Houston Press, L.A. Weekly, and Phoenix New Times each came out as winners in the Western Publishing Association's Maggie Awards.
South Carolina Journalist of the Year goes to Free Times reporter Corey Hutchins.
Paul Curci, publisher of Philadelphia City Paper, is stepping down after twenty-seven years with the paper.
The story cast doubts on Arizona sheriff's deputy Louie Puroll's claim that he was shot by drug smugglers.
Video of "How I Got That Story" session at Toronto Convention is now available.
The national Society of Professional Journalists has named Michael Lacey, Stephen Lemons and Paul Rubin as recipients of the New America Award for a series that ran in Phoenix New Times.
The U.S. is sending nearly 1000 athletes to compete in the Maccabiah Games, the event sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics" that takes place next month in Israel. Jewish News of Greater Phoenix reports that one of the competitors is none other than Phoenix New Times senior staff writer Paul Rubin, who will be on the men's fast-pitch softball team in the masters division. It won't be Rubin's first time at the games; he's a veteran, having won two gold medals and one silver medal while playing softball for the U.S. in 1985, 1989 and 1993. "Representing your country and your religion is a very important honor, and I'm taking it very seriously," he says.
City Paper publisher Paul Curci invited graphic design and industrial design students from the University of the Arts to rework the paper's street boxes, and "the results are, by and large, stunning," according to editor Brian Howard. The mock-ups use ideas ranging from the utilitarian (a box that collects rain water and funnels it into a street-level dog bowl) to the futuristic (the "multi-lingual distributional information kiosk" pictured at left which features solar power, USB and headphone ports, and allows individuals to print out personalized issues of the paper). A jury that included arts professionals and Curci chose winners, some of which may be produced in the coming year.
The paper will unveil a new design, logo and lineup of columns and features when it hits stands this week, LA Observed reports. Changes include: Content from Wonkette, a biweekly Neal Pollack column on sports, the return of editor Rebecca Schoenkopf's Commie Girl column, and a weekly news-in-review column from recently departed editor Steve Lowery. The redesign was overseen by new art director Paul Takizawa (formerly of LA Weekly), and CityBeat is throwing a celebratory party this Friday.
