Twelve papers have applied for membership to AAN, including several owned by present or former AAN publishers or editors.

Among the AAN-member progeny applying are The Coast, from Halifax, N.S., a Canadian applicant whose part-owner is Catherine Salisbury, former owner of the Montreal Mirror; and the Santa Maria Sun, a second newspaper from the group that owns San Luis Obispo New Times.

Southland Publishing’s San Diego CityBeat is also, as promised, applying in its first year of existence. Southland also owns Pasadena Weekly and the Ventura County Reporter. And Pointblank from Des Moines, Iowa, is a start-up paper published by Jon Gaskell, former editor of Cityview.

For the next two months, members of the Admissions Committee will score the contenders and record the results on a worksheet. The worksheet standardizes the evaluation process, providing a list of criteria by which to measure the applicants. The 11-person committee will complete its work on Thursday June 5, during a meeting at the 26th annual AAN convention in Pittsburgh.

After reviewing the papers and the Admissions Committee recommendations, AAN members vote on applying papers Sunday, June 8, at the association’s Annual Meeting.

These papers have applied for admission:

— Jackson Free Press (Jackson, Miss.)
— The Strip (Tuscaloosa, Ala.)
— Weekly Dig (Boston)
— Santa Maria (Calif.) Sun
— City Pulse (Lansing, Mich.)
— Buffalo Alternative Press (Buffalo, N.Y.)
— The Coast (Halifax, N.S.)
— City Link (Chicago)
— Pointblank (Des Moines, Iowa)
— Long Island Press
— The Rock River Times (Rockville, Ill.)
— San Diego CityBeat