The Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism are given out by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Creative Loafing Tampa wins three first-place awards. Miami New Times reporter Michael E. Miller named Journalist of the Year.
Two long-time SN&R employees, arts & culture editor Rachel Leibrock and managing editor Nick Miller, will become co-Editors. They will replace founding editor Melinda Welsh, who announced earlier this year that she is stepping down.
Philadelphia Weekly and Seattle Weekly both finished first in two categories in this year's National Association of Black Journalists' Salute to Excellence National Media Awards. PW's Kia Gregory took first-place honors in Newspaper--Feature (Single Story) and Newspaper--Commentary, while Seattle Weekly's Mike Seely finished first in Newspaper--Sports and Brian Miller finished first in Newspaper-Business. Winners were announced Saturday in Chicago. This marks Seely's fourth award from the NABJ in the past five years, according to the Weekly.
Award-winning veteran investigative reporter Ed Connolly has taken over as editor of New Times, the paper announced Monday. Former editor Ryan Miller will remain at the paper as executive editor and will also assume responsibility for the production of New Times' sister paper, the Santa Maria Sun, for which he is also executive editor. Connolly first found his way to New Times after applying for a proofreader opening -- then he wandered into the wrong interview, one for an opening at the Sun. Miller said it quickly became clear Connolly's skills made him a good fit for New Times. "Ed sort of fell into our laps here at New Times," Miller says in a statement. "He was too good of an asset to pass up."
Zac Crain, formerly the Dallas Observer's music editor, recently recruited some prominent Dallas musicians to contribute to a 32-track double-disc benefit album for his mayoral campaign, Pitchfork reports. The album includes contributions from the Polyphonic Spree's Tim DeLaughter, Ben Kweller, Rhett Miller, the Deathray Davies' John Dufilho with the Apples in Stereo's Robert Schneider, and Centro-matic. Crain hopes to replace current Dallas mayor and former Observer columnist Laura Miller, who announced last year she doesn't plan to seek re-election.
The Dallas Observer blog "Unfair Park" has hosted a feisty debate between Jim Schutze and Laura Miller over the past few days. Schutze, the weekly's city columnist, wrote a cover story for the Aug. 31 issue criticizing Dallas' plan to build new bridges. Mayor Laura Miller, who wrote the city column for the Observer in her days before holding office, sent a letter to the weekly disputing Schutze's economic analysis, which the paper then posted on its blog. "The Dallas City Council took a mediocre project and made it great -- all in the bright light of day -- and I resent, as a former reporter for this newspaper, Schutze's gross distortion of the facts," Miller wrote. Schutze's response, posted a few hours later, briefly covers Miller's assertions before saying that he hopes to publish a better analysis in the Observer: "Blogs are O.K., but blogs have their limitations too; they are not the place for a comprehensive review of this very complex story," he says. "I look forward to working with the mayor and her staff on a search for these very important answers. Notice that I did not accuse the mayor of 'gross distortion.'"
Many residents of predominantly black South Dallas are glad that Mayor Laura Miller is not seeking another term, according to an article by Thomas Korosec in today's Houston Chronicle. "The mayor's troubles in South Dallas began with her work as an acid-penned columnist for the Dallas Observer, a weekly tabloid," former Observer staff writer Korosec asserts, citing specific examples where Miller "skewered" local black leaders. "Rightly or wrongly there was a perception that she was racist," Miller appointee Tom Dunning says.
