2018 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Online > Web News Section > Upper Midwest

Awarded to

Debra Weiss, Senior Writer; Sarah Mui, Assistant Managing Editor; Stephen Rynkiewicz, Web Producer; Lee Rawles, Associate Editor; Stephanie Ward, Senior Writer; Andrew Lefkowitz, Deputy Web Editor

Entry details

ABA Journal: Law News Now

Issue date (if applicable): 
Publication name: ABA Journal
Publishing company: American Bar Association
Website home page: www.abajournal.com

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

The flagship magazine of the American Bar Association, the ABA Journal is a general interest legal publication covering the trends, people and finances of the legal industry. Its audience includes the more than 400,000 members of the ABA, readers of ABAJournal.com, those engaged on social media, and podcast listeners.

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

While ABA Journal magazine content sometimes appears “above the fold,” on ABAJournal.com, daily news blog content usually dominates the home page.

A full-time lawyer-blogger, staff reporters and editors are in constant contact – sometimes before sunrise – about the day’s publication priorities. After publication, stories are updated as they evolve and as stakeholders respond to our requests for comment. Breaking news stories start as stubs that are updated as fast as the reporter can write.

Web editors identify and add images and sometimes embed relevant video and social media posts into stories. They also consult real-time website and social media analytics to help determine a story’s play on the site. We sometimes use ABAJournal.com analytics -- as well as readers’ comments on blog posts – to inform decisions about what to cover in the magazine.

A post on the daily news blog might be:

• Staff deadline reporting that follows up on our magazine coverage of a topic.
• A lawyer-authored summary of a just-released U.S. Supreme Court opinion or ABA ethics opinion.
• A summary of breaking news from other cited sources.
• One of three monthly staff-recorded podcasts.
• As-it happens coverage of the House of Delegates at ABA meetings.
• A live blog of a U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearing.
• A staff-written review of new legal software.
• An op-ed written by an outside legal expert.

This content--pushed out in our RSS feeds, on our social media channels, and newsletters – drives readers to ABAJournal.com.

Links to entry URLs

Please note: These URLs are only required for entries in the Online division categories, entries in the Design division categories that are specific to websites, entries in the Website of the Year category, and entries in the Cross-Platform Package of the Year category.

Entry URL(s), if applicable:
http://www.abajournal.com/
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/charlotte_school_of_law_must_close_north_carolina_ags_office_says
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ethics_opinion_addresses_attorneys_obligations_secure_client_communications
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/aba_house_supports_bail_reform_other_criminal_justice_measures
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/gorsuch_confirmation_hearings_day_4_aba_testimony_expected
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/bloomberg_points_of_law_technology
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/is_there_a_constitutional_right_for_a_business_to_not_serve_customers/

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