‘Victoria (Texas) Advocate’ archive

Jan. 29: Four interesting Sunday page-one photographs (5)

Here’s a look at four great pictures that made for intriguing page-one art today in U.S. newspapers… — VICTORIA ADVOCATE Victoria, Texas Circulation: 28,900 A beautiful Texas sunset. And… a pipeline? That picture by staffer Angeli Wright was lead art today for one of my favorite small newspapers, the Victoria Advocate. The story by Dianna Wray is about a new [...]

Dec. 17, 2011: Following up on the Victoria Advocate’s Thursday front page

You’ll be glad to know that Refugio High School captured the Class 2A, Division II Texas state football championship with a dramatic 36-35 win over Cisco in Dallas Cowboys stadium Friday. Here’s how the Victoria Advocate played the win on page one today: The photo is by staffer Angeli Wright. Read the game story here by staffer Clay Whittington. Find live tweets [...]

Dec. 16, 2011: Behind the Victoria Advocate’s recent poster fronts

For years, now, I’ve been singing the praises of the 28,900-circulation Victoria Advocate. This scrappy little paper has gone way beyond their apparent means in giving readers visual-oriented talkers like movie-themed entertainment tabs, a first-person on the trend of tattoos, a musical — starring reporters and editors in the newsroom — to celebrate Halloween. The list goes on and on. [...]

Dec. 15, 2011: Yet another extraordinary Victoria Advocate poster front

An extraordinary poster front illustration today occupied the front of today’s Victoria Advocate. And when I say “poster front,” I mean a single-topic front page that consists primarily of a visual. In fact, this page looks more like a movie poster than a newspaper front page. Click for a much, much larger look. That is a photo illustration by Julie [...]

Dec. 12, 2011: Merry #*$%! Christmas from the Victoria Advocate (2)

Check out the magazine-treatment front of today’s Victoria (Texas) Advocate. Click for a closer look: Multimedia editor/illustrator Robert Zavala tells us: The story is a Pro-Con on using “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” as a greeting. People get really worked up about this, so I thought I’d give the cover a humorous slant. Yes, we are getting phone calls. Find [...]

Dec. 7, 2011: Today’s ten most interesting Pearl Harbor anniversary front pages

Many, many papers observed the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on their front pages today. Here’s a look at ten of the best. — VICTORIA ADVOCATE Victoria, Texas Circulation: 28,900 One of my favorite small-town papers — the Victoria Advocate — cleared everything off A1 today and ran a poster-like photoillustration of a local man who was [...]

Oct. 25, 2011: Victoria (Texas) Advocate seeks copy editor-slash-page designer (1)

One of my favorite small papers — the 28,300-circulation Victoria (Texas) Advocate – is seeking what sounds like a universal desk staffer. And given the cool, cool stuff they’re doing there in Victoria, I’d urge you to apply early and apply often. Editor Chris Cobler knows the blog is a huge fan of his paper. So he asked us to [...]

Oct. 24, 2011: The next two installments of the Victoria (Texas) Advocate’s graphic novel (1)

As we’ve mentioned before, one of my favorite small papers in the country — the 28,300-circulation Victoria (Texas) Advocate — is publishing a supernatural-themed graphic novel this month. Every Sunday, the Advocate runs two full-page broadsheet installments. Parts one and two ran on Oct. 9. Click for a larger view.   Parts three and four inserted Oct. 16.   Parts [...]

Oct. 16, 2011: The next two installments of the Victoria (Texas) Advocate’s graphic novel

Last week, one of my favorite small-town newspapers — the 28,300-circulation Victoria (Texas) Advocate — launched a special Halloween promotion. It’s an eight-part supernatural-themed graphic novel, written and drawn by the paper’s multimedia editor/illustrator Robert Zavala. Two parts run each week through Oct. 30. I told you all about parts one and two last week. Here they are again, though. [...]

Oct. 10, 2011: For your Halloween entertainment: A graphic novel from the Victoria Advocate

Looks like the Victoria Advocate — a 28,300-circulation daily in Victoria, Texas — has done it again. The paper has long been a place that has the wackiest ideas for features presentation. And then puts those ideas into print. Creative director Ryan Huddle did wonderful work there for years, much of which you’ve seen featured here in the blog. Ryan [...]

