The Sunday Paper publisher Patrick Best announced his plans on Friday, citing the troubles of Creative Loafing -- which owns papers in Atlanta, Charlotte and Tampa -- as a major reason. "While we planned to go to both of these markets in the next few years, the troubles of the parent company of the major newsweeklies in both cities have convinced us to accelerate our plans," he says. Best, who was Creative Loafing (Atlanta)'s advertising director before launching The Sunday Paper, recently offered CL CEO Ben Eason $1 million for the Loaf's Atlanta publication. Best's expansion plans are being helped by funding from Brian Conley, the former owner of Knoxville, Tenn., AAN member Metro Pulse and current shareholder of Sunday Paper Publishing. Meanwhile, Atlanta Magazine's Steve Fennessy reports that Eason's main creditor filed a motion (PDF) on Friday claiming CL has not been forthcoming in explaining budgets and cash flow forecasts. The CL bankruptcy protection case is scheduled to go before a judge on Wednesday.
As Editor in Chief of L.A. Weekly, Laurie Ochoa tries to find innovative approaches to special issues, so that "you don't feel like you're reading the same copy over and over again." Viewing the "Best of L.A." through a theme of the seven deadly sins won Ochoa and her staff a first-place AtlWeekly Award for Special Section. This is the 38th and final in a "How I Got That Story" series highlighting the AltWeekly Awards' first-place winners.
Gambit Weekly's annual "Best of New Orleans" issue was printed but never distributed, thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Gambit printed an abbreviated list of winners in October, but the paper received many requests for the full issue. The Gambit staff decided to sell the issue for $10 per copy, with proceeds benefiting The Foundation for Entertainment Development and Education, Inc., a nonprofit organization that funds projects and programs that acknowledge the importance of the performing arts to the New Orleans area. In a press release, publisher Margo DuBos said, "We hope that interested AAN members will run an ad promoting the sales of the issue on a space-available basis." The ad can be viewed here; for a different size or file format, contact Rebecca Thiel at rebeccat@gambitweekly.com.
This year the Austin Chronicle gift guide features an item close to our hearts: Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2005. Reviewer Nora Ankrum writes, "This is the gift for the writer or journalist on your shopping list, to be kept on the reference shelf next to the OED and the Chicago Manual and the most recent Best American Magazine Writing, but you won't find it at a bookstore, so order it online, soon." And no, the Austin Chronicle does not have a winning entry included in the book, although it has received AltWeekly Award recognition in earlier years.
The first Best of Eugene Awards show was held last Saturday, says Director of Sales and Marketing Bill Shreve. Local celebrities presented glass plaques to the winners, and musical entertainment was provided. The money raised was donated to Food for Lane County, which won the Favorite Nonprofit award.
The winners of the 2005 AltWeekly Awards unveil the process they went through to create their first-place articles, photography, cartoons and design. The series sheds light on the work found in the book "Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2005."
You may have heard by now that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast on the same day that Gambit Weekly's "Best of New Orleans" issue was scheduled to be delivered. But you probably didn't know that Houston Press' "Best of Houston" was due to go to press this week, but was forced to close early in advance of Hurricane Rita. Mere coincidence? Not according to the members of the editorial committee, who see in these two natural disasters nothing less than God's wrath against special issues and the publishers who demand them.
This year AAN put out no ordinary awards book. Among the honored first-place entries is a Pulitzer Prize-winning story by Willamette Week's Nigel Jaquiss. "Best AltWeekly Writing and Design 2005" offers a wide selection of riveting reading, produced by some seasoned writers and others just beginning to make their mark. The bookstore-quality volume is designed to reach a wider audience than ever.
Patrick Best, a former ad salesman at Creative Loafing Atlanta, will launch The Sunday Paper next month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. He hopes to reach affluent 25- to 44-year-olds tired of what he perceives as some alternative weeklies' left-leaning and pessimistic slant. "Being an American and living in the United States is a good thing," he says. "We will not be constantly, ad nauseam, critiquing it to the point people don't feel good about it." Fifty-thousand copies of the paper will be distributed each Saturday in the city's high-rent ZIP codes and northern suburbs.
