Valley Sentinel editors and owners Nicole Aimone and Taylor Scott were awarded Shackelford Shines awards by the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit Tiffany Shackelford Foundation. These awards came with stipends which allowed Aimone and Scott to attend the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Publishers (AAN) convention in Madison, Wisconsin in July 2025, which was hosted by The Isthmus. Valley Sentinel was accepted as a member of AAN in early 2025.
“The Tiffany Shackelford Foundation is helping a new generation of journalists make connections and seize opportunities through Shackelford Shines awards,” said Barb Rosewicz, vice president of the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation. “I know that Tiffany would be full of ideas for how to meet the journalism challenges of the day. The foundation is devoted to giving a boost to those with the same can-do spirit.”
Following the AAN convention, Valley Sentinel took a temporary publication pause to figure out how to implement and build out many of the things learned at the AAN convention.
Aimone and Scott were interviewed by Rosewicz in October about the experience. Read the full interviews below.
Taylor Scott, Managing Editor
Q: What event or training did you attend? And what moment or insight will stay with you and why?
I was honored to have been granted and able to utilize the Shackelford Shines Award to attend the 2025 Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) annual convention in Madison, Wisconsin. For a small, all-volunteer publication like ours, serving a rural community, the opportunity to engage with the national conversation on the future of independent media was not just beneficial; it was transformative. My fellow editor and I divided our time to absorb as much as possible from the wealth of panels, trainings, and discussions. While the entire convention was invaluable, two specific sessions provided profound insights that have already begun to reshape our work at its core.
The first pivotal moment was the conversation with Katie Drummond, the Global Editorial Director of WIRED, hosted by Isthmus Publisher Jason Joyce. I grew up admiring WIRED‘s prescient coverage of the burgeoning tech world. In an era where many national publications are contracting or shying away from complex challenges, Drummond provided an in-depth view of how WIRED has instead expanded its mandate. Her perspective is that technology is no longer a niche beat but an omnipresent force shaping every aspect of our lives—from culture and the economy to the very foundations of our democracy. Drummond articulated a vision where tech leaders are treated not just as innovators but as powerful political actors. She described a media landscape where governments are struggling to keep pace with technological change, creating a dangerous vacuum that can be exploited by non-benevolent actors.
This session was a powerful affirmation of our own watchdog mission. It crystallized the idea that our local work—investigating open meetings violations by a village board or critiquing the closure of state-level university extensions—is a direct microcosm of what WIRED is doing on a global scale. We are both working to hold power accountable where governance and societal forces intersect and often collide. It was a profound realization that our hyperlocal efforts are not merely provincial; they are a vital front line in the same fundamental battle for democratic health that national publications are fighting. This reinvigorated our perspective, cementing the understanding that rigorous watchdog journalism is not separate from community journalism—it is one of its most essential forms.
The second moment that will have a lasting impact came from the session “Beyond the Byline: Community Events as Powerful Engagement Tools,” led by Jake Hylton from LOOKOUT. LOOKOUT is a newer, LGBTQ+-focused news organization that has achieved remarkable growth by placing community events at the very center of its strategy. Hylton detailed how his newsroom leverages events not simply as fundraising opportunities but as primary instruments for deepening audience engagement, building trust, and fostering genuine civic connection. LOOKOUT’s model is particularly relevant to us; they serve an underrepresented community and have scaled massively by focusing on politics and civic issues while simultaneously hosting cultural and educational events that create a tangible sense of community.
For Valley Sentinel, a small, entirely volunteer-run outfit, community engagement events had always felt like a luxury—something to pursue “when we have time,” which, in practice, meant never. Hylton’s presentation provided a paradigm shift. He demonstrated a proven model where events are not an afterthought but a primary engine for audience development and journalistic impact. The strategy was less, “if you write it, they will come,” and much more, “we are coming out to you.” For a publication like ours, serving a rural area that is a growing news desert and home to a community that can feel overlooked, the act of physically showing up is a powerful statement of commitment. Hylton’s session provided us with a tangible, proven roadmap for how to evolve from being solely a provider of news to becoming a convener of the community—a far more sustainable and impactful role in the long term.
Q: What did you learn that shifted your perspective or will shape your work in a lasting way?
The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) annual convention did not change our core mission, but it fundamentally transformed our perspective on how to achieve it. Founded in October 2020, Valley Sentinel remains a fiercely independent, editor-owned, and majority woman-owned publication built on the radical belief that access to local news should never depend on one’s wallet. We are unapologetically local, all-volunteer, and committed to serving as a trusted voice in a rural region that has seen other news sources disappear. Our editorial voice continues to investigate open meetings violations, critique state-level policies, and lend our platform to grassroots initiatives.
