Author:

For the past two years, Simon Warner -- director of the Centre for the Study of the World's Popular Musics at the University of Leeds -- has been a final-round judge in the Music Criticism category of the AltWeekly Awards contest. In his most recent column for the Web site PopMatters, Warner says AAN papers "cover that edgy waterfront the mainstream editors still have great difficulty embracing." He also discusses the judging process that this year resulted in Rene Spencer Saller of Illinois Times and Melissa Maerz of City Pages (Twin Cities) landing top honors for their writing.