"Patty Calhoun is the co-founder and editor of Westword and probably has a greater knowledge of metro Denver than any other living journalist," the Denver Post writes. She was inducted into the Hall with four others on Friday evening. Calhoun, who was a founding member of AAN and served as its president in 1999-2000, currently chairs the association's editorial committee.

Continue ReadingWestword Editor Inducted into Denver Press Club Hall of Fame

The Vermont Press Association awarded the alt-weekly first place in its General Excellence (non-daily newspapers) category, The Barre Montepelier Times-Argus reports. Seven Days won five additional awards, with a one-two-three sweep of the Arts Criticism (daily and non-daily) category, and a second place finish in both the Feature Writing (non-daily) and Photo Feature (non daily) categories. Winners were announced at a luncheon yesterday.

Continue ReadingSeven Days Takes Home a Handful of State Press Awards

When the Association of Food Journalists announced the winners of their 2007 Awards this weekend, AAN members came out on top in three categories. Willamette Week's Zach Dundas took first in Newspaper Food Feature (under 150,000 circulation) for "Bean Town;" Blair Campbell's "Wineau" column in East Bay Express was named Best Newspaper Food Column; and Gail Shepherd of New Times Broward-Palm Beach won first in Newspaper Restaurant Criticism. Creative Loafing (Atlanta)'s Besha Rodell took home two third-place awards, in Newspaper Food Feature and Newspaper Restaurant Criticism; and Malcolm Gay from the Riverfront Times took third in Newspaper Food Column.

Continue ReadingAlt-Weeklies Take Home A Handful of Food Journalism Awards

"Our early years were fun and full of possibility, but man, were they lean and mean," founding editor Stephanie Barna writes in an editor's note introducing the paper's anniversary issue. "We moved here in the middle of the summer from other cities, confident that we could figure out Charleston fast enough to put out an informed and relevant newspaper," she writes. "We relied on our previous experience in the alt-weekly world to establish a newspaper that reflected the city, not so much the people who put it together."

Continue ReadingCharleston City Paper Turns 10

"I can't lie to you -- this business is a struggle," CityBeat editor Dave Rolland writes. "Whereas we're dying to get into the neighborhood of 72 to 80 pages each week, we're still slogging along at 48 or 52." Looking back on the reasons behind the paper's Aug. 21, 2002, launch, Rolland writes: "There was no publication that represented the city's politically progressive population, no publication that focused on street-level arts and culture and no publication that told stories with lively, conversational flair. It's in these three areas that I believe CityBeat has done its job particularly well."

Continue ReadingSan Diego CityBeat Turns 5

In 1977, Johns Hopkins University graduates Russ Smith (who later founded New York Press) and Alan Hirsch launched the first issue of City Squeeze. "Despite the dreadful name (soon changed to its current handle) and shoestring origins, it quickly established itself as the house organ of Baltimore's demimonde as well as a feisty elbow-thrower in the local media scrum," says current editor Lee Gardner in this week’s cover intro. The issue features several stories from the archives, including a 1979 examination of Charm City's political bosses by Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden, a 1984 interview with child molester Arthur Goode by Hairspray filmmaker John Waters, and a selection of photography by long-time contributor Jennifer Bishop. Online readers can also check out the first year of City Squeeze issues in a PDF gallery. "As for the future of City Paper, well, there’s another issue to get out next week, and another the week after that, and I believe that the paper offers something distinctive enough that the demand for it will endure for weeks and weeks and weeks to come," writes Gardner.

Continue ReadingBaltimore City Paper Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Started as City Squeeze by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch in 1977, the alt-weekly has "evolved from monthly to bi-weekly to weekly, switched back and forth between free distribution and paid distribution before finally settling on free distribution as it is today," according to a press release. A special 30th anniversary issue will hit the streets of Baltimore Aug. 1.

Continue ReadingBaltimore City Paper Celebrates 30 Years

A strip each of Matt Bors' "Idiot Box" and Jen Sorenson's "Slowpoke" are among the 12 finalists in The Union of Concerned Scientists' competition rewarding "creative takes on the issue of political interference in science." Voting for "Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest" closes July 23.

Continue ReadingTwo Alt-Weekly Cartoonists Compete in ‘Science Idol’ Contest