Janine Iamunno
- http://www.patch.com/users/janine-iamunno
Who's the Most Creative 'Little Pumpkin' In All of Patchland? Heidi Klum Teams Up with Patch For Halloween Contest
Who's the Most Creative 'Little Pumpkin' In All of Patchland?
Heidi Klum Teams Up with Patch For Halloween Contest
Patchers tend to be pretty cool characters (at least that's what we tell ourselves). But even we are beyond excited about our new Halloween costume contest with none other than multihyphenate superstar Heidi Klum!
The model, TV star, entrepreneur and mother of her own four trick-or-treaters feels the same way about Halloween that we feel about candy corn: we can never get enough, and we wish it were around all year, not just in October. That's why this Halloween, Heidi and Patch are teaming up for "Patch's Little Pumpkin Costume Challenge"! With a committee of highly trained Halloween costume experts (drawn from our editors in over 850 towns coast to coast) choosing the ten most creative kids' costumes, Heidi will select the grand prize winner, who will be flown to New York City or Los Angeles for a 3-day, 2-night getaway for 2...including a meet-and-greet with The Queen of Halloween herself, Heidi Klum!
Since Patch is all about giving back to our communities, each of the nine runners-up and the grand prize winner will receive $1031 (get it?! 10/31! Halloween!) to donate to a local charity of his or her choice.
What more could you ask for (other than, y'know, more candy corn)?! It's fun, creative, a chance to show off how adorable your kids are, and all for a darn good cause. And speaking of good causes, please support Heidi's efforts to feed the hungry by visiting Trick of Treat for UNICEF (and find more of Heidi's Halloween favorites at heidiklum.aol.com).
Check out this video from one of our Patch sites for more info...All you have to do to get started is visit Patch.com, select the state you live in, and click on the name of your town! And through 9 pm on October 31, 2011, upload a photo of your child, 12 years of age or younger, in his or her Halloween costume. Full rules are here.
Happy Halloween, all...and, of course, boo! (We hope that wasn't too terrifying.)
The model, TV star, entrepreneur and mother of her own four trick-or-treaters feels the same way about Halloween that we feel about candy corn: we can never get enough, and we wish it were around all year, not just in October. That's why this Halloween, Heidi and Patch are teaming up for "Patch's Little Pumpkin Costume Challenge"! With a committee of highly trained Halloween costume experts (drawn from our editors in over 850 towns coast to coast) choosing the ten most creative kids' costumes, Heidi will select the grand prize winner, who will be flown to New York City or Los Angeles for a 3-day, 2-night getaway for 2...including a meet-and-greet with The Queen of Halloween herself, Heidi Klum!
Since Patch is all about giving back to our communities, each of the nine runners-up and the grand prize winner will receive $1031 (get it?! 10/31! Halloween!) to donate to a local charity of his or her choice.
What more could you ask for (other than, y'know, more candy corn)?! It's fun, creative, a chance to show off how adorable your kids are, and all for a darn good cause. And speaking of good causes, please support Heidi's efforts to feed the hungry by visiting Trick of Treat for UNICEF (and find more of Heidi's Halloween favorites at heidiklum.aol.com).
Check out this video from one of our Patch sites for more info...All you have to do to get started is visit Patch.com, select the state you live in, and click on the name of your town! And through 9 pm on October 31, 2011, upload a photo of your child, 12 years of age or younger, in his or her Halloween costume. Full rules are here.
Happy Halloween, all...and, of course, boo! (We hope that wasn't too terrifying.)
Green Pride
Last night, the Press Club of Long Island 2011 Media Awards took place at the Woodbury Country Club, and Patchers received a non-too-shabby count of 13 awards in online categories! Congratulations to our New York reporters and photographers, Chris R. Vaccaro, Geoffrey Walter, Adina Genn, Taylor K. Vecsey, John Stefans, Mary Ellen Walsh, Jason Molinet, and Richard Slattery!
Patch's winning stories ran the gamut from a 911 call that included the wrong address and delayed help for a dying man, to a Seventh State Senate District race that was too close to call, to a humorous opinion column. Our LI gang garnered first, second, and third place awards in over eight categories.