Sept. 11, 2011: A look at today’s 9/11 anniversary newspaper visuals (8)

There’s a lot of amazing work out there today. So amazing, in fact, that I was a little swamped trying to process it all. My solution was to try something unusual. I posted the first half of my material so folks could begin digesting it. And then I added as the afternoon faded into evening. Not the way I’d prefer [...]

Sept. 5, 2011: A weekly, “gameday”-style high school football tab in Victoria, Texas (2)

We’ve been looking at football preview sections. And Saturday, I showed you a rebranded weekly “gameday”-style sports section from the Idaho Statesman. Today, we have a similar section from the folks at the Victoria Advocate, a 28,300-circulation daily in southeast Texas, nearly equidistant from Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. Sports editor John Hornberg writes: We’re putting together a weekly preview [...]

July 28, 2011: A Norman Rockwell-inspired entertainment cover in Victoria, Texas (1)

Yesterday, I wrote about the New York Post‘s attempt to play off of a famous old 1975 cover of its competitor, the Daily News. It was a cute idea but, as I wrote, I’m not sure many people over the page of 40 remember President Gerald Ford or the New York City financial crisis of the time. Robert Zavala — [...]

July 14, 2011: Enjoy even more of today’s Harry Potter treatments

I posted a nice batch of Harry Potter pages this morning and then took the rest of the day off from blogging to take my daughter to her community college orientation. When I returned, my e-mail basket was overflowing with more Potter pages. Now, we’re talking! So fill up your coffee muggle and settle in to look over a few [...]

July 9, 2011: Thirty notable front pages showing the final space shuttle launch

Our mission today: To dig through today’s archive at the Newseum and look for 30 interesting front page treatments featuring Friday’s space shuttle launch — the last of the program — as a way of commemorating the 30 years (plus three months) since the first shuttle flight. That’s a lot of pages, so I’ve tried to organize them for you [...]

June 2, 2011: Victoria Advocate’s fun X-men comic book movie treatment (3)

So what does a small Texas paper do when it loses a features design genius like Ryan Huddle to the Boston Globe? It packs it in. Right? Not exactly. In the case of the 28,300-circulation Victoria Advocate, the paper simply reloads. In this case with longtime multimedia editor and illustrator Robert Zavala. He’s picking up and producing some of the [...]

May 27, 2011: Friday’s storm pages: Stunning photo and story by Springfield News-Leader

We’ll start off today’s tornado roundup with something that truly stunned me, folks. And I mean truly. Stunned. Me. I read this story a few hours ago and then had to take a break. I just couldn’t bear to read any more. But now it’s time buckle down and get this posted. This story comes to us today via a [...]

May 24, 2011: Tuesday tornado aftermath pages from Joplin; Midwest

Again, today, I’ve managed to score just a bit of a scoop for you: A number of pages not posted at the Newseum. Meaning you possibly haven’t seen them yet… — JOPLIN GLOBE Joplin, Mo. Circulation: 24,642 In the friendly little city of Joplin, Mo. — so cruelly hammered by nature Sunday night — the hometown Globe continued its heroic [...]

May 12, 2011: Victoria (Texas) Advocate comic panel teaches lessons in history you didn’t know (1)

Have you ever wondered just how the hell Joe Biden got elected? I have. Until now. A new illustrated feature on the Victoria (Texas) Advocate web site explained it to me. Check it out: The 13th Amendment, allowing for the popular election of senators, is ratified. Before, senators were chosen through a combination of monkey paws, magic potatoes and goat [...]

Jan. 18, 2011: Ryan Huddle of Victoria, Texas, moving to the Boston Globe (6)

I have to tell you, my friends: Today is one of the coolest days I’ve ever, ever had as a blogger. Simply because I get to break this news. Dan Zedek — assistant managing editor of the Boston Globe — announced today: I’m pleased to announce that Ryan Huddle of the Victoria (TX) Advocate will join the design department on [...]