The Yahoo! Contributor Network

The Associated Content team is thrilled to announce the latest step in the evolution of our publishing platform.

WELCOME TO THE

What is the Yahoo! Contributor Network? It’s the same publishing platform you know and love as an Associated Content contributor, but with a new name and a new color scheme. You can even sign in to the Yahoo! Contributor Network using your existing Associated Content user name and password.

There are a few exciting enhancements, however:

• From now on, your profile, account dashboard, and content menu will display content you’ve published throughout the Yahoo! network, complete with page view data!
  
• You will start earning Performance Payments on numerous Yahoo! sites!
  
• Your content may live on more than one Yahoo! site, and you’ll earn Performance Payments in each participating location!

More good news:

The Associated Content library is here to stay! Associated Content from Yahoo! is now the official digital library of the Yahoo! Contributor Network. That means that much of the content you submit through the Yahoo! Contributor Network will still be published on AssociatedContent.com, and you’ll continue earning Up-Front Payments and Performance Payments just like you always have.

For more information about this exciting transition, visit our special page of Frequently Asked Questions.

To get started on the Yahoo! Contributor Network, sign in using your existing Associated Content from Yahoo! user name and password.

Thank you for your many wonderful contributions to the Associated Content platform throughout the years! We’re ecstatic about this opportunity to help you share your knowledge and passion some of the world’s most popular online destinations. Here’s to the future!

Sincerely,

The Associated Content from Yahoo! & Yahoo! Contributor Network team

Pardon Our Dust

Dear Contributors,

In a recent post, we updated you on the exciting & complex process of integrating the Associated Content publishing platform into the Yahoo! network.

We’re pleased to say that we’ve made a lot of progress since then, and we’re looking forward to telling you all about some BIG changes that we think will leave everyone saying:

In order to pave the way for the next step, we’re scheduling two hours of maintenance to our site, starting at 7pm Eastern on Sunday. From 7pm to 9pm EST on 11/14, you will not be able to sign in to your Associated Content from Yahoo! account, nor publish any content. Content pages may also be down during this window, but believe us – it's worth it.

Please pardon our dust, and look forward to some exciting developments after it settles!

October 2010 Monthly Award Winners Announced!

Congratulations to our October, 2010 Best of AC and Rising Star Award Winners!

This month's Best of AC Awards went to top Contributors in Personal Finance, Politics, and Sports. It was, as always, a tough contest, but in the end awards went to three outstanding Contributors who triumphed thanks to their extraordinary skills and personal expertise in their topic areas. Congratulations to Bill Stanley (The Money Coach), William Browning, and Joshua Huffman. Check out the full announcement for more!

Our monthly Rising Star Awards recognize newer writers who are standing out in the AC community. It takes no small measure of courage to establish oneself on a new publishing platform, and these awards present bragging rights and a cash prize to Contributors brave enough to jump right in and talented enough to do so successfully. This month's winners are Vanessa Evans, Clayton Browne, Linda Rogacki, Jean Kelly, and Heather Braegger. Congratulations to the winners! Read our full-length announcement for more.

Looking Back and Moving Forward

It's been five months since Associated Content founder Luke Beatty first announced that AC was joining the Yahoo! family, and our team is hard at work on the exciting & challenging process of fully integrating our publishing platform into websites across the Yahoo! network.

We’d like to share some of our progress with our community of Contributors, and give you a glimpse at what's happening next.

Over the summer, we started building bridges to sites like Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! News and omg! from Yahoo! by releasing custom assignments for our Contributors to tackle. We've also been distributing work from the AC library to further test these in-roads, and figure out how our Contributors' voices can best be showcased on these popular destination sites.

Like any major endeavor, this integration process has not been without its hang-ups & hiccups, but our whole team is happy about the way things are shaping up. Stand-out successes from these early publishing trials have included first-person stories landing on the front page of Yahoo.com (most recently: veteran Contributor Steve Thompson's article for Yahoo! Finance), Halloween tips from our community being featured prominently on Shine's Halloween page and regular Yahoo! beats for some of our best Contributors in different topics (for instance, check out Jolie du Pre's celeb Twitter series for omg!). This is a small taste of what's to come.

All of this excitement aside, there's one piece of feedback that's been loud and clear from our community throughout the integration process: Publishing from AC to other Yahoo! sites will feel a lot more rewarding once Performance Payments are in the mix!

Our current methods of publishing content outside of AssociatedContent.com — custom assignments and distribution — carry flat rates. The beauty of the Performance Payment model, launched for AssociatedContent.com back in 2007, is that it ties Contributors’ revenue to the popularity of their content and gives each piece literally limitless earning potential.

We've said from the get-go that we intend to enable performance payments for other Yahoo! sites, and now we're ready to put an ETA against that goal: We plan to launch a new performance payment system, applying to Yahoo! sites beyond AssociatedContent.com, by the end of January 2011. A variety of Yahoo! sites, including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance and Yahoo! Sports, will be a part of this initial expansion and others will follow soon thereafter.

Some Contributors have asked why it isn't possible to enable these new features immediately, or open them across the Yahoo! network in one fell swoop. The reality is that this next step is a technologically tall order that involves creating open channels for the free flow of content and data between our platform and each individual site. Those are the connections we've been working toward steadily for 5 months. Soon, all of that hard work will start paying off in a major way.

