During last July’s 5.8 earthquake, 3-year-old Bronwyn told her 1-year-old sister, “We’re going for a wiggle.” READ MORE
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Managing Editor Sandy Bennett and Director of Design Ines Tuszynski have returned from Philadelphia armed with more awards for our Family magazines OC Family and Inland Empire Family and with an important message. Our national organization for regional parenting magazines Parenting Publications of America made it known through awards and words that the 110 members as a group are getting better and better in this important publishing niche. That is why winning five awards for 2005 is both an acknowledgment of our ongoing quality as well as a call to be even better. When you go head-to-head with the competition, you get a sense of where you stand. We continue to stand tall without standing still. The issue you have in your hands is the second one that reflects our redesign, under the direction of Ines and with input from Sandy and many others at Churm Publishing, Inc. So our new challenge is to let go of some of the old and make the new really stand out. On the medal-stand front, our Family magazines have now earned 79 awards since OC Family Magazine was launched in May 1998 and Inland Empire Family Magazine premiered in September 1999. At this PPA conference, we won: Silver Award for Child Development & Parenting Issues. Carol Daus, one of our inaugural writers, for years contributed to our Middle Years section. Last year, she “graduated” to the Teen Years and earned the award for two columns (August and September 2005, for reports on the teen brain and teen independence, respectively). READER PHOTO CONTEST We are planning our first-ever Reader Photo Contest, to be published in December. Details to come in the next few months. So, gather your best photos of your children from the past two years, or begin taking some real award-winners. We’ll publish the best of the best. NEW COLUMNIST A new columnist a surprise that we waited to announce until this issue is now in place. Sandra Tsing Loh, whose Mom on the Edge appears for the first time on the inside back page, is another component of our completely redesigned OC Family and Inland Empire Family magazines. We’d love your input on the redesigned magazines from March and April. Silver Award for Travel Feature. One of our signature stories each issue is found in Media & Leisure, where we point families to relevant travel destinations. December’s story took them to Hearst Castle and onward up the coast into Oregon. Bronze Award for Original Illustration. We rarely use illustrations, but when we do, we use the best. Svetlana Miller wrote the annual holiday story, “The Snowdog,” and did the simple, elegant illustrations that caught the judges’ eyes. Bronze Award for Overall Photography. Judges review three issues (in our case, April, May and October 2005). We believe they were swayed by the cover photos of our April issue, “Babies from A to Z,” and our October issue, “Tiny Miracles,” two excellent examples of the original art that help our magazines stand out. Bronze Award for Overall Reporting. Like I tell my Little League team, you are only as good as your weakest link. And, when you win an award such as this that requires all contributors to be at their best, it’s an inspiration. Because for this award, you can’t have weaknesses. Our winning issues were from February (“Little League’s Big Challenge”), May (“Wonderful Moms and their Children”) and June (“Shining Students”). A special thank you to all of our Churm Publishing, Inc. employees, to our writers, and to our loyal readers and advertisers. Craig Reem Executive Editor |
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