Society for New Communications Research Names Sacramento Press for 2010 Excellence in New Communications Award

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sacramento Press is pleased to announce it has received the 2010 Excellence in New Communications Award in the Media Division of the Online Publishing/Blogging category. The prestigious awards program is sponsored by the Society for New Communications Research and honors individuals and organizations that are pioneering the use of social media and Internet communications technologies in business, media, nonprofits/NGOs, education, government and technology.

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The award was presented to Ben Ilfeld, co-founder of The Sacramento Press, at the 5th Annual SNCR Research Symposium & Awards Gala held at Stanford University on Nov. 4-5.  The Sacramento Press, the Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network (SLOAN), Deal Ticket and Bay Area Publisher Partnership (BAPP) are all divisions of Macer Media.

The Sacramento Press submission for the SNCR award said the organization was founded to:

• Provide an outlet for hyper local, neighborhood-based editorial coverage.
• Encourage a plurality of voices and points of view.
• Create a platform for collaboration among newsmakers, readers, writers, advertisers and publishers.
• Establish a strong local media ecosystem.
• Create a sustainable media business model with multiple revenue streams.

"The Sacramento Press program exemplifies the mission of this awards program, the innovative and successful use of social media and new communications, and we are honored to recognize Ben and his team through this awards program," commented SNCR Senior Fellow Paul Gillin, chair of SNCR's Excellence Awards committee.

"Over the past 10 years, we've seen corporate media conglomerates put the squeeze on hyper local news coverage.  In the face of dwindling advertising and reduced readership, they've cast aside neighborhood news in favor of infotainment," said Ilfeld.  "At Macer Media, we've set out to change that with Sacramento Press, SLOAN, Deal Ticket, BAPP and other innovative efforts that aim to develop collaborative, sustainable revenue streams for hyper local online media.

"We're proud that SNCR felt that The Sacramento Press model exemplifies new ways of communication," he said.

Award nominations were submitted as case studies, and reviewed by a panel of SNCR Fellows. In addition to the top award winners in each division and category, Commendations of Merit and Commendations of Excellence were presented to nearly 30 other organizations that submitted case studies in the awards program. In its five-year history, SNCR has honored nearly 200 organizations and individuals through this prestigious awards program and all the winning case studies will be published on http://sncr.org.

About the Society for New Communications Research
The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. For more information, visit http://sncr.org.

About Macer Media
With a mission to elevate hyper local and local media ecosystems, Macer Media LLC is dedicated to maximizing the growth potential of its own hyper-local online media holdings, including The Sacramento Press, the Sacramento Local Online Advertising Network (SLOAN), The Bay Area Publisher Partnership (BAPP) and Deal Ticket, an online daily deal program for local businesses. Macer Media aims to foster the hyper-local online media concept among other entrepreneurial publishers by providing them guidance and counsel on setting up the infrastructure of news-gathering, technology, advertising and social media they need to establish winning new media properties in their areas.

SOURCE The Sacramento Press