Putting out a summer guide is not every alt-weekly staff writer's idea of a good time. To produce the Pacific Northwest Inlander's award-winning special section, editor and publisher Ted S. McGregor Jr. gathered his staff in a room and wouldn't let them out until they came up with some ideas that would make the guide not only fun to create but fun to read. This is the 29th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
To create his award-winning editorial layout, "Coffin Classics," Miami New Times art director Michael Shavalier mixed studio shots of older Goths with shots of modern, drinking, club-going Goths. When designing in black and white, arresting images and good typography are key, he says. This is the 28th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Throughout his career, Ben Joravsky has worked to illuminate issues affecting Chicagoans. In his award-winning political column for the Chicago Reader, The Works, he explains how the city treats certain individuals, shedding light on the larger schemes of government. This is the 27th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Rene Spencer Saller began writing music reviews for a fanzine when she was in her mid teens and has since made her way in a field that seems to be dominated by "white guys." She can admire a band and still take it to task for its misogyny. Her award-winning column, Sound Patrol, appears in Illinois Times. This is the 26th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Ruth Hammond will be stepping down as AAN's editorial director on Dec. 23 to take a job as a senior copy editor with The Chronicle of Higher Education. During her two years at AAN, Ruth participated in the launch of AltWeeklies.com and kept the site running; she also administered the AltWeekly Awards contest, including the contest's move to an online format last year. In reflecting on her work at AAN, Ruth says, "what strikes me most is how much teamwork went into all my projects."
Derf (aka John Backderf) gets ideas for his cartoon through cultural osmosis. As he wanders around the city, he stumbles across all kinds of material. His award-winning cartoon, The City, is carried by alternative weeklies across the country. This is the 25th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
With his award-winning arts criticism in Madison's Isthmus, Kent Williams makes the case for the local critic: someone who will see The Passion of the Christ the way the community sees it, who will marvel at the complexity of the pipe organ in the local symphony hall, and who will notice the naked sculpture at the local museum that people have walked past all these years without ever really understanding her. This is the 24th in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
You never know where a search engine will lead you. For Terje Langeland, a reporter for the Colorado Springs Independent, it was straight into a web of connections among local people who had backed pro-voucher candidates for the school board and national pro-voucher groups. His award-winning series, "Command Performance," lays out the details. This is the 23rd in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
The online registration system first implemented for the 2005 AltWeekly Awards contest is back -- with some improvements. A new category! An earlier deadline! Different ways to submit! Learn more about the changes here.
Writing film criticism for an alt-weekly in an area with a highly educated population allows Godfrey Cheshire to write without dumbing down his work. His three award-winning reviews for The Independent Weekly analyze films created by an American, a Russian and an Iranian. This is the 22nd in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