Richard Slattery of Huntington Patch won an online award for this photo of Town Board Votes Down Avalon Bay Resolution
Aglow with green pride, we are.
Pride and Prejudice
I know I'm terribly prejudiced, but I couldn't agree more with this Mediabistro story espousing a few of Patch's wins to date - and I couldn't be prouder to work here.
A great way to end the week, and a great jumping-off point for our future successes.
Go Patch!
A great way to end the week, and a great jumping-off point for our future successes.
Go Patch!
Austin-bound
Sure, we missed SXSW by a couple of weeks, but don't you fret: we'll be there next year, I reckon. And where else could I use the word "reckon" but in a post about Texas? Our fearless, peerless leader Warren Webster heads to Austin this weekend to Patch up the International Symposium of Online Journalism. It's quite an honor for us to be represented at this prestigious event, and we're looking forward to discussing all the latest and greatest developments in digital journalism and Patch's role in the landscape. Plus there's a pretty good chance Warren will end up being photographed in a cowboy hat, which will be timeless fun for all of us here at Patch.
Twitter love
Check out this Twitter love for Patch last night. Can't wait to see what kind of traffic it drives to our Lisle Patch! Just wait till we put Facebook the Ferret up for adoption.
Adopt a dog named Twitter! lisle.patch.com/articles/meet-twitter-4
Adopt a dog named Twitter! lisle.patch.com/articles/meet-
"Bella" is home safe.
Far too often often, missing-child cases end tragically, so I wanted to share news of a rare happy ending.
Bethwood Patch Local Editor Kathleen Schurman appeared on a Good Morning America segment this morning to discuss the case of 13-year-old Isabella Oleschuk, a hearing-impaired 13-year-old from Orange, Connecticut, who appeared to have been a victim of bullying at school. The community rallied around search efforts for "Bella," as she's known, and Patch was all over the story, reporting on breaking developments in real time. And here's the latest development: Isabella has been found and is now home safe with her family. We couldn't be happier to bring this news to the community.
Check out this story from Orange Patch for the full story on Isabella and her safe return home.
Bethwood Patch Local Editor Kathleen Schurman appeared on a Good Morning America segment this morning to discuss the case of 13-year-old Isabella Oleschuk, a hearing-impaired 13-year-old from Orange, Connecticut, who appeared to have been a victim of bullying at school. The community rallied around search efforts for "Bella," as she's known, and Patch was all over the story, reporting on breaking developments in real time. And here's the latest development: Isabella has been found and is now home safe with her family. We couldn't be happier to bring this news to the community.
Check out this story from Orange Patch for the full story on Isabella and her safe return home.
The art of Patching
Who needs those wily Scooby-Doo kids to solve mysteries when we have Groton Patch on the case? Check out this story of how Patch helped a CT resident find a family heirloom - via another story on Laguna Beach Patch, thousands of miles away!
We knew we provided great news and information and community connections galore (was that too shameless a plug for what we do? Sorry), but it's a new one for us to have reunited a reader with a piece of art his great-grandfather painted over 50 years ago!
We knew we provided great news and information and community connections galore (was that too shameless a plug for what we do? Sorry), but it's a new one for us to have reunited a reader with a piece of art his great-grandfather painted over 50 years ago!
Come Patch with Us!
Check out this new article on Ed2010, a site devoted to informing and engaging young journalists as they set out to fulfill their career dreams...which we hope may lead them to roles at Patch! Our esteemed Editor in Chief has some insights for budding scribes and stringers who want to work in or near their current neighborhoods...no need to travel 'round the globe, or across the country, to find that dream journalism job. The piece reflects Patch's mission so well - live local, shop local, WORK local!
Ooooh, shiny.
Coronado Patch Local Editor Kimberly Cunningham tells me that the community has welcomed her site with open arms - and then some! BE Styled, a local boutique, recently offered residents the chance to meet their local Patch team and partake in some goodies from local businesses, including bejeweled watches from BE Styled. Why am I never around when people are handing out free sparkly things?!
We've been really lucky to hear - and humbled by - similar reactions across the country as we've launched our nearly 800 Patches. We'll be sharing more feedback from our fans in the coming weeks. Brings a tear to this Patcher's eye!
Go Patch (and thank you, Coronado!)!
