The Association of Alternative Newsmedia announced the finalists for their 2024 AAN Awards, and the Arkansas Times received a mention in six separate categories — up from just one in 2023.
Not to brag too much, but that makes us one of the most nominated publications in this year’s AAN Awards, which have been celebrating “local journalism, creative design and production work, and scrappy, successful publishing companies doing their part for democracy” since 1996. We’re stoked. Plus, judging for the Investigative Reporting and Political Column categories has been delayed, so perhaps there’s more to come.
First, second and third places (as well as honorable mentions) in all categories will be unveiled on July 12. In the meantime, here’s what — of content published between January and December of 2023 — stood out to the good folks at AAN:
Nominated in the Feature Story category is Brooke Nelson Alexander’s “‘Grief, twice’: One family’s struggle to keep access to the burial plots of their ancestors.” Then, there’s “Fighting fentanyl: How Arkansas is spending its opioid settlement fortune,” a deep dive by Stephanie Smittle that got a nod in Health Care Reporting. Additionally, Griffin Coop was recognized in the category of Cannabis Coverage for his ongoing reporting on the medical marijuana industry in Arkansas and Arkansas Times Publisher Alan Leveritt was lauded in the general Column category for his monthly “From the Farm” reflections.
Outside of writing, Kasten Searles got a shout in the Illustration category for her creative depiction of mail-in ballot rejection, and a team of folks — Mandy Keener, Brian Chilson, Searles and Layet Johnson — were saluted for their Cover Design work on our August, September and December issues.
At last year’s AAN Awards, the Arkansas Times took home first place in Music Writing for “Pizza, beer and punk: An oral history of Vino’s,” which you can read here.
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