The Los Angeles Press Club has announced the finalists for its 52nd Annual Southern California Journalism Awards, and four AAN members and one alt-weekly affiliated columnist are in the running this year. LA Weekly has 23 finalists in 14 categories, including Journalist of the Year (Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek), Entertainment Journalist (Scott Foundas), Designer (Darrick Rainey) and Online Journalist (Dennis Romero). OC Weekly has five finalists in five categories, including Journalist of the Year (R. Scott Moxley) and Designer (Kelly Lewis). The Pasadena Weekly has seven finalists in six categories, and the Ventura County Reporter has one finalist. Meanwhile, Advice Goddess Amy Alkon is a finalist for five awards, including Journalist of the Year. Winners will be announced on June 27.

Continue ReadingSoCal Journalism Award Finalists Include a Handful of Alt-Weeklies

The Society of Professional Journalists' Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism competition, unlike many others, features its own alt-weekly division, which pits publications from Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Montana against each other. This year, the Pacific Northwest Inlander led the pack with 13 total awards -- six of which were first-place finishes. Five of the Willamette Week's nine total awards were in first place, and Seattle Weekly won 13 total awards and three firsts. The Missoula Independent won five awards, with two first-place wins. The Eugene Weekly won five awards and the Portland Mercury won one.

Continue ReadingSix Alt-Weeklies Pick Up Regional SPJ Awards

New Times, which got its start in 1970 as a reaction to the Kent State shootings, hosted a party over the weekend to celebrate 40 years in existence. Native Arizonan and former alt-weekly writer and NPR editor Bill Wyman takes the anniversary occasion to look back and take stock of what New Times has built; it was the first paper started by Michael Lacey, who now oversees the Village Voice Media chain with business partner Jim Larkin. After saying he has "no reason to suck up" to Lacey and Larkin, Wyman concludes: "Aren't they everything we supposedly value about the press in the U.S.? They are idiosyncratic and uncorruptible, uncompromising and fearless; unlike a lot of places that adopt the motto, Lacey and Larkin really do print the news and raise hell. And as this troubled time for a troubled industry continues, they just may end up being the last men standing."

Continue ReadingPhoenix New Times Celebrates 40th Anniversary

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

The Western Publishing Association held its banquet on Friday and announced the winners for its annual Maggie Awards, which go to work deemed "The Best in the West." With all five finalists in the overall Tabloids/Consumer category being Village Voice Media papers, we knew an alt-weekly would win, but which would it be? OC Weekly ended up taking home the first-place prize in that category, and the Houston Press finished first for Best Public Service Series or Article/Trade & Consumer for staff writer Chris Vogel's December 2009 story on toxic polluters and lax enforcement at the Houston Ship Channel.

Continue ReadingOC Weekly & Houston Press Win Maggie Awards

The Association of Food Journalists (AFJ) has announced the winners in its 2010 awards competition, and four AAN members are in the mix. Miami New Times has placed in three categories -- Best Newspaper Food Feature (under 200K circ.), Best Newspaper Food Story and Best Newspaper Food Criticism. The Village Voice staff is competing in the Best Newspaper Food Coverage (150-250K circ.) category, while the L.A. Weekly staff is in the running for Best Food Blog. And the Mountain Xpress' Hanna Raskin, who recently decamped to the Dallas Observer, is competing in the Best Newspaper Food Column category. The placement of the winners will be announced at AFJ's annual conference in September.

Continue ReadingFour Alt-Weeklies Named Finalists in Food Journalism Awards

Pitch staff writer Nadia Pflaum has won a 2009 Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists in the Feature Reporting for non-daily papers category for "Aftermath." Judges chose the winners from over 1,300 entries; the awards will be presented Oct. 2 during a ceremony in Las Vegas.

Continue ReadingThe Pitch Wins National SPJ Award

The Village Voice's Elizabeth Dwoskin, Jaclyn Galluci of the Long Island Press, and Chris Vogel of the Houston Press are among the finalists for this year's Livingston Awards for Young Journalists, an all-media, general reporting contest that awards three $10,000 prizes for Local, National, and International Reporting to journalists under the age of 35. It's Dwoskin's second nomination in a row; last year's local reporting winner was Phoenix New Times' John Dickerson. Winners will be announced on June 2.

Continue ReadingThree Young Alt-Weekly Staffers Finalists for 2009 Livingston Awards