that should be noted. The circulation cutoff for the two divisions this year is AAN’s median circulation of 50,000: the divisions are 50,000 and under or over 50,000. The assignment into divisions will be based on the circulation figures printed in the latest AAN directory. Entry fees are now $25 for papers in the large-circulation division and $15 for those in the small-circulation division.

Entry forms were mailed this week to all AAN editors and publishers. For a PDF version of the form, which contains a complete description of the contest rules and categories click here.

The awards will be presented at the 2003 Alternative Newsweekly Awards luncheon at the AAN Annual Convention in Pittsburgh.

For a complete list of the 2002 award winners and judges, as well as the judges’ biographies and comments in each category, click here.