The 1997 Winners

For 9 years Utne Reader has recognized excellence in alternative and independent magazine publishing through its Alternative Press Awards. The Awards are a distinction made by our staff to celebrate the seldom recognized efforts of the alternative press, and as a service to our readers who want to know about alternatives to mass media magazine publishing. These awards honor individual publications that especially impressed our editorial staff during the previous year.

The awards are not the result of a competition; they emerge from the extensive reading our staff does as part of the process of producing Utne Reader. Our editors read many hundreds of alternative and independent titles looking for articles and ideas that are interesting, timely, well-written, and thought-provoking.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE (15,000 and over circulation)
DoubleTake, Durham, NC.

Editors: Robert Coles and Alex Harris

DoubleTake generously offers gifted writers and photographers room to stretch out, the chance to tell the stories that really matter to them--and to us. Photos and text don't drown each other out here, thanks to an elegant, low-key design and the sheer talent of contributors in both arenas. They take us to scarred battlefields left behind by the Vietnam War and sunny afternoons at a public campground on Long Island. Documenting the breadth of human experience in word and image, DoubleTake evokes life as it really is and gives a glimpse, in its quiet way, of how it might be different.

email:dtmag@aol.com
url:http://www.duke.edu/doubletake/

GENERAL EXCELLENCE (under 15,000 circulation)
Adbusters, Vancouver, BC

Editor: Kalle Lasn

Who would guess that a quarterly magazine of media criticism could be so entertaining? Brilliant spoofs of well-known advertisements ('Is there a GAP in your life?'), clever illustrations, and a lighthearted touch to the writing make Adbusters fun with a capital F. But the editors are after more than laughs; they want readers to get mad about corporate disinformation, the advertising world's invasion of our schools, injustices in the global economy, and any industry that exists to nourish profit margins at the expense of our souls. Adbusters challenges us to examine the part we play in an out-of-control economic system.

email:adbusters@adbusters.org
url:http://www.adbusters.org/adbusters/