Gustavo Arellano

​Village Voice Media is pleased to announce that Gustavo Arellano is the new editor-in-chief at OC Weekly.

Arellano, who has been the Weekly's managing editor for the past year and a half, replaces VVM veteran Ted Kissell, who announced his resignation at the paper's Monday staff meeting.
"I'm honored to have been part of such an exemplary band of muckrakers, and I'm even more gratified that we earned so many national, regional and local awards during the most challenging economic times our industry has ever faced," Kissell said. "Having helped guide the Weekly through these challenges, I now feel that the time is right for me to look for new ones. In announcing my resignation, I know that I'm leaving the paper in good shape--and in good hands."
Prior to joining the Weekly in 2007, Kissell worked as an associate editor and staff writer for VVM's South Florida publications, Miami New Times and New Times Broward-Palm Beach. He left the Broward paper in 2003 after receiving a Fulbright Scholarship that allowed him to spend a year doing research in Mexico.
Arellano's association with the Weekly began in 2000, when he wrote an angry letter to the editor. He began freelancing in 2001 and became a staffer upon graduating from UCLA with a master's degree in Latin American studies.
Widely known as the author of the popular "Ask a Mexican" column, Arellano is also the author of three books, including the forthcoming Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America.

Arellano received the Los Angeles Press Club's President's Award in 2007, and was recognized by the California Legislative Caucus with a 2008 Spirit Award for his "exceptional vision, creativity and work ethic."

A lifelong resident of Orange County, Arellano is the proud son of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom was illegal.

​An even dozen VVM writers received awards in the recently announced Best of the West awards, which honor journalistic excellence in the thirteen states west of the Rockies. Westword staff writer Alan Prendergast was a multiple winner, taking first place in Arts and Entertainment Writing and second for Growth and Environment Reporting. Other first-place nods went to Peter Jamison of SF Weekly (Sports Reporting), Monica Alonzo of Phoenix New Times (Immigration and Border Reporting), and Chris Vogel and Craig Malisow, both of the Houston Press, for Growth and Environment Reporting and Long-Form Feature Writing. Other second-place winners were Jim Schutze and Alex Flores of the Dallas Observer (Long-Form Feature Writing and Page Design) and Gustavo Arellano of OC Weekly (Column Writing). Third-place winners were Daniel Rodrigue of the Observer, Beth Barrett of LA Weekly, Joel Warner of Westword, and Charlotte Hsue of LA Weekly, who completed a VVM sweep in Long-Form Feature Writing.

​The Island Hotel in Newport Beach was the scene of a slaughter Friday night, as the writers of VVM's OC Weekly laid waste to the competition in the Orange County Press Club Awards. The Weekly took first-place in twelve of 27 categories, more than any other publication, including awards for Best Columnist and Best News Story (both to R. Scott Moxley), Best Sports Story (Vickie Chang), Best Business Story (Spencer Kornhaber), and Best Food Blog (staff). Nick Schou won the Investigative Watchdog Award, while Gustavo Arellano took home the Real O.C. Award, which is given to the writer whose work best encapsulates the unique dynamic of Orange County. All five of those writers also won numerous other awards, as did the Weekly's news blog,  "Navel Gazing."

​We've got an inside line to the winners of the 2010 AltWeekly Awards, mainly because our very own Gustavo Arellano of OC Weekly was the emcee of the just-concluded ceremony in Toronto. According to  Mr. A., VVM writers brought home sixteen first-place prizes in 24 categories, including three out of four in the design realm, and a clean sweep of all the music awards. The Village Voice, edited by Tony Ortega, was the big winner, with five top finishes: Arts Criticism, Political Column, Music Reporting, Staff Blog, and Music Blog. "Ortega killed, and I told him off in public for it, because (Voice news-blog) Runnin' Scared beat (OC Weekly news-blog) Navel Gazing," Arellano reports. Phoenix New Times took three top prizes (Illustration, Column, Health Reporting), while Denver Westword (Feature Story, Cover Design) and LA Weekly (Arts Feature, Food Writing) both snagged a pair. Miami New Times (Editorial Layout), New Times Broward-Palm Beach, (Media Reporting/Criticism), the Houston Press (Public Service) and Seattle Weekly (Long Form News Story) also received first-place honors. We'll post a link to the entire list of winners once the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies makes it available. For now, here's a look at the finalists.

Gustavo "Ask a Mexican" Arellano

​VVM writers and editors will take center stage this week in Toronto when the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies holds its annual convention. First up on Friday afternoon will be Gustavo Arellano, the irrepressible investigative reporter from OC Weekly who's also widely known as the author of the "Ask a Mexican" column. Arellano will emcee the AltWeekly Awards Lunch, where his fellow VVMers are expected to be well represented in the winner's circle. Staff writer Paul Knight and editor Margaret Downing of the Houston Press will be the featured speakers later Friday for a discussion of Knight's "Wild Rides," which broke the story of how Toyota's Prius was subject to unintended acceleration. Investigative ace Lisa Rab of New Times Broward-Palm Beach will speak Saturday as part of a panel on how to brainstorm in-depth reporting projects. And finally, VVM director of new media Bill Jensen will moderate a Saturday panel about the "new opportunities for content creation" associated with the iPad. For those about to talk, we salute you.

Phoenix art director Peter Storch

​Cover design has always been a critical part of the storytelling process at VVM, which makes the outstanding performance of our art directors and illustrators in recent contests all the more satisfying. Not only did LA Weekly art director Darrick Rainey and OC Weekly art director Kelly Lewis sweep the design categories for larger publications in the LA Press Club's SoCal Journalism Awards, but Phoenix New Times art director Peter Storch took home the "Designer of the Year" award in the recent Arizona Press Club awards. Together with assistant art director Jasmine Hobeheidar in Phoenix, Storch won three first places in design categories, and swept all seven awards in two of the categories. What's more, four pieces of work that appeared on VVM covers were selected for American Illustration's hardbound annual, widely recognized as the finest showcase of contemporary illustration each year. Those and other works can be seen on AI's slide show.

Chang (left) and Lewis were among the OC elite.

​Our two Southern California publications, LA Weekly and OC Weekly, hauled in seventeen awards in the SoCal Journalism Awards sponsored by the LA Press Club this weekend. Included in that booty were six first-place awards: LA Weekly staff for having the best all-around news-organization website; Vickie Chang of OC Weekly for personality profile; Kelly Lewis of OC Weekly as the year's best designer; Gendy Alimurung of LA Weekly for business writing, Gustavo Arellano of OC Weekly for column writing and Darrick Rainey of LA Weekly for best individual design. The LA Press Club has a full list of winners, among them LA Weekly's Christine Pelisek and Patrick Range McDonald, who were runners-up for Journalist of the Year, here.