''The Awl'' was a
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day"
based in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid."
History
Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''
Gawker
''Gawker'' is an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers and based in New York City focusing on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month as of 2015. Founded in ...
'' editors
Choire Sicha
Choire Sicha ( , born November 19, 1971) is an American writer and blogger. In June 2021, he became an editor-at-large at ''New York''; he had been the editor of ''The New York Times'' Style section since September 2017. Previously, he served as ...
and Alex Balk out of Sicha's
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood on the East Side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is roughly defined as the area east of the Bowery and Third Avenue, between 14th Street on the north and Houston Street on the south. The East Villag ...
apartment, after they were laid off by the pop culture magazine ''
Radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
'',
the trio decided to launch their own blog, completely "out of pocket with a bare-bones site." The site's name was coined by contributor Tom Scocca, after the small pointed tool used for piercing holes. "He’d always wanted to have a newspaper named The Awl. So we semi bought it from him in a friendly arrangement." Sicha told ''
Vanity Fair''.
The first posts on the site were an infographic by
Emily Gould
Emily Gould (born October 13, 1981) is an American author, novelist and blogger who worked as an editor at ''Gawker''. She has written several short stories and novels and is the co-owner, with fellow writer Ruth Curry, of the independent e-boo ...
of ''Gawker''s office seating chart, "a video of a
Miss USA contestant responding to a
gay marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
question from
Perez Hilton
Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr. (born March 23, 1978), known professionally as Perez Hilton, is an American blogger, columnist, and media personality. His blog is known for posts covering gossip items about celebrities, and for posting tabloid ph ...
, and an item linking to a
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
article about physicist
Stephen Hawking being taken to the hospital."
Initial expectations by media observers were for the site to be a carbon copy of ''Gawker'', but, said
Nieman Journalism Lab
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University is the primary journalism institution at Harvard. It was founded in February 1938 as the result of a $1.4 million bequest by Agnes Wahl Nieman, the widow of Lucius W. Nieman, founder of ...
’s Justin Ellis, "instead it was something smaller and focused on the writing, where people can write about the stuff they’re passionate or super nerdy about.".
In mid-January 2018, ''The Awl'' announced that it would end publication at the end of that month.
It printed a final obituary to itself on January 31, 2018.
Staff
As of July 2015, The Awl Network employed 13 people, as well as many freelance contributors.
After editing ''The Awl'' for over almost two years, Matt Buchanan and John Herrman announced their departure from the site in February 2016. In March 2016 it was announced that Silvia Killingsworth would take over the editing position. ''The Awl'' was published by John Shankman from 2011 until May 2014, when Michael Macher became publisher. In 2011, David Cho left ''The Awl'' to join ESPN-affiliated sports site ''
Grantland
''Grantland'' was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. ''Grantland'' was named after famed e ...
''.
Sister sites
''The Awl'' had four sister sites: ''Splitsider'', a comedy website; ''
The Hairpin
''The Hairpin'' was a women's website in The Awl network. It was founded in 2010 by Edith Zimmerman. It ceased publication at the end of January 2018.
From 2013 to 2014, ''The Hairpin'' was edited by Emma Carmichael, with Jia Tolentino as contri ...
'', a site geared toward women; ''The Sweethome'', a home-furnishings review site; and ''The Billfold'', a blog with a focus on personal finances.
Laura Olin edits ''The Awl''s newsletter entitled ''Everything Changes''. Buchanan and Herrman also launched a podcast for the site.
The site also launched an app on the
Apple App Store
The App Store is an app store platform, developed and maintained by Apple Inc., for mobile apps on its iOS and iPadOS operating systems. The store allows users to browse and download approved apps developed within Apple's iOS Software Devel ...
called The Awl: Weekend Companion. On March 22,
New York Media
New York City has been called the media capital of the world. The media of New York City are internationally influential and include some of the most important newspapers, largest publishing houses, biggest record companies, and most prolific te ...
, the publisher of the magazine ''
New York'', announced that it had acquired Splitsider and would be folding it into the operations of its Vulture website.
Brian Lam's tech review site ''
The Wirecutter
''Wirecutter'' (formerly known as ''The Wirecutter'') is a product review website owned by The New York Times Company. It was founded by Brian Lam in 2011 and purchased by The New York Times Company in 2016 for about $30 million.
Approach and ...
'' also originated with ''The Awl'' before merging with The Sweethome and being acquired by ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Awl
2009 establishments in New York City
Internet properties established in 2009
Internet properties disestablished in 2018
American news websites
2018 disestablishments in New York (state)