Many thanks to our community for working alongside of us, and stay tuned for more details as our integration continues!

Happy Halloween! Spooky Story Winners and Some Scary Good Linkage

Happy Halloween, AC family! Are you ready to get scared? After a week of reading scary stories, we've picked out our very favorite and two runners-up. Turn out all the lights, dip into the candy you're giving out to all the little boys and ghouls later tonight, and read on.

(Photo credit: Nvadim of Sxc.hu)

Without further ado, the winner of our Halloween Flash Fiction contest and the $100 prize is... David Donch, for the creepy and witty vignette, "Parts!" After you read it, you may never break into a junkyard on a dark and stormy night again. Then again, maybe you already had enough common sense not to break into a junkyard on a dark and stormy night!

Since we received so many great submissions, we're announcing two runners-up as well. Each will receive a $25 open assignment to write about the topic of their choice.

Our first runner-up is The Thirteenth Scarecrow, by Mark Perretta. This spooky story is creepy without being graphic. Go ahead and read it to your older kids to give them a scare!

Our second runner-up is There's Something Out There Digging, by John Robertson. What will happen to the young narrator when her mother invites a mysterious creature to breakfast with the family?

Which of the hundreds of spooky entries was your favorite? Post it in the comments section!

Meanwhile, back at AC, there's some fun news to share: For the past few days, some of the best Halloween articles on Associatedcontent.com have been linked to directly from Yahoo! Events, on a special Halloween page. Check out the box in the lower right corner of the page.

Remembering Regina Sass

It's a sad day in the Associated Content community. One of our most successful and beloved Contributors, Regina Sass, has passed away. She will be greatly missed by her many readers and friends.

Regina was a passionate gardener who enjoyed sharing her wealth of knowledge, gleaned over more than 50 years of gardening. Her readers' gardens are surely vibrant and beautiful, thanks to Regina's recommendations. Regina was also a pet lover who often wrote about unusual or new dog breeds, pet health, and animal rescues throughout the country. Regina was recognized as one of the top 10 Contributors on Associated Content in 2009.

A writer's legacy can hardly be summed up in a single blog post, so we'd like to share with you some of our favorite articles published by Regina over the years. There were many to choose from; in a little over three years, she published 2,797 pieces of content.

How to Build a Rock Garden

Regina's careful advice will walk you through this landscape beautification project easily, whether or not you have any landscaping experience.

How to Learn to Climb a Mountain

The summary written for this piece of content says it all: "There is no limit as to how high you can go with a little bit of practice." Regina applied that philosophy to her writing.

Family Exercise Games

Regina's fondness for her own family shines through in this fun article encouraging families to be active together.

The Making of Madeira Wine

Wine appreciators will recognize one of their own in this article about an unusual wine grown under unique conditions.

Mets and Red Sox Repeat Performance 20 Years Later

Part memoir, part news, this is Regina's very first contribution to Associated Content. In it, she recounts her excitement as a then-Queens resident when the Mets won their second world series, and her fondness for the team as the 2006 All Star Game approached.

Aquatic Plants Allowed in Florida

Bringing this list full-circle, here is Regina's last article written for Associated Content. In it, she again generously offers up her gardening expertise, as she did so often over the years.

Please feel free to share your memories of Regina and any favorite articles of hers in the comments section. We at Associated Content will miss her dearly. Our sincerest condolences go out to her family and friends, who will remain in all of our thoughts.

September 2010 Best of AC Awards

This month, we honored extraordinary Contributors in the topic areas of Pets, Shopping & Fashion and Television. Congratulations to our winners!

Best of AC: Pets - Rena Sherwood
Rena Sherwood is a pet lover who has spent a lifetime studying animals. She's shared that knowledge generously with AC's readers, producing 176 pieces of Pets content so far. Her personal experience in the horse racing industry informed her recent article on cruelty in Standardbred harness racing, which exemplifies her informative yet conversational style and strong research skills.

Best of AC: Shopping & Fashion - Charley A. Prescott
In her first six months as a Contributor, Charley A. Prescott has established herself as one of Associated Content leading voices in her featured categories: Beauty and Shopping & Fashion. Whether she's crafting one of her detailed and well-researched shopping guides (like "Fab Fall Boots under $100"), reviewing beauty products or commenting on style icons like Coco Chanel and Naomi Campbell, Charley's good taste and passion for fashion come across in all of the work she publishes.

Best of AC: Television - Jolie du Pre
Recent "Page View Millionaire" Jolie du Pre has been rocking Associated Content Arts & Entertainment category with her sharp writing and engaging large audiences with her timely analyses of hot issues in the entertainment world. In September alone, she asked lots of provocative questions and shared her take on television topics ranging from Survivor Nicaragua to the recent honors given to David Simon, creator of HBO's The Wire. But her insights aren't confined to AC -- check out her recent piece about reality TV star Kim Kardashian's tweets for omg! from Yahoo!.

Congratulations to our amazing honorees!

Looking ahead...

October's award categories will be Sports, Personal Finance and Politics. Don't forget to nominate your favorites here!

