Surely you’ve heard that print journalism is doomed: layoffs this, budget cuts that, blogs, Twitter, podcasts, paid content, and so on. We, the deciders of the 20th annual Utne Independent Press Awards, must respectfully disagree with this conventional but flawed wisdom.
Each day we work with a lively congregation of unswervingly gutsy, dynamic publications, so vital and valuable that our meeting to finalize this year’s best new publication nominees spanned two days, five rounds of voting, and an intricate tiebreak initiative.
In fact, print lovers will be heartened to know that despite tough times for nominees—perennial spiritual coverage contender ascent recently ceased publication, and Greater Good and Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved online—our library of 1,300 magazines, newsletters, journals, zines, and alt weeklies had one of the strongest years in the history of our awards.
We judged issues published during 2008. Winners will be announced at a celebration in Boulder, Colorado, during the Magazine Publishers of America’s Independent Magazine Group conference (May 17-19) and published in the July-August issue of Utne Reader.