Gapers Block
 | |
| Company type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founder | Andrew Huff Naz Hamid |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Andrew Huff |
| Services | Online magazine |
| Website | gapersblock.com |
Gapers Block (Gapers Block Media, LLC) was a Chicago-centric web publication focused on covering Chicago culture under the tag line: "Slow down and check out Chicago". The site, gapersblock.com, lists local events, aggregates other Chicago blogs and news of local interest and features many topical blogs: A/C (arts and culture), Drive-Thru (food related), Transmission (local music), Mechanics (state and local politics), Tailgate (sports coverage), and Book Club (book club and literary scene coverage).
History
[edit]Conceived in 2003 by Andrew Huff and Naz Hamid, the stuck-in-traffic themed section names, such as Merge (blog, links aggregation), Slowdown (calendar event listings), and Rearview (noteworthy local photos), are inspired by the Chicago-coined term, "gapers' block", a synonym (with "gapers' delay") for rubbernecking. The site was the first city blog in Chicago and one of the earliest examples of the genre; Gothamist and the Metroblogging network were also founded in 2003.
The site is written by volunteers from various backgrounds and professions, with content organized into topical sections, including arts & culture, literature, food, music, politics, and sports.[1]
In 2010, the cookbook The Everything Cast Iron Cookbook was published, based in large part on author Cinnamon Cooper's "One Good Meal" column[2] on Gapers Block.[3]
In December 2015, editor and publisher Andrew Huff announced the site would be going on "indefinite hiatus" on January 1, 2016.[4]
Accreditations and awards
[edit]- It was named a "Forbes Favorite"[5] in Forbes.com's Best of the Web directory, in the category "Best City Blogs."
- Web design site Typesites credits Gapers Block’s aesthetics, “well-crafted layout”[6] and noteworthy typography.
- Chicago Community Trust awarded Gapers Block $35,000 in an effort to boost new sources of local news and information and “increase the amount of neighborhood-based, original local coverage ... with priority given to stories about underserved communities and issues that affect them.”[7]
- The Chicago Sun-Times in 2009 named the Gapers Block Book Club the #2 best way to find romance in Chicago.[8]
- Gapers Block Editor and publisher Andrew Huff was listed in Crain’s Chicago Business’s “40 Under 40”[9] in 2009.
- David Schalliol, Brian Ashby, Dave Nagel, Akemi Honga and Natalia Echeverry were the recipients of the Peter Lisagor Award for Best Use of Features Video[10] for "The Area" in 2014. Jason Prechtel was a finalist[11] for the award for Best Individual Blog Post, Independent for “Ventra’s Parent Company: An International History of Fare Card Glitches" the same year.
- The site was named Best Local Blog in the Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago" poll in 2013,[12] 2014[13] and 2015[14]
Notable contributors and alumni
[edit]- Danny Fenster, journalist
- Anne Elizabeth Moore, freelance journalist, artist, and author
- Nilay Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge
References
[edit]- ^ Gapers Block - Chicago news, reviews & commentary
- ^ "One Good Meal archives". Gapersblock.com. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ^ Cooper, Cinnamon (2010). The Everything Cast Iron Cookbook. United States: Adams Media. p. 304. ISBN 978-1440502255.
- ^ "A Letter from the Editor". Gapersblock.com. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ^ "Gapers Block" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Forbes, Web Site Reviews, accessed May 31, 2010.
- ^ gapers block | Typesites
- ^ "The Chicago Community Trust Announces Community News Matters Award Recipients – Knight Foundation". Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
- ^ http://www.suntimes.com/-1,romance-places-092509g.photogallery?index=2 [dead link]
- ^ 40 Under 40: 2009 | Crain's Chicago Business
- ^ "Congratulations to our 2013 Lisagor winners!". 3 May 2014.
- ^ "Congrats to our Lisagor Finalists!". 19 March 2014.
- ^ Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2013 - Best Local Blog Accessed Sept. 5, 2013.
- ^ Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2014 - Best Local Blog Accessed June 25, 2014.
- ^ Chicago Reader - Best of Chicago 2015 - Best Local Blog Accessed June 24, 2015.