Rising Stars for September, 2010

Congratulations to our Rising Star Award winners for September, 2010! These up-and-coming Contributors took the plunge into a new publishing platform and displayed both talent and confidence in producing great, informative content. Check out the full-length announcement here.

Rising Stars of September, 2010

Emma Vine joined the AC community in June and has since produced 89 pieces of content, received nearly 20,000 pageviews, and become a Featured Contributor for the Food and Wine and Local categories. She really shines when writing about her hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.

Emmaleigh R. Hall has more than a few things in common with our first Rising Star of the month--both have "Emma" in their names, both joined in June, and both have 40 fans at the time of this posting! But superficial similarities aside, Emmaleigh is a truly unique and captivating writer with a sense of fun and creativity that's all her own. She's a Featured Movies Contributor, with 77 pieces of content and nearly 17,000 pageviews.

Amy Ess joined AC this July and has already attracted almost 38,000 pageviews to her library of 84 pieces of content, focusing primarily on arts and entertainment. She's rocking a Clout 7 badge already, and like the previous two winners, has 40 fans! Amy is a student double-majoring in psychology and human development and family studies.

Maggie Lumpcik has been with us since August and has already created 53 piece of content, drawing almost 28,000 views to her library and rising to Clout 6. Her content is flavored both with personal expertise and skillful research.

Lauren Finnegan has only been with AC since September, but she's already produced 62 pieces of content and almost 33,000 pageviews. She's even earned a Hot 500 badge, along with reaching Clout 7. Lauren is a military wife and proud mother who shares her knowledge as a Featured Contributor in the Shopping & Fashion and Fertility & Pregnancy categories.

Congratulations to our September winners. Don't forget to nominate your favorite rising stars for an October award!

Go Pink this October

Shine from Yahoo! is honoring National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with an online hub devoted to sharing & comparing the personal insights of thousands of individuals with a personal stake in battling the disease. All this month, put on your virtual pink ribbon by clicking over to Shine’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2010 page.

Members of the Associated Content community have contributed their stories and expertise to the Shine hub:

• Breast cancer survivor Coral Levang explains how the diagnosis that changed her life became her "biggest and best teacher."
• Patricia Sicilia shares her own story of survival, and reflects on the myriad ways it has shaped her identity over the years.
• Featured Health & Wellness Contributors R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen, Marie-Luise Blue and Debra Cornelius share some important breast cancer prevention tips relevant to women of all ages.

Wondering how can you contribute?

Check your assignment desk! Our Content Managers will be releasing a variety of Featured Contributor assignments pertaining to breast cancer awareness in the coming weeks. If you have a story that you'd like to share, you don't need to wait for an assignment. Email community@associatedcontent.com with the details and we'll connect you with an editor.

Tell Shine why you're turning pink this month! For each person who updates their pink ribbon status on Yahoo! Shine and Yahoo! Pulse this month, Yahoo! will donate $1 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation up to $50,000. More than 17,000 people, including Yahoo! CEO and breast cancer survivor Carol Bartz, have shared their inspiration so far.

Thank you for helping us raise awareness and battle breast cancer, a devastating disease that affects more than one million women every year.

Yahoo! is Asking America

The Yahoo! News Ask America site is dedicated to providing Americans with a place to join the conversation and share their opinions on midterm election issues.

Content from Associated Content Contributors is in the mix with news stories from a handful of great AC Contributors appearing as related stories when users click to answer numerous Ask America questions. For an example, check Sylvia Cochran's piece on the definition of a recession.

Now you can engage with Ask America offline, too!


The Ask America van will be visiting cities around the United States between now and election day, getting voters' first person perspectives on political issues around the country. Here's a rough schedule (subject to change):

9/28 – Tampa
9/30-10/2 – Miami area
10/8-10 – Santa Monica
10/12 – Sacramento / San Rafael area (for California's gubernatorial debates)
10/13 – San Francisco
10/14 – Sunnyvale
10/17-20 – Denver
10/22-23 – Boulder
10/27-10/30 – Washington, DC (for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central sponsored political rallies)

The best part? If you make it to an Ask America stop and introduce yourself to Yahoo! staff as an AC Contributor, the van staff will give you some nifty Yahoo! branded gear and information on claiming a $15 assignment to create a political op-ed on a 2010 election topic you're passionate about.

If you're a Contributor in one of the areas getting a visit from the Ask America van, expect an email from us with more information on how you can make your voice heard with Ask America. You can also check the Assignment Desk for a targeted assignment containing information on exactly when and where the van will stop!

AC Meets BBC

BBC journalist Matthew Wells recently conducted an in-depth interview with veteran contributor Will Stape, discussing the Associated Content model of publishing, how it's changing the way that content is created and shared on the Web, and how we differ from traditional media outlets (for instance, the British Broadcasting Corporation).

Check out the illuminating video, posted on the BBC College of Journalism's blog, in which Will energetically declares his passion for writing and the connection he shares with the Associated Content platform and community:

Cheers to Will for doing us all proud! If you're not familiar with his work, now's a great time to take a look at his diverse library of content. We suggest starting by reading some of the artist & celebrity interviews featured on the top of his AC profile.

Rising Stars for August, 2010

Congratulations to our Rising Star Award winners for August, 2010! These newer Contributors displayed savvy, talent and the ability to become rapidly accustomed to a new publishing platform. See the full-length announcement here.

