Media Monday Edmonton: Update #4

I’ve decided to rename the “week in review” posts to simply “update” because I don’t do them every week! Here’s my latest update:

• CKUA has been shortlisted for the opportunity to receive a $100,000 grant from Pepsi Canada. If they win, they’re going to establish a Songwriter-in-Residence program. You can vote for them here. The voting period ends April 30 and you can vote once per day.
• Intercamp, Grant MacEwan University’s student newspaper, is changing its name. They’re also revamping the paper’s look. The plan is to have all of the changes completed for MacEwan’s 40th anniversary, which kicks off on September 1. There’s an online poll with five options: The Griff, The MacEwan Times, The MacEwan Edge, The Tower Press, and The Pickle.
• More award nominations for the Edmonton Journal recently! The paper was nominated for two awards in multimedia categories by the News Photographers Association of Canada. One for Ryan Jackson’s video of the world-record dodgeball game, and one for Jackson and Ben Gelinas for their video profiling Susan Wirtanen. Winners will be announced in Winnipeg on May 28.
• And more award wins for the Journal. Elise Stotle and Larry Wong both won EdNews Awards recently from the Alberta Teachers’ Association.
• Once again I missed Social Media Breakfast Edmonton, which took place on Friday morning. You can see speaker Nikki Van Dusen’s slides here.
• From The Globe and Mail: Canada’s first social media election is on, but will people vote?
• Apparently $3.28 million will be used to produce or license programs for Citytv in Calgary & Edmonton after the CRTC approved a request by Rogers to “redirect tangible benefits” resulting from its acquisition of CHUM. More focus on local is always good!
• This is a neat project – the Edmonton Journal has built an online map to report potholes. Unfortunately they chose to build something separate from the City of Edmonton’s existing report-a-pothole service. It would be nice if they were connected. Still, I love to see this initiative.
• Here’s a very thoughtful opinion piece from Jonathan Willis on Edmonton-based coverage of the Nikolai Khabibulin signing. It’s an interesting examination of sports blogging and why amateurs are thriving.
• I’ll have more on this later, but a request a couple of weeks ago by the Edmonton Journal and CBC to have Internet access in court during the Mark Twitchell trial was rejected. Read more on the use of Twitter for court reporting here.
• The University of Alberta continues its steady march into the world of social media, now with a Tumblr.
• You may have heard that we have a federal election on the way here in Canada! Local media seemed a little annoyed by Jack Layton’s inaccessibility while he was in Edmonton on Saturday. He is of course providing updates on Twitter!
• The Edmonton Journal has appointed Joseph Wuest as vice-president of advertising sales and marketing. He joined The Journal just over three years ago and was formerly director of advertising for The Brick.
• A bunch of “local media celebrities” got to participate in Western Canada Fashion Week on Saturday. Here is Mike Ross’ recap.
• About 500 Shaw employees in Western Canada lost their jobs last week, including 50 here in Edmonton.
• In its first year of operation, page views on the Edmonton Journal’s mobile site increased by over 1300%.

You can follow Edmonton media news on Twitter using the hashtag #yegmedia. For a great overview of the global media landscape, check out Mediagazer.

So, what have I missed? What’s new and interesting in the world of Edmonton media? Let me know!