Five alt-weeklies won a number of awards in the Oregon and Southwest Washington chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists' 2008 Excellence in Journalism Awards. Among non-daily newspapers in Oregon, Willamette Week took home 10 first-place awards, while Eugene Weekly took home one. Among alt-weeklies in the Northwest region, WW won six first-place awards; Seattle Weekly won four; the Missoula Independent won two; and the Pacific Northwest Inlander won one.
In May, Matt Gibson plans to launch and edit Montana Headwall, a quarterly lifestyle magazine focusing on the state's outdoor recreation scene. Initial plans call for a distribution of 10,000 copies. Most copies will be free of charge but the magazine will cost $4.95 at certain locations like supermarkets and bookstores.
At the Monday meeting of Missoula's city council, Independent owner and publisher Matt Gibson said he wants the city to be able to place its mandatory legal notices in the alt-weekly, rather than in a paid newspaper, the Missoulian reports. Gibson told the council that Missoula County places such ads in the Independent, and saves about $20,000 a year by doing so. The problem is that Montana law says cities must run the legal notices in a paid newspaper. Gibson told the council he'd like the Montana League of Cities and Towns to take up the matter during the upcoming legislative session.
The Missoula Independent tapped arts and entertainment editor Skylar Browning to be its next editor and hired freelance contributor Erika Fredrickson to take over the arts desk. Browning, who has edited the arts section for four years, will replace Brad Tyer, who left late last year. "Skylar was the guy we wanted from the start," says Independent publisher Matt Gibson. "He's very, very good at the work he does -- smart, funny, ambitious. And he exudes personal confidence and professional cool. He's a truly admirable colleague, and I'm thrilled he agreed to step up."
The winners of the 2007 Society of Professional Journalists' Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards were announced on Saturday night, and dozens of awards went to four alt-weeklies. Seattle Weekly led the way with 15 awards, including a total of eight first-place finishes in the Business, Education, Government, Investigative, Lifestyle, Science and Health, Special Section, and Sports categories. The Pacific Northwest Inlander took home 12 awards, including four first-place wins in the Consumer/Environmental Affairs, Humor, Page Design, and Social Issues categories. Eugene Weekly also won seven awards, and the Missoula Independent took home four.
Michael Bowen (The Pacific Northwest Inlander), Skylar Browning (Missoula Independent), Brendan Kiley (The Stranger), and Ashley Lindstrom (San Antonio Current) have been named fellows in the fourth National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at USC's Annenberg School. The fellows will participate in a rigorous 10-day program in February with guest faculty including L.A. Weekly theater editor Steven Leigh Morris.
"I'm writing to announce my impending departure from the Missoula Independent after five lovely years," Brad Tyer writes in a farewell email to colleagues. Tyer joined the Independent in 2002 after spending time elsewhere in the alt-weekly universe, including the Texas Observer, Houston Press, and Willamette Week. "As much as I've enjoyed working in newsrooms, especially this one, I'm also looking forward to seeing what the world looks like through a non-alt-weekly lens for the first time since -- my God -- 1991," he says. Tyer, who expects to leave no later than Oct. 4, says he will stay in Missoula and continue writing.
The alt-weekly finished in first place in the Excellence in Design, Presentation and Use of Photos category in this year's Better Newspaper Contest, sponsored by the Montana Newspaper Association. Award winners were announced Saturday.
After five years of doing a little bit of everything at Missoula Independent, Andy Smetanka now works as a baker when he's not taking classes toward a Master's degree in creative non-fiction or drafting silhouette animation for the Decemberists. New West profiles Montana's Renaissance man. CORRECTIONS: According to the Independent, Smetanka was the paper's arts editor, not the art director, as New West reports. In addition, Smetanka, who left his full-time position at the Independent almost two years ago, still reviews film for the paper on a regular basis.
