Sadly, like
many events this summer, newsawards 2020 was cancelled. The Independent
Community News Network (ICNN) Newspaper of the Year, sponsored by Google News
Initiative, drew a bumper crop of entries and rather than let them be forgotten
ALAN GEERE has devised some special awards just to celebrate these amazing
publications.
Most remote community served
Glenkens Gazette - news from Balmaclellan, Carsphairn,
Mossdale, New Galloway and St John’s Town of Dalry. All of that in what some
people still call Kirkcudbrightshire, south west Scotland with a population of 3,000.
The Gazette prints 1,200 which are all eagerly gobbled up.
Most long-suffering husband and wife publishers…
Kristina and
Jeff Nutbeem who founded Sussex Local magazine in 2007. Still going strong
- both marriage and magazine – as evidenced by the joint signature on the page three
editorial.
... and family most likely to succeed
Father and
daughter journalistic team Philip and Francesca Evans who launched LymeOnline,
a free fortnightly independent newspaper covering Lyme Regis in Dorset back in
January 2018. Judging by the picture bylines, they are both doing well on it.
Most historic title
The Castle Douglas Journal, a
local newspaper first published in the 19th century, was relaunched after 170
years. After starting with an initial grant of £3,000 the Journal is now self-sustaining
after just three issues, entertaining and informing the people of Dumfries and
Galloway.
Best contribution to serious journalism
VIEW, an independent social affairs
magazine from Ireland. As editor Brian Pelan says: “In a world where fake news
is on the rise, VIEW believes in promoting responsible journalism in a
non-sensational manner. We believe in serving our community of readers and
helping to tell the stories of the most marginalized groups with in our
society.”
Best self-promoting picture
Ben Norris editor of the Wotton Times beaming
out of page three behind a sign that says ‘EDITOR Ben Norris’ to illustrate a
piece celebrating the opening of their new office.
Biggest community paper – by a mile
Your Local Paper from
West Norfolk which clocks in at 102 pages plus a 36-page insert called Your Local
Business. It’s a free weekly with a distribution of 24,000, so two sets of numbers
any publisher would be proud of.
Most feisty publication
Faversham
Eye, which
even has an investigations team who seem to find plenty to investigate – ‘Rugby
club shenanigans’ anyone? - in this small Kent town. As the publishers say, “a
blend of top-quality investigative reporting and laugh out loud humour has made
us hugely popular”.
Most democratic publication
The Hastings Independent, which
has no overall editor in chief. Section editors, aged 17 to over 70, are
individually responsible for the content of each section and rotate as sign-off
editor.
Most innovative distribution model
One household on almost every street on Hayling
Island takes a delivery of the Hayling Herald and delivers it to their
neighbours in this Hampshire community. Some people take a few hundred copies
to deliver to the surrounding roads. The rest of the 11,000 print run goes to
community centres, the library, shops, supermarkets, beachside kiosks, cafés
and restaurants.
Most out-there names for a newspaper
Goes to the team behind the Peckham Peculiar, the
Dulwich Diverter and the Lewisham Ledger which are taking South
London by storm.
Most innovative staffing arrangement
The Wokingham Paper
which has a series of a rolling, paid traineeships for two people every three
months in part-time roles. The sports reporter, news reporter, graphic designer
and social media manager of all joined the paper in permanent roles after
completing the traineeship.
Most hard-hitting investigations
The Waltham Forest Echo which has in the
past year looked into fire safety in council owned tower blocks revealing half
of them posed a substantial risk, exposed the extent of the local council’s
fossil fuel investments and revealed threats to redevelop a much-loved
community centre.
Back to basics award
The Caerphilly Observer for their commitment
to covering local courts, brought into sharp focus with the story of an amateur
dramatics director who was jailed for sharing images of child abuse online. They
were the only newspaper to cover this story which shocked readers, as he was a
well-known and respected member of the community.
Most wide-ranging appointments
The Hackney Citizen, which this year signed
up a gardening columnist as well as an illustrator who produces a monthly
comic. They join a long-time food history columnist and all of them bring fresh
and interesting ways for the Citizen to interact with and support its readers.
Biggest typographical concession to readers
The Cranfield & Marston Vale Chronicle’s
tabloid layout was scientifically developed by owner John Guinn after consulting
friends and family. One major difference from other local newspapers is the
increased font size (aka HUGE) making it far easier to read for the good people
of Bedfordshire.
Most egalitarian entertainment reviews
The South Leeds Life offers theatre press
tickets on a show-by-show basis. Rather than having just one reviewer they call
the program South Leeds Goes To The Playhouse and offer free tickets in return
for a written review or conversation with one of the reporters. The scheme, not
unsurprisingly, is very popular and tickets are snapped up quickly.
Most promising new revenue stream
The Week In, from
East Bristol and North East Somerset, has had some success selling on stories
and photos to other media outlets and agencies. Better than just being ripped
off, eh?
Most humble beginnings
The Bristol Cable began in a front room as a
collection of bullet points on a piece of A4 paper, sketching out an idea to
redefine local journalism. Five years later the Cable prints a quarterly
newspaper of 30,000 copies as well as regularly publishing online.
100 not out
Filtonvoice published
its one hundredth issue in January this year. With a mission to bring local
news to local people in the town of Filton, near Bristol, the monthly magazine
often features stories that are not covered by the big publishers and media
outlets. The format has proved so successful other voice partnerships have been
set up around the south west.
--
Alan Geere
published his own newspaper – the Long Stratton Community News – from his home in
Norfolk while moonlighting from his day job at the Eastern Daily Press in
Norwich (he was the night editor so it wasn’t exactly a day job, but you get
the idea). It was printed by the formidable Micropress – then in Halesworth,
now in Southwold – and still run today by the indomitable Mike Cross. It was a
beautiful thing. That one and only issue is now a collector’s piece.
- This piece appears in the June & July 2020 issue of PJ News
