Oklahoma City metro native Jennifer Palmer Chancellor joined Oklahoma Gazette as its editor-in-chief in August.
The Oklahoma Gazette won sixteen awards at the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists annual awards banquet this weekend, taking top honors in eight categories.
The Oklahoma Gazette received 18 honors at the 2009 Oklahoma Pro Chapter's Society of Professional Journalists awards, including five first-place wins. The Gazette also picked up 10 awards (including four firsts) at the 2009 Oklahoma Press Association's Better Newspaper Contest, and received seven honors at the Oklahoma City Ad Club's 44th annual ADDY Awards.
Tierra Media Group, the parent company to Oklahoma Gazette and OKCBiz magazine that Gazette publisher Bill Bleakley formed in 2007, will launch a new hyperlocal community weekly, EastWord, in eastern Oklahoma County on March 1 of next year.
"What began as an upstart, 2,000-circulation bimonthly publication with roots in historic preservation has grown into the largest weekly in Oklahoma," editor Rob Collins writes. "To celebrate its first three decades, Gazette contacted former editors, writers and contributors to share their memories and unique experiences." Collins says publisher Bill Bleakley founded the paper as a "journal of contributions to Oklahoma's quality of life." MORE: Joe Wertz looks at the paper's future.
The Gazette won one of nine 2008 Sequoyah Awards in this year's Oklahoma Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. The Sequoyah Award, the highest honor in the contest, is based on total points accumulated in all events. The alt-weekly received first place awards in News Content, Layout & Design, Advertising, Sales Promotion, In-Depth Enterprise, Personal Columns, Feature Writing and Photography. It placed second in Editorial Comment; third in Community Leadership; and fourth in News Writing. "A quality alternative weekly," one judge commented. "Great photography. Clever headlines ... wish our paper could attract all those plastic surgeon ads."
The Gazette's winnings in the Division A Newspaper category included first-place finishes in the Blog and Story/Photo Essay categories. Winners were announced yesterday.
Last week, Gazette editor Rob Collins alerted AAN News to the striking similarities between Newsweek's Dec. 15 cover and one published by the alt-weekly on Feb. 5, 2004. The Gazette's image, which was designed by art director Chris Street and shot by photographer Shannon Cornman, was one of three Gazette entries that won a 2005 AltWeekly Award. "Is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words," Collins says.