Rising Stars of August, 2010:


Joan Haines has been with us since June, accumulating 53 piece of content and 56 fans, along with a Clout 5 badge. She's a Featured Education Contributor, using her experience as a professional fifth grade teacher to inform her content on subjects ranging from age-appropriate chores to choosing parts in elementary school theater.

Laura Cone joined AC in May of this year and has already racked up over 61,000 pageviews and become a Featured Contributor for Dieting & Weight Loss, Gardening, and Food & Wine. She's reviewed everything from Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread to Skinny Cow ice cream products. Laura is always on the lookout for "diet" products that aren't as good for you as they claim.

Nicholas Ward joined us this June and is well on his way to earning an AC Millionaire badge! He's already a Clout 9 and a member of AC's Hot 100, with more than 335,000 pageviews across a library of 123 pieces of content. Nicholas is also a Featured Technology Contributor, with numerous reviews of computers and mobile phones under his belt.

Philo Gabriel has been a Contributor since May, publishing a staggering 668 pieces of content in four short months. His local content can help anyone considering a visit to Michigan, while his series on elder care and elder abuse could be invaluable to individuals looking at living options for a senior loved one.

Phyllis Wheeler became a Contributor this May and is already a Clout 5 with 71 pieces of content. She's a Featured Health & Wellness Contributor, with lots of great content about unhealthy foods dieters should avoid. But the real "diet" she'd like to put you on doesn't involve food--Phyllis is writing a series of articles on "The Negativity Diet," which calls on readers to spend 30 days without voicing a negative statement.

Congratulations to our August winners, and don't forget to nominate your favorite rising stars for a September Rising Star Award!

August 2010 Best of AC Award Winners

For August 2010, we awarded Best of AC prizes to top Contributors in Home Improvement, Food and Wine, and Real Estate. Please join us in congratulating this month's winners! You can now use our brand new category filter on Contributor profiles to check out each winner's content in her winning niche. Read Darnell's full-length announcement here!

Best of AC: Food & Wine - Angie Mohr
Angie Mohr has been an AC Contributor since 2007, racking up a Clout 10 badge, a 2008 PMA, and now her second Best of AC award. Angie joins a small, exclusive group of two-time Best of AC winners with this award, which recognizes her expertise in everything from brewing fine ale at home to hosting the perfect dinner party.


Best of AC: Home Improvement - Tal Boldo
Want to know how to update your home and give it a tidy, soothing look without breaking the bank? Looking for a way to give your bathrooms or living room a little extra sparkle? Tal Boldo has your back with 163 total pieces of content in the Home Improvement category.


Best of AC: Real Estate - Shauna Zamarripa
Whether you're buying or selling a home, Shauna's insightful writing and professional experience can help you navigate the process with ease. She's a Real Estate agent in San Antonio, Texas, specializing in what everyone wants to buy right now—short sale and foreclosed properties. Her expertise is just right for buyers and sellers uncertain about how to proceed in shifting market conditions and a down economy.

Congratulations to all three winners!

Looking ahead...

September's award categories will be Pets, Shopping & Fashion and Television. Don't forget to nominate your favorites here! See you next month.

The Shared Stories of 9/11

"Wake up. The World Trade Center is gone."

That's how Sept. 11, 2001, started for Gwen Navarrete. And maybe for you, too.

The shared nature of the tragedy both broke and, paradoxically, strengthened the heart of a nation.

In a collaboration between Yahoo! News and Associated Content, we asked people like you to share again, nine years later, what they went through and what they learned (or didn't) from that terrible time. "Our day of infamy," Melissa Danysh calls it. She's one of many voices we heard from.

Read "First Person: The shared stories of 9/11" on Yahoo! News, and share your own memories and reflections by leaving a comment or publishing a your own article on Associated Content.

Associated Content Contributors Stand Out on Yahoo! Sites

Whether it's sports, news, music, parenting, health, finance or even celebrity gossip, Associated Content Contributors know all about it and are showing what they know on the Yahoo! family of websites. Here are some of our favorite recent Yahoo! features. Congratulations to our Contributors who've appeared on one or more Yahoo! sites!

Delicious cake by Sabah Karimi.

Go Back to School with Lyn Lomasi

Featured Parenting and Education Contributor Lyn Lomasi knows a thing or two about back to school time. She's currently homeschooling her own children, making her both a mom and a teacher every morning. Read all about easing your kids' morning back to school routine on Yahoo! Shine. Oh, and check out this pic--Lyn and her kids stopped by our Denver offices for a visit recently, wearing Yahoo! purple!

Lyn visits AC Denver with four cute kids decked out in purple!

Meet Great Quarterbacks Who Never Won a Super Bowl with George N. Root III

There's something about winning football's biggest game that guarantees a QB will get his place in sporting history. But what about the great quarterbacks who never quite reached that pinnacle? Did you know that the longest Super Bowl touchdown pass of all time was thrown by a QB whose team ultimately lost the game? George N. Root III rounds up the best forgotten quarterbacks in NFL history on Yahoo! Sports.

