Association News

ProPublica director of communications Mike Webb will be on hand at the Toronto Convention to talk about how you can use their data and resources for your own investigative work.

The nonprofit news organization has rolled out a number of collaborative tools since its January 2008 launch, including a "reporting recipe" for how to investigate state boards that license nurses, pharmacists, mortgage brokers and other professionals. That specific tool was borne out of an investigation ProPublica did of California's nursing board that found broad breakdowns in the state's regulation of registered nurses.

Other resources the organization offers include the Stimulus Recovery Tracker and a "Reporting Matchmaker," the first of which hooked home loan modification applicants up with local journalists.

With newsrooms getting smaller, partnerships and collaboration are becoming hot topics in journalism. With a little guidance from Webb, you could well be on your way to a number of solid features that put local names and numbers on the big issues facing the nation.

AAN voters have spoken and the results are in. The winner of the 2010 Editorial Panel competition is Bradley Zeve, CEO of Monterey County Weekly. Zeve's proposal "Going Deep for a Baker's Dozen: 12 Quick Investigative Story Ideas," proposed a panel in which three experienced editors discuss how to continue producing hard-hiting investigative pieces even in this era of smaller newspaper staffs. The ultimate goal of the panel, according to the proposal, would be for the editors and attendees to generate 12 investigative pieces members can take home and implement, along with a 13th bonus project for AAN members to undertake together.

As the winner of the competition, Zeve is entitled to one free registration to the convention.

AAN also is offering a half-off registration to the second-place winner, Matt Kettmann, senior editor at Santa Barbara Independent, as well as the offer to transform his panel proposal, "Cultivating the Online Culture" into a roundtable discussion during Thursday's editorial roundtables.

Finally, third place winner Jeff Lawrence, publisher of Boston's Weekly Dig, has agreed to lead what is sure to be a lively roundtable discussion from his "Mister Publisher, Tear Down That Wall!" panel proposal that will explore whether, in this Web 2.0 world, the walls between departments, such as editorial and advertising, need to crumble a little more.

The editorial panel competition is a project of AAN's Editorial Committee to generate new ideas and programming for AAN.

The judging process is finally complete and the 159 finalists of the 2010 AltWeekly Awards have been established. Nashville Scene led all papers with eleven awards. In the large-circulation division, Boston Phoenix will snag ten awards and L.A. Weekly will pick up nine prizes at the awards ceremony next month.

The final rankings of the winners will be revealed at the AltWeekly Awards luncheon on July 16 in Toronto during AAN's 33rd Annual Convention. Gustavo Arellano, staff writer for OC Weekly and author of the nationally syndicated weekly column '¡Ask A Mexican!', will host the ceremony.

To see the full list of finalists click here.

After several months of heavy reading and two rounds of evaluating nearly 1,100 entries, the judges of AAN's annual journalism and design competition have rendered decisions. The finalists for the 2010 AltWeekly Awards will be announced on Tuesday, June 1--with the final rankings to be revealed at the AltWeekly Awards banquet on July 16 during AAN's Annual Convention in Toronto.

Now in its 15th year, AAN's editorial awards contest expanded in 2010 to include three new online categories: Individual Blogger, Multimedia, and Music Blog. The awards luncheon in Toronto will be hosted by Gustavo Arellano, staff writer for OC Weekly and author of the nationally syndicated weekly column '¡Ask A Mexican!'.

AAN prodigal son David Carr has been confirmed to speak at the the 2010 Annual Convention in Toronto. The former Washington City Paper editor will take time away from his prolific twittering and columnizing for the New York Times to explain how the rise of user-generated content and social media has changed the way readers, er, consumers obtain information. In a Saturday morning session, Carr will impart his wisdom on how to rise above the clutter (hint: teach your pet to play a musical instrument) and stay on top of the news feed.

Never one to shy away from new technology, Carr wrote in January that the yet to be unveiled iPad would be "an opportunity to renew the romance between printed material and consumer." So come renew the romance with AAN in Toronto and join this discussion about what new media and crowdsourcing--along with some brand-new terms that Carr will invent on the spot--mean for the future of professionally generated content.

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.

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."

Does your sales team, or your overall sales approach, need a shot in the arm? Sales trainer Richard Farrell of Chicago-based Tangent Knowledge Systems will be at the Toronto Convention to offer a new tool that just might help you boost sales and land new clients. On Friday, July 16, he'll walk convention attendees through his unorthodox nonselling sales process, touching on things salespeople should be focused on, like understanding the customer's needs, and what they shouldn't be, like over-communicating their sales messages.