The Atlanta Press Club bestowed the honor on senior writer Mara Shalhoup at their annual gala last week. Shalhoup was cited in part for her three-part series on the rise of the Black Mafia Family, a cocaine-trafficking network with ties to a music label and violent crimes. "Since late 2004, my editor and I knew what an important story the Black Mafia Family's was," Shalhoup says. "Creative Loafing deserves a round of applause for its devotion to publishing the series." She will receive a $1,000 prize.

Continue ReadingCreative Loafing Writer Named Atlanta’s ‘Journalist of the Year’

City Pages' Dara Moskowitz was the big winner last night as the annual James Beard Foundation Media Awards were announced in New York. She took home first place prizes in two categories: Newspaper, Newsletter, or Magazine Columns and Newspaper Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer (which she shared with The Wall Street Journal's Eric Felten). The Cleveland Scene's Elaine Cicora placed first in the Newspaper Feature Writing Without Recipes category. This marks the second year in a row that Moskowitz has won a James Beard Award.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Win Three James Beard Awards

The alt-weekly received first-place honors for Shea Anderson's work in the political reporting category and for Nicholas Collias's work in the environmental reporting category. The Weekly also took home honors in several other categories, including headline writing and investigative reporting. The full list of Idaho Press Association winners can be found here (PDF file).

Continue ReadingBoise Weekly Wins Two First-Place Awards from Idaho Press Association

That's the question we're going to try to answer on Thursday, June 14, the opening day of the convention. In an AAN convention first, our hosts at Willamette Week have assembled a panel of lively and articulate local experts to discuss the region's unique approach to public-policy issues that have national resonance, including land-use planning, mass transit, assisted suicide, sustainable development and medical marijuana.

Continue ReadingHow Does Portland Do it Differently?