Bizarre Medical Mysteries Showcased on TV's "Royal Pains," by Pamela Gifford

Can't get enough of medical shows, but you also enjoy a good sitcom with plenty of laughs and drama? Then you might like "Royal Pains," one of Pamela Gifford's TV favorites. She rounds up the quirky show's strangest medical cases on Yahoo! TV. You'll have to read the full article to find out exactly where a tiny plastic sword ended up, causing health problems for a patient for years before its discovery.

Relationship Doomed by Doom Addiction, from Contel Bradford

Missing a concert date with your first love because you're too busy playing the classic FPS (First Person Shooter) game Doom? That's a low blow. For Justin Copeland's girlfriend, it was the last straw. She's now his ex, citing infrequent bathing and missed work as symptoms of a video game addiction that led her to break things off. Contel Bradford boldly interviews Copeland on Yahoo! Games's blog, Plugged In. If you've got a teenage gamer in the house, you might want to leave this cautionary tale open on his or her computer screen.

Five Most Devastating Hurricanes in United States History, by Pam Gaulin

Did you know that Hurricane Katrina wasn't the deadliest hurricane ever to strike the United States? Though the cost of rebuilding after Katrina was immense, when it comes to the human cost of these natural disasters, Katrina's barely in the top five. As we remember, five years later, the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, spare a thought for the victims of each of the most destructive hurricanes in US history, presented on Yahoo! News by Pam Gaulin.

Please join us in congratulating these Contributors on their skills and success!

Katrina Survivors Share Stories on Yahoo!

Yahoo! published the work of several Contributors on Thursday in a package on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The contributors, all survivors of the storm, were featured on the front pages of Yahoo! News and Yahoo.com.

(Picture of Hurricane Katrina courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

Here's what Yahoo! News wrote in a round-up collection:

If there's a lesson to be drawn from the deluge that laid waste five years ago to much of New Orleans and surrounding areas, it's this:

"You cannot be baptized in the dirty waters of Hurricane Katrina and come out unchanged."

So says Lesa Z. Myrick, one of the Associated Content contributors who provided Yahoo! News with first-person accounts of the catastrophe and its aftermath.

Read the stories to learn more.

The Brand New You

Our new profile pages have rolled out across the site! You can now start uploading new profile photos and choosing your favorite pieces of content to feature at the top of your profile!

The new photo uploading process is easy: from your profile editor, browse to find a high-res photo on your computer and crop it into a square. Note that existing profile photos that are smaller than 200 pixels in width may have been removed or distorted in the transition. To solve this, simply upload a new photo that's 200x200 pixels or larger.

To feature content on your profile, simply click the +Feature button next to any piece in your library. You can feature up to 15 pieces and update the widget any time!


Other cool things:

> You can now filter any profile by content category using the drop down menu on the right side of the page.

> From your profile editor, you can now list up to 10 affiliations on your AC profile (the previous limit was 3). Add links to all your social media profiles and blogs so that your audience knows where to find you online!

What do you think?

Your Associated Content profile is a showcase of your talent, and we want to make sure it's something that you're proud to share with your friends and followers. Once you've uploaded a new picture, featured some of your favorite content and tested out the other new tools, please take a minute to fill out our survey and leave some feedback. What do you like about the new profile? What should we change? Anything that doesn't work as it should? Let us know!

AC on Yahoo! News Bytes

Check out the new video from Yahoo! News Bytes welcoming AC into the Yahoo! network - featuring our estimable founder and president, Luke Beatty.

Sneak Peek: New Contributor Profiles

We're very excited to bring you the first glimpse at the new face -- or rather, the 400,000 new faces -- of Associated Content!

Click the thumbnail below to preview the brand new Associated Content Contributor profile, rolling out across the site in the near future:


The most exciting enhancements include...

(1) An enlarged profile picture and stats dashboard. Get your high-res photos ready!

(2) A customizable Featured Content widget. Hand select and curate up to 10 pieces of your best content to highlight at the top of your profile!

(3) A category filter. Now you can view and share a filtered view of your own profile or sort other Contributors’ profile pages by category. This is one of the most frequently requested features from the AC community, and we're thrilled to provide it.

Let us know what you think about the preview above and stay tuned for the official launch. We look forward to collecting even more feedback once you've had a chance to test drive all the new features.

Yahoo! Style Guide Contest Winners

After receiving an incredible 150 entries, we've chosen 15 winners in our Yahoo! Style Guide contest. These 15 contributors will receive a free hardbound copy of the Yahoo! Style Guide for their tutorials based on the YSG's lessons for Web writers.

Our winners are:

• Nancy Tracy, "Punctilious About Punctuation?"
• R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen, "Know Your Audience and Avoid Bias in Your Writing."
• Heather Laurendeau, "Guidelines for Writing Numbers on the Web from the Yahoo! Style Guide."
• Tonya Hillukka, "Web Writing: Develop Your Voice."
• Cathy A. Montville, "Build Writer Confidence: Expert Advice from the Yahoo! Style Guide Word List."
• Sylvia Cochran, "Online Reading Format Fundamentals from the Yahoo! Style Guide."
• Joy Smith, "Quick Tips and Tricks for Online Writing."
• Patti Walden, "Quotation Marks (" "): A Writing and Editing Tutorial Inspired by Yahoo! Style Guide."
• Laine Broxton, MBA-HRM, "How to Write for Yahoo! and Associated Content."
• Michele Starkey, "Headlines Should Whet the Appetite of a Hungry Web World."
• Cornelius Fortune, "Writing for the Web."
• Barbara Kellam-Scott, "Yahoo! Style Guide: Writing for the World."
• Marie Anne St. Jean, "Simple Techniques Put the Optimization in SEO."
• Chelsea Baldwin, "To-Be Verbs: An Online Writing Tutorial."
• Linda Ann Nickerson, "Web Writing Wonders- an Easy Tutorial on Titles for People."

