''The Awl'' was a

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about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in

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. 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 ...

'' editors

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and Alex Balk out of Sicha's

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apartment, after they were laid off by the pop culture magazine ''

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'', 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 ''

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''. The first posts on the site were an infographic by Emily Gould of ''Gawker''s office seating chart, "a video of a Miss USA contestant responding to a

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question from

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, 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 est ...

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'', 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 called The Awl: Weekend Companion. On March 22, New York Media, the publisher of the magazine ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'', 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)