When the Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists were announced today, there was a familiar alt-weekly name on the list: LA Weekly's Jonathan Gold was one of two finalists for criticism, a category Gold won in 2007.
Stories from five AAN-member papers and one series that ran in several papers have been named finalists in this year's Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) journalism contest.
Alt-Weekly writers are well-represented in the list of finalists for the 2011 James Beard Foundation Awards. Winners will be announced on May 6.
Kit Rachlis, former editor at the L.A. Weekly and Village Voice, has been tapped as the American Prospect's new editor.
L.A. Weekly senior features editor Tom Christie has left the paper after 15 years.
Gus Garcia-Roberts (Miami New Times) and Hanna Raskin (Mountain Xpress) both snagged first place honors.
Former L.A. Weekly editors Laurie Ochoa and Joe Donnelly are set to release the first issue of Los Angeles based quarterly journal Slake in early July, according to LA Observed. The full color publication will feature narrative journalism, fiction and poetry by several former L.A. Weekly writers, including current food columnist (and Ochoa's husband) Jonathan Gold. In addition, there are plans for a yet to be launched website that "will be one of the first websites designed from scratch to take advantage of the display capabilities of the iPad."
Donnelly left the Weekly in 2008 after his position was eliminated and Ochoa parted ways with the paper last year after holding the editor in chief position for eight years.
Dresses made entirely of pages from the Sacramento News & Review were recently on display when the alt-weekly celebrated its 21st birthday and new green headquarters, as part of a Design Challenge the paper had put together. This comes on the heels of a LA Fashion Week show in March, "Paper Dresses," that featured clothes made out of the L.A. Weekly.
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.