Check out the full length announcement for more information, and don't forget to join us in congratulating the winners! Tutorials like these are showing the world what we already knew: There's an enormous amount of wisdom and knowledge about Web writing in our Contributor community.

The Best of AC: July 2010

In July 2010, the Best of AC Award categories were Health & Wellness, Local and Video Games. Three cheers for our talented winners:

R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen - Health & Wellness

R. Elizabeth is a freelance health writer, nursing student and a college tutor in medicine and biology. On AC, she's a Clout 10 page view millionaire, a dedicated and inspiring Community Guide, a Featured Contributor in 3 categories and the author of more than 100 Health & Wellness articles!

Debbie Henthorn - Local
Debbie is a Featured Contributor in three categories in addition to being a member of our flagship Local program. In two years of contributing to AC, she has shared an enormous amount of personal insight about her corner of the world, with nearly 100 reviews, events listings, travel guides and cost-saving tips about the Columbus, Ohio area.

Michael Strauss - Video Games
Michael won a Rising Star award earlier this year and he hasn't stopped climbing. He has already reached Clout 8 with a library of more than 250 pieces of content, half of which are video game, computer game and MMORPG reviews, tips and commentary, written from the perspective of a passionate gamer and technology enthusiast.

All three winners received a $100 bonus and a shiny new badge on their AC profiles. Be sure to stop by to check out their award-winning content and say "congrats"!

Looking ahead...

The categories for the August 2010 Best of AC Awards are Food & Wine, Home Improvement and Real Estate.

If you'd like to draw attention to content you're publishing in any of these fields, or if you know of any other worthy Contributors you'd like to nominate for these awards, please do so here.

July 2010 Rising Stars Announced

Congratulations to our July 2010 Rising Star Award Winners! These Contributors are rapidly climbing the clout ladder, racking up pageviews, and taking on Featured Contributor slots, achieving plenty of success in just a few short weeks.

This month's Rising Stars include Cindy Coulter, already an FC in three categories; gardening guru Denise Jennings; Starcraft and Eve Online expert Kemp Adrian; Chrisopher Berenger, a gifted news writer with an eye for hot topics; and Katy Cross, already recognizable around Associated Content for her "Buy, rent, or pass?" reviews.

All five July 2010 Rising Stars are talented writers and remarkable for their ability to take a totally new publishing platform and rapidly make it their own. Congratulations to all on their success!

Don't forget--five Rising Star awards go out each month. Winners get a cash prize, a profile badge and of course bragging rights for life. Nominate your faves in the Contests and Nominations forum every month!

See You at the Movies

Yahoo! Movies is the world's #1 destination for movie news, featuring trailers, clips, reviews, interviews and photogalleries around the latest & greatest film releases - both independent and mainstream.

Managing Editor Timothy Sean Phillips is excited to bring Associated Content Arts & Entertainment enthusiasts into the mix: "I'm looking forward to working with your editors to figure out the best way to harness everyone's talents and perspectives on the movie world - from analyzing the weekend box office to getting the nitty-gritty on the coolest cinema stories in your town." Check out his open letter to the AC community.

One AC Contributor, Steven Bryan, has already had the opportunity to publish on Yahoo! Movies, with his take on the biggest surprises from the 2010 Comic-Con in San Diego. Many more will soon have the opportunity to add their unqiue insight to this singular destination for all things cinematic.

Entertaining a Global Audience

Associated Content's arts and culture experts are continuing to make cameos across the Yahoo! network!

Featured Arts & Entertainment Contributor Steven Bryan has published on Yahoo! Movies as well as Yahoo! TV. Check out his take on the biggest surprises from this year’s Comic-Con, and the harshest zingers from Comedy Central’s celebrity roast of The Hoff.

More good stuff from the Yahoo! TV blog: Jennifer Sales rounds up the most interesting guest stars on Drop Dead Diva, and Phil Dotree shares his take on the career of comic Louis C.K., with commentary on "Louis," his new show on FX.

The savvy moms of AC have also started appearing on Yahoo!'s omg! – the Web’s number one destination for celebrity gossip and entertainment news. From the omg! blog, check out Aida Ekberg’s round up of kid-friendly recipes from Hollywood moms, and Nancy Tracy’s take on celeb mother Camila Alves’ casual-chic look.


On Yahoo! Games, Katy Cross advises readers to gear up for the most anticipated computer game of the year: Blizzard’s Starcraft 2. Jillian McCoy also tackles one of Blizzard’s runaway gaming hits, providing an overview of slang terminology used in MMPORG World of Warcraft.

