Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Honors Navel Gazing and 2009 Best of OC Issue

​OC Weekly left Toronto, the site of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies' (AAN) annual convention, with a couple honors.

Navel Gazing, the staff news blog that your eyes are feasting on right now, won the second-place award in the "Blog (Group or Staff)" category for papers with weekly circulations of 50,000 or more.

​We would demand a recount, but the first place finisher was the ripping Runnin' Scared blog produced by the staff at our Village Voice Media company's flagship newsweekly--and the grandmammy of 'em all--the Village Voice of NYC.

Washington City Paper's City Desk blog took third and Squid Ink by Amy Scattergood at our big sistah paper LA Weekly received an honorable mention.

And, speaking of honorable mention, that's what our 2009 Best of OC issue received in the "Special Section" category for papers with circulations of 50,000 or more.

That same issue also won an honorable mention in the large newspapers division at the Los Angeles Press Club's 52nd annual SoCal Journalism Awards last month. Judges also singled out Best of OC's damn fine design while naming OC Weekly art director Kelly Lewis the Designer of the Year.