AAN's 2010 editorial panel competition garnered 16 proposals for topics ranging from video production to nonprofit grants to transportation politics (and everything in between). AAN members now have the opportunity to vote on these proposals. The proposal with the most votes will be featured at the July 15-17 annual convention in Toronto, and its creator will receive a free registration to the convention.

The editorial panel competition was spearheaded by AAN's editorial committee as a means of soliciting new ideas for programming in Toronto and beyond. "No matter who wins this competition, there are a lot of great ideas here, and I'm hoping some of the runner-ups will be game to bring their ideas to the convention as part of the editorial roundtable sessions," said AAN Editorial Chair Julia Goldberg.

Voting will close on Thursday, May 27 at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 2.

CLICK HERE READ THE PROPOSALS AND VOTE

Continue ReadingAAN Opens Voting for Editorial Panel Competition

Sales teams are now required to sell print, web, phone and other products. Writers are stretched to capacity with added blogging and social media responsibilities. Designers must learn new skills to produce additional ads and content for web, mobile and now the tablet. How do you create and maintain an environment that continues to motivate your staffs when more is required of them each and every day?

Jan van der Hoop of HiringSmart will be in Toronto to help us tackle this issue -- one faced across all departments. With more than fifteen years of HR experience, Jan will walk convention attendees through a concrete process to understand the driving factors of performance, measure what truly matters and plan the necessary steps to help ensure your paper remains competitive through the contributions of your staff.

So join us in Toronto for this timely discussion on how to get the most out of your employees.

Continue ReadingAsking More of Your Staff With No Budget for Additional Resources?

How do you choose the right platform for your story? With the Web -- and now mobile -- you have more options than ever. At first glance they seem daunting, but these platforms offer exciting new ways to add depth to your stories and attract new readers. Award-winning multimedia veteran Regina McCombs of the Poynter Institute will be on hand in Toronto to help sort it all out in an hour-long session on July 16. McCombs' courses on video reporting, mobile news, and social media are the gold standard of the news industry, and convention attendees won't want to miss this invaluable session.

"This session is a natural extension of AAN's partnership with Poynter's NewsU to offer our members online training, particularly in the area of new media," said Editorial Chair Julia Goldberg. "Hopefully those who haven't taken advantage yet of AAN's discounts to the NewsU webinars will want to after they attend Regina's session in Toronto."

Continue ReadingThe iStory: Telling Stories Across Platforms

Sidney Simon, owner and CEO of Bartash Inc., one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of magazines, newspapers and niche publications, proudly announces that industry veteran Bob Senske has joined Bartash as its newest Sales Executive. Mr. Senske brings over 25 years of graphic arts experience to Philadelphia’s largest coldset web printer. Most recently, he spent 10 years in sales with A.F.L. Web Printing of Voorhees, NJ.

Continue ReadingVeteran Print Sales Executive Joins Bartash Team

Sarah Billingsley, an advertising executive whose experience at several alternative weeklies brought her to AWN two years ago as Ad Coordinator, has been named Communications Director for the Alternative Weekly Network. In addition to becoming an AWN Director where she now coordinates the 95-member advertising cooperative’s national sales efforts, Sarah assumes additional responsibilities associated with the long-time position held by John Morrison who left the company in March.

Continue ReadingSarah Billingsley Named AWN Communications Director

Jon Elliston, former managing editor of Mountain Xpress in Asheville, N.C., has received the backing of a John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation research grant for his book on the civil-rights era attacks on Camp Summerlane, a biracial children's camp in the North Carolina mountains. Elliston left the paper last month in order to pursue the book full-time, a project which evolved from a series of articles he wrote for Xpress in 2008. When the stories first appeared, Elliston wrote that the series would “explore why and how it was that incensed adults from a tranquil mountain town laid siege to a camp full of children.” Two years later, he tells his former paper that he intends to use the grant to delve into the Kennedy Library’s Justice Department records of the attack.

Continue ReadingFormer Mountain Xpress Editor Awarded Research Grant

Metro Pulse walked away with 18 honors at the annual Golden Press Card Awards held this weekend by the East Tennessee Society for Professional Journalists. Charles Maldonado and Frank Carlson received the Horace V. Wells Jr. Community Service Award, which was the first time that Metro Pulse has been honored in that category, according to editor Coury Turczyn.

Continue ReadingMetro Pulse Picks Up 18 Local SPJ Awards

Henry E. Scott, who joined Creative Loafing, Inc. as vice president and chief marketing officer in February, has been named the publisher of the company's Atlanta paper. He replaces Luann Labedz, who announced her departure in March, and will be the paper's eighth publisher in six years. "With the declining circulation of the city's only daily, and its decision to move its newsroom [outside the Perimeter], we have emerged as Atlanta's largest-circulation hometown newspaper," he says. "That means we have an even greater responsibility to Atlantans who want to learn how to make the most of life in this sophisticated and cosmopolitan city."

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing (Atlanta) Names Henry Scott as New Publisher

Jackson Free Press says that its app, JFP Mobile, received approval from the Apple Store today. The free app gives users access to the paper's headlines, music listings, and local restaurant menus. "One small step for a man, one nice little leap for the JFP," said Free Press publisher Todd Stauffer in an email. "We're really excited at the opportunity to get more 'mobile' with our readers and, hopefully, extend the reach of our content and brand onto the iPhone platform."

Continue ReadingApple Store Approves Jackson Free Press Mobile App

Posner, who was fired from the Daily Beast earlier this year for lifting material from the Miami Herald, has retained attorney and author Mark Lane "to prepare litigation against the Miami New Times for accusations about his journalism and interfering with his career as an author," according to a press release issued this morning. The threatened suit comes on the heels of a series of New Times reports that revealed Posner had also plagiarized passages of his latest book, Miami Babylon (including parts from New Times). "We're delighted to have Mr. Lane, an 83-year-old Jonestown survivor, involved," New Times editor Chuck Strouse tells AAN News in an email. "We clearly have nothing against Mr. Posner, though we despise his admitted serial plagiarism. New details on this egregious literary theft -- which is crystal clear -- will be published soon."

Continue ReadingGerald Posner Says He’s Ready to Sue Miami New Times