There’s also some compelling video game op-ed from Sabrina Young and Millionaire Hoy. Sabrina explains why older women are grooving with Rock Band, and Millionaire demonstrates that in the world of gaming, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

On Yahoo! Sports, our Contributors have been covering the NHL, the UFC and even high school football. Featured Sports Contributors Derek Jenkins lists some second draft picks in the NHL who went on to eclipse their predecessors, and UFC fighters who help bridge the gulf between the sport’s martial arts fan base and mainstream sports culture. Victor Medina profiles the star players of his local high school football team for Yahoo! Sport’s Rivals.com, a national site specializing in college and high school sports coverage.


We’re excited to see our talented Contributors connecting with Yahoo!’s massive global audience! Check our blog again tomorrow for a roundup of recent Associated Content contributions to Yahoo!'s news and lifestyle sites.

Associated Content Contributors Star on Yahoo! News, Finance and Lifestyle Sites

In the two weeks since we first showcased a roundup of articles by Associated Content Contributors on the Yahoo! family of sites, our Contributors have stood out on Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance and more. Check out these great pieces published recently!

Amazing Yahoo! cake by Sabah Karimi

Joseph Lizio, a Featured Business and Finance Contributor, schooled Yahoo! Finance readers on how to gauge the well-being of a small business during an economic downturn. Joseph's experience as founder of Business Money Today and in commercial lending helped him give some excellent tips to entrepreneurs.

On Yahoo! News, Kimberly Eddy touched readers with a first person story of an absent "economic recovery" In Detroit. Her husband's prolonged underemployment has meant budget cuts and difficulty with mortgage payments for Kimberly's family.

Carol Bengle Gilbert also published a poignant first person story about the recession on Yahoo! News, in which she discusses her husband's battle with cancer and her unsuccessful job hunt despite experience as a government attorney.

Also on Yahoo! News, Tommy Acosta sounds off about Arizona's strict new immigration law, SB 1070. As the editor of the Sedona Times, he's seen his neighbors and readers struggle with local impacts of this legislation.

On Shine, Jan Corn shared her frightening discovery of a Vitamin D deficiency that might put her at a heightened risk for Parkinson's Disease and other serious ailments. Jan explains her symptoms and what the doctor ordered in order to reverse the deficiency.

Meanwhile, back on Yahoo! News, Ted Rood is mad as heck and he's not going to take it anymore. As a loan officer with ten years of experience, he sees new lending regulations as an insult to his profession and his customers, as well as an added cost to homebuyers who can least afford it.

Anthony Ventre, on the other hand, fears not for a single profession but for the survival of the American middle class. Anthony's chopping wood and shopping at the dollar store to get by, and a drop in the value of his home made him feel burglarized as the economy crashed.

Audrey Sivasothy lightens the mood--and her hair--on Shine with expert advice on repair for sun-damaged hair. As a Featured Beauty Contributor and a future hair care author, she's got the scoop on how to look your best this summer.

If you're thinking of going back to school for training or a second degree, Meg Grant has some tips on important considerations, including your budget, the length of the program, and more.

Finally, Marie-Luise Blue is watching your back--literally--with a post chock full of exercises less likely to cause bone stress fractures. These painful injuries are common in women who prefer very physically demanding workouts.

We love what Contributors are doing to share their expertise and experiences with the world through Yahoo!'s network! If you've had a piece published on Yahoo!, share your experiences in a comment.

Inside the Yahoo! Style Guide

Associated Content Contributor Sabah Karimi recently had an opportunity to interview Chris Barr, Yahoo!'s Senior Editorial Director, about one of his big projects: The Yahoo! Style Guide.

This brand new book, dubbed "the ultimate sourcebook for writing, editing and creating content for the digital world," assembles the collective wisdom of more than 40 experts and influencers in the realm of online communication. It's great advice for AC Contributors, and we're looking forward to sharing it with the community in a variety of formats.

For now, you can check out Sabah's interview with Chris Barr on her blog, The AC Weekly, to learn about the origins of the Style Guide, and figure out the best starting points for diving into the material that's currently available online.

After you read the Q&A, check your AC Assignment Desk for a special opportunity to win 1 of 15 free copies of the exclusive hardbound print edition!

OMG!

Yahoo's omg! has been the #1 online destination for entertainment & celebrity news for two years running, and soon there will be opportunities for Associated Content's Arts & Entertainment writers to add their perspectives into the mix!

Check out managing editor Rebecca Detken's open letter to the AC community, to get a sense of omg!'s sassy style and a preview some creative collaborations that may be coming your way!

Contributors Featured Throughout the Yahoo! Network

Compelling personal stories and expert insights from some outstanding Associated Content Contributors are appearing across the Yahoo! network.

Pam Gaulin was published on Yahoo! News when she wrote a great first-person editorial about indecent language on television. Her smart and compelling piece drew lots of comments on both sides of the issue!

Mary Carol Herwood, Mike Spain, and Mary DeBerry were featured on Yahoo! Finance after sharing their personal stories about retirement with us. Their wisdom and experiences can help young people today plan for retirement in the future, while retirees can relate both to the challenges these Contributors experienced and to the rewards of saving and planning ahead.

Lifelong Cleveland sports fanatic Zac Wassink shared a personal account of perpetual heartbreak over the failures of his beloved teams with the readers of Yahoo! Sports. Wade Souza was also featured on Y! Sports, commenting on the 2010 NFL draft.

