Snow, students and speakers

An unidentified judge is escorted by publications director Steve Dorsey to the S.I. Newhouse School on Syracuse University's campus to join other 28th Edition jurors who trudged through the snow to talk with students and deliver some very cool presentations.

Coming tomorrow: Audio and video from the afternoon at Newhouse.

Apple's garage band

The one and only Charles Apple just showed up in Syracuse, ready for action over the weekend. The well-known Design mag columnist and VizEds poster said he'll be leaving the online reporting to the old SND International Web Desk (something about being too busy).

But, of course, Apple's already pitching in, sending the Desk this swell, swirly photo from his cell phone camera. The picture is taken from his sixth-floor room, with the window open!

Um, hey, Charles: It's cold and snowy out there, dude. You probably ARE the only guy who is opening his window at the Sheraton right now to get us a great picture of the campus' cool old buildings. In the name of photojournalism, we thank you.

What you're seeing is the snow blowing off of the parking deck next door. Just out of the frame, on the right is a tractor attempting to clear the snow. It beeps loudly every time the driver throws it into reverse, Charles says.

Beep beep. Yeah.

Ong's journey

Peter Ong just arrived from Sydney – the longest journey of many long journeys for judges and assistants. The last leg of Peter's trip was an unexpected and unfortunate eight-hour Greyhound ride from NYC to Syracuse, complete with a new driver who was a little unclear on exactly how to get to Syracuse.

That last leg was a little lighter since he's been without his luggage for 36 hours. The bags he's holding are clothes to get him through the next couple days while his luggage catches up with him.

Industry: Adobe's new mag

Adobe has changed up its PDF magazine Proxy, which is now called Adobe Magazine for Creative Professionals. It's free to subscribe and, if it follows what Proxy did, will be pretty useful on cool tips and tricks. And it also shows you the amazing power of the PDF, which has become uber-interactive in lots of neat ways.

Adobe says this: Eclectic branded entertainment. Pioneering interactive design. Artsy niche magazines. Explore design without boundaries — and discover the secrets that help this work shine. Download now.

RELATED: Adobe releases myFeedz, a "smart newspaper" Web application that finds what is important from the sea of information on the Internet and "shows you what you need to read." It learns from your reading habits. Very interesting ...

First categories ready for judging

The competition assistants and SND office staff went to Drumlins this morning to set out the first categories and set up the data entry area.

We're now ready to record the winners and competition coordinator Kris Kinkade and others determined the first categories for assistants to place on the tables:

News judges:
Local section fronts for broadsheets and tabs in the large and medium circulations (3B.a, b, d, e).

Long-form judges:
News design/A sections (2A.a, b).

Features judges:
Opinion pages for broadsheets and tabs (7A.a,b,d,e).

Graphics judges:
Breaking News Graphics, all circulation sizes (16A.a, b, c).

Photo and small paper judges:
Single photos, general news photography (14A).

Above, Tiffany Pease, Luke Knox and Keeli Pointer put category 2A on the table for the long form judges at Drumlins this afternoon.

Note: Broadsheet and tabloid categories, as well as circulation categories are on the tables separately, with the subcategories clearly marked.

Industry: Strib publisher resigns

The Minneapolis Star Tribune, which was sold recently by McClatchy to Avista Capital Partners, will be looking for a new publisher: Keith Moyer said on Friday he's leaving that position.

Moyer has been the paper's publisher for the last six years, presiding over a number of major initiatives – including an ambitious redesign of the newspaper last year.

Moyer's departure is the second in the top ranks in recent weeks: Editor Anders Gyllenhaal is leaving after nearly five years as the Strib's top editor to be the editor of The Miami Herald, another McClatchy newspaper.

"I am not leaving because of the change of ownership," Moyer told his staff on Friday. "I have decided this is a perfect time in my life for me to take a late midcareer break."

Nancy Barnes, pictured above hugging Moyer as he announced his departure, has been named the Strib's new editor.
(Photo by Jim Gherz of the Star Tribune.)

Here come the judges

UPDATE: Competition officials are reporting that all 27 judges have either arrived or are en route to Syracuse, with no further delays expected (many judges are checking into the hotel even as we type this). A few of the judges have just left for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications to do presentations and critiques with students.

