Wake-Up Call: Read all about it

It's been a bad year for newspapers, with cities acorss the country losing important institutions like the Rocky Mountain News. But it's been a very good year for homeless newspapers, judging from the entries in the first annual North American Street Newspaper Association Newspaper Awards. I was lucky enough to...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 31, 2009

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It's been a bad year for newspapers, with cities acorss the country losing important institutions like the Rocky Mountain News. But it's been a very good year for homeless newspapers, judging from the entries in the first annual North American Street Newspaper Association Newspaper Awards.

I was lucky enough to be one of the judges of that contest, which included work from twenty street newspapers across North America. Staffers from those papers are in Denver right now for an annual conference at the University of Denver, this year titled "Navigating the Recession; Street Papers More Relevant Than Ever."

The Denver VOICE, one member of the group, is so relevant -- both for its content and its distribution system, which puts at least $16,000 a month into the hands of the homeless community -- that Westword awarded it a 2009 Mastermind Award. The VOICE is also a finalist in seven categories in the NASNA awards, which will be announced at a dinner tonight.

Read all about it here on Monday.

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

Contact: Patricia Calhoun

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