Paranormal enthusiast Tamara L. Waters recounts lessons learned by watching Ghost Hunters International on the Yahoo! TV Blog.

Meg G. suggests 10 things that you should do before the summer ends in her first contribution to "Manage Your Life" on Yahoo! Shine.

Finally, Rebecca LaPole got her spot on Yahoo! Music by writing a great summary of the history of Ace of Base and their reasons for coming out of retirement without the two most recognizable voices in the original group.

If you haven't had the opportunity to create content for Yahoo! yet, keep your eyes peeled on the Assignment Desk and make sure your profile showcases your passions, writing talent, education and expertise.

The Best of AC: June 2010

Every month, our Best of AC Awards honor some of the most accomplished Contributors in three distinct categories. Today, we're giving a shout out to the talented winners of June awards for Music, Summer Travel and Web Technology!

Best of AC: Music – Shamontiel
Freelance writer and novelist Shamontiel has been publishing impassioned, insightful Arts & Entertainment content on AC since 2005. Her library includes well over 100 A&E pieces, with more than 20 music articles written in June 2010 alone. June is "Black Music Month" in the US, and Shamontiel observed the occasion by profiling some of her favorite African American groups and musicians. Check out her Top 30!

Best of AC: Summer Travel – Sabah Karimi
Since 2006, Sabah Karimi has published close to 1,000 well-researched and detailed Travel guides on Associated Content, including more than 50 in June 2010 alone! If you're planning a Florida vacation, you'll definitely want to be sure and consult this Orlando resident's library to find out when to travel, where to stay, what to eat and how to get the most out of your vacation. This is Sabah's third AC Award; she previously won a 2008 Best of AC Award for Fashion and was named the 2008 Content Producer of the Year.

Best of AC: Web Tech – JC Torpey
Tech blogger and Web design student JC Torpey has been covering the technology industry from many angles since joining the Associated Content community in 2009. Her library is full of insightful reviews and buying guides, as well as commentary on the most important Web news of the day. Click here to read her recap of the Yahoo! sponsored Internet Week festivities in New York City.

Be sure to stop by the winners' profiles, check out some of their content and say Congrats!

The categories for the July Best of AC Awards are Health & Wellness, Local and Video Games. If you know of any Contributors who deserve to be considered for any of these awards - yourself included - head over to the Forum to log your nomination!

June 2010 Rising Stars

Our June 2010 Rising Stars are an impressive bunch! From vampire facts to flood damage help, readers can learn a lot from these Contributors. They may be new to Associated Content, but they're already standing out.

June's rising stars include Jennifer Sale, who focuses on humor and pop culture; Briana Blair, an artist who writes about everything from vampires to healthy food choices; Featured Sports Contributor Adam Spencer; Beauty Featured Contributor Whitney Laurence; and Ebie Harris, a Featured Contributor for our Parenting and Travel categories.

Please congratulate our June Rising Stars! It takes courage to jump into a new writing site and succeed. These five Contributors are doing a great job.

Don't forget--we reward five Rising Stars each month with a cash prize, nifty profile badge and infinite bragging rights. Nominate your favorites in the Contests and Nominations forum!

"Why I Like Associated Content" Facebook Contest Gives Us the Warm Fuzzies!

We recently hosted a contest on our Facebook page, celebrating the milestone of 3,000 Facebookers "liking" our page. Participants were asked to post a status beginning telling us why they "like" Associated Content in order to win one of three $15 open assignments, which of course will also earn unlimited Performance Pay.

The responses were touching, poignant and sometimes funny. Our three winners, Kyla Matton Osborne, Patricia B. Hill and Wendy Dawn stood out, but every entry made us smile. We like you all, too! Here are the winning reasons to like AC:

From Kyla Matton Osborne:

I like Associated Content because of all the warm, generous, talented people I have met, because it offers me the chance to work from home at something I love doing, and because it has challenged me to stretch myself and write about things I never would have thought to tackle in the past. Thanks AC!

From Patricia B. Hill:

I like Associated Content because it was the alpha to freelance writing for me. AC's platform design allowed me to get articles into the mainstream while building a portfolio of content; necessary when applying to other writing venues. Associated Content has been my connection to other writers, writing opportunities, extra income, and provides me with a peace of mind during tough economic times. Thank you AC!

From Wendy Dawn:

I like AC and it aint no lie - though other writers might deny - It's good for my mind and good for my brain -- Join us there if you got game!

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who participated!

Want to get in on the next contest? Make sure you like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Magnolia Miller's "MJ Story"

Today marks the first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and people around the world are celebrating the memory of the King of Pop, originator of the moonwalk and star of the Jackson Five.

TMZ, one of the Web's leading entertainment news sites, is covering the event from every angle, and one Associated Content Contributor, Magnolia Miller, got the top billing on a special TMZ sidebar called "MJ Stories."

Magnolia's piece recounts a summer day in 1971 when she met a young Michael Jackson in Shreveport, LA. As they spent the afternoon watching cartoons and having a pillow fight, Magnolia never dreamed that "little Michael" would grow up to become the world's most famous pop star.

Click here to read Magnolia's fascinating story, and her thoughts on MJ's legacy.