Stay tuned: We will reveal who all the judges are on Saturday, although a couple have already revealed themselves! No, not like that. We mean they said they were judging. Jeez.

Bios and teams: Take a look back Saturday morning when we post the complete bios from every judge and announce the judging teams. We'll also post a video from today's sessions at the Newhouse School so you can see the judges in action here at the university, and we'll try to round up any and all handouts in PDF form for easy download.

TEASER ALERT: The judges come from such publications as The Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Daily Mail, the Detroit Free Press, The (Toronto) Globe and Mail, The Guardian, Heraldo de Aragon, the Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, O Globo, Ostgota Correspondenten, the Ottawa Citizen, The Rocky Mountain News, The San Diego Union-Tribune, the San Jose Mercury News, the Savannah Morning News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Virginian-Pilot, and The Washington Post. Plus several professors, independent design consultants and at least one guru!

As Gude as it gets?

Word on the street is that Karl Gude will be talking about the the 28th Edition judging on his blog, and we're looking forward to seeing what he has to say.

Karl's recent remembrances on The National were terrific (check out his week-long look back on his blog). Karl was the art director for the defunct sports daily and the way he wrote about the incredible ride of starting (and shuttering) a new national newspaper was a real joy to read.

The SND International Web Desk thinks having Karl weigh in on the weekend events in Syracuse may have just upped the game. We'll try to keep up, but we don't have Karl's eloquence – or wacky brilliance.

CREDIT: Cool photo of Karl, above, taken by VizEds CEO Robb Montgomery!

Mailbag: Details about numbering

One reader writes from the snowy tundra that is the heartland of America to ask:
Q: Why is the competition, and the popular and useful book it results in, referred to by an arcane edition number, rather than the year it covers? What has more instant meaning:

The 28th Best of Newspaper Design competition
SND 28
vs.
The Best of Newspaper Design 2005 competition
SND 2005

Has a switch ever been proposed? Most other such competitions, such as the Pulitzers, go by year. Just curious.


Great question. And one that the SND International Web Desk had to hit the history books to dig out an answer.

The current numbering began way back with the first edition and stuck -- it became a tradition. Originally the contest judged work from about March or April until the following March or April, unlike the January-to-December calendar year it now covers.

"What we have done in recent years is refer to the edition and the year," said competition coordinator Marshall Matlock. "They didn't use to refer to the year."

This -- the 28th annual judging -- will be the 18th year Syracuse University has hosted the event. The first year after the competition moved here was a shorter judging period while organizers tried to adjust things a little by changing the judging period to cover the calendar year.

So how else can you differentiate 18 years and literally thousands of newspaper pages? "Every year is interesting for various reasons," said Matlock. "Each year is different -- this year is by far the most challenging because of the nor'easter."


Got a burning question? Send your feedback and contest-related questions to us at sndwebdesk@gmail.com. We'll answer as many as we can in future posts.

Judges arriving, snow falling

Overnight lake effect snow appears to have totaled another foot – and it's still coming down. N.Y. Governor Spitzer has asked President Bush to declare a federal emergency, so we've got that going for us. Which is nice.

Still, several of the 27 judges for the general competition have begun arriving. Some of the international judges – folks from France, Spain and Brazil – and the U.S. judges from faraway locations got in on Thursday. But we still have several judges from the U.K., Scandinavia and Australia who have not yet made it to Syracuse. And that does not even count the possible problems for travel inside the U.S.

So plenty to keep the competition's organizers a little nervous ... Yet judging director Marshall Matlock remains optimistic that everyone will make it in before the judging commences on Saturday morning.

"We've been here before, and we have never not been able to begin the judging!" Matlock said. "We'll do all we can to keep it all on track."

The SND International Web Desk will keep a monitor on the airport and let you know what the rest of today brings as the region gets another dose of that winter weather.

Lo res and tricky

Kenney Marlatt does his first report from the landing in Syracuse. Our old pal John Grimwade, the graphics guru who has run off from a sweet gig at Conde Nast Traveler to join the biz mag start-up Portfolio, would be proud of Kenney's quick skills. Heck, we here at the SND International Web Desk are proud, too!