We've been really lucky to hear - and humbled by - similar reactions across the country as we've launched our nearly 800 Patches. We'll be sharing more feedback from our fans in the coming weeks. Brings a tear to this Patcher's eye!
Go Patch (and thank you, Coronado!)!
Late night Patchiness
Nope, that isn't a rash that breaks out after 11 pm. It's a reference to a recent appearance by our terrific regional editor Robert K. Elder on Last Call with Carson Daly to promote his three new books. We have no idea how Rob manages to oversee editorial operations for his Patches AND create a literary dynasty, but that's Patch for you: chock full of energy, ambition, and passion. (And in a lot of cases, caffeine and cookies, but those are less impressive to tout.)
Congrats, Rob! Keep an eye on the blog for more info on these books and others recently released by Patchers...
Congrats, Rob! Keep an eye on the blog for more info on these books and others recently released by Patchers...
We hope they won't forget the little people.
We're not sure if you heard, but our engineering team here at Patch is kind of a big deal. We always knew this (duh!), but now everyone at RailsConf 2011 will know it, too. RailsConf is a huge, prestigious event in the digital world, and one that attracts the top minds in the biz. It's like a techy Top Gun, but without Iceman and the cheesy '80s soundtrack.
George Ogata, who has been with Patch since August 2009, will be leading a session on Progressive Rendering and Full Page Caching. And John Crepezzi, a Patcher since February 2010, will be leading a session called Using Beautiful APIs to Split and Scale Your Application. (Did you buy that I knew what I was talking about when I typed those session names? Phew.) Attendees are in for an enlightening, and I bet inspiring, discussion with these guys - it's so cool to see the passion and commitment with which John and George approach not only their Patch roles but the industry's trends and growth in general. Register here!
It's quite an honor for two of our key engineers to be in the spotlight at RailsConf. Our Patch pride is in full effect! You can tell because we're all wearing our PATCH ENGINEERS RULE! t-shirts.
Congrats, George and John!
George Ogata, who has been with Patch since August 2009, will be leading a session on Progressive Rendering and Full Page Caching. And John Crepezzi, a Patcher since February 2010, will be leading a session called Using Beautiful APIs to Split and Scale Your Application. (Did you buy that I knew what I was talking about when I typed those session names? Phew.) Attendees are in for an enlightening, and I bet inspiring, discussion with these guys - it's so cool to see the passion and commitment with which John and George approach not only their Patch roles but the industry's trends and growth in general. Register here!
It's quite an honor for two of our key engineers to be in the spotlight at RailsConf. Our Patch pride is in full effect! You can tell because we're all wearing our PATCH ENGINEERS RULE! t-shirts.
Congrats, George and John!
Continue reading We hope they won't forget the little people.
Niiiice, Northwestern Patchers!
Check out this story by James Tabafunda in the new Northwest Asian Weekly...
Fur from afar
Kudos to Patch Local Editor Ryan McDermott (Takoma Park) for participating in Manuary remotely. And even bigger kudos for being brave enough to let me post this pic of him on the site. Beardtastic!
Gallery: McDermott beards it up.
Outside.in is...in!
We're all very excited to confirm the acquisition of Outside.in, a key player in the hyperlocal space and a longtime distribution partner for Patch. Our current model is working: pairing our fantastic local journalists with great technology and a scalable platform, and this acquisition will help us reach our goal of scaling to as many communities as we can, in the most efficient way. Outside.in brings several things to Patch: an incredibly talented team of engineers, product managers and business people who have a deep understanding of local media; great technology that will help us scale faster and empower our journalists and residents of our towns to do more on Patch; and CEO Mark Josephson, who will add even more experience and a valued voice to our team. The Outside.in culture and vision are so closely aligned with ours here at Patch, so this won't just be a successful merging of companies, it will be a lot of fun. There aren't any other details for now, but I hope you'll check back here for any Patch updates down the line. Go Patch! And welcome, Outside.in!
H is for Hyperlocal. And for Hairy.
The contestants in Patch's third annual Manuary competition ran the gamut from having sad little beards to terrifying swaths of fur as far as the eye could see. It took a while to get these posted, but it's because my Mac kept overheating. The photos are THAT hot. (No, not really. But they're...something.) Enjoy!