What the AAN convention did was force us to ask a critical question: “Are our methods serving our mission as effectively as they could be?” The answer led to the most significant strategic pivot in our publication’s history.
The most immediate and lasting shift was a move from a product-centric to an audience-centric operational model. The sessions on digital strategy and community building cast a harsh light on a major internal failure: we had an opt-in audience of over 500 email subscribers—individuals who had explicitly asked to hear from us—whom we were failing to engage in any meaningful way. This list was a dormant asset, a direct line to our most dedicated readers that we were undervaluing and ignoring. The conference provided clear models, like that of LOOKOUT, which are deeply engaged with their audience online and in person, demonstrating that the relationship with the community, not just the print product, is the most valuable asset a news organization possesses.
This realization prompted a difficult but necessary decision. As an all-volunteer organization, our most precious and non-renewable resource is time. We recognized that continuing with the status quo—directing all our efforts toward a biweekly print schedule while neglecting our digital community—was a strategic dead end. Therefore, we have taken the deliberate step of temporarily pausing our print edition to reallocate our entire team’s focus toward building a robust digital infrastructure. This is not a retreat from our mission but a disciplined application of the conference learnings. We are investing our volunteer hours in building a digital framework—a dynamic website, a consistent and engaging newsletter, and other offerings—to finally nurture the relationship with the 500+ community members who already raised their hands to support us. This strategic pivot, directly attributable to the insights gained through the stipend, will yield a far higher long-term return on our efforts.
This transformation is not about abandoning print but about redefining its role within a new, integrated strategy. We will always be a newspaper. The print product, available for free on newsstands throughout our rural valley, remains the most effective marketing tool we have. It beckons a call to intentional, focused reading that is severely lacking in our society and serves as a tangible symbol of our commitment to the community. However, moving forward, the print edition will function as a powerful “top-of-funnel” instrument for discovery and brand presence. The newly built digital infrastructure will become the primary engine for daily engagement, community dialogue, long-term relationship building, and delivering the timely, in-depth journalism our community deserves. This new hybrid model, a direct outcome of the convention, allows us to engage our audience where they are and build a more resilient and impactful organization for the future.
Q: How did the Shackelford Shines Stipend open a door for you–personally or professionally?
To be direct, the Shackelford Shines Stipend was the sole reason we were able to attend the AAN convention. It did not just help; it made our attendance possible. For our publication, the grant was the key that unlocked a door that would have otherwise remained firmly closed.
This reality is made all the more poignant by the fact that the convention was held in Madison, just a half-hour drive from our base in Spring Green. The opportunity for world-class professional development was physically within our reach but remained financially inaccessible. We are a publication started in the middle of the pandemic in 2020 by two journalists in their 20s who were disillusioned by the corporate newsrooms we came from. We launched Valley Sentinel with less than $5,000, no investors, and an immeasurable amount of sweat equity. We are an all-volunteer organization; every dollar we earn from advertising goes directly back into covering our printing costs. We simply do not have a budget for professional development. The stipend, therefore, did not fund an extravagant trip to a distant city; it bridged a small but, for us, insurmountable financial gap that allowed us to access a transformative opportunity in our own backyard.
This access was critical because of who we are. Valley Sentinel is objectively AAN’s smallest member outlet, serving its smallest market, likely with the smallest budget. We are the only independent, editor-owned news source in a unique artistic, rural area that has been steadily losing news sources. We joined AAN just this past year, seeking connection and resources. Despite our size, we have been recognized for our quality, winning “Best in Division” from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association in our first year of eligibility. Being at the AAN convention allowed us to connect with peers, mentors, and leaders who are grappling with the same challenges we are, but on a different scale. The personal and professional connections we made are invaluable and would have been impossible without the foundation’s support.
Ultimately, the Shackelford Shines Stipend was more than a grant; it was an investment in a model for the future of rural journalism. The crisis in local news is a systemic national problem, and it is felt most acutely in rural communities like ours. By supporting a scrappy, independent, all-volunteer, majority woman-owned paper in a news desert, the foundation has funded a real-world experiment. The strategic knowledge we gained at the AAN convention is now being put into practice, transforming our operations and enhancing our sustainability. If we can successfully leverage this elite industry knowledge to build a resilient model for community-centered news, our success can serve as a case study and a source of inspiration for other rural communities facing the same information crisis.
The return on this investment, therefore, extends far beyond our single publication. It contributes to the development of a potential solution to a national challenge. The door the stipend opened was not just to a hotel conference center in Madison. It was a door to a more sustainable, impactful, and connected future for Valley Sentinel and the community we are so proud to serve.
Thank you for this profound opportunity.
Read the abbreviated interview on the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation site here.
Nicole Aimone, Editor-in-Chief
Q: What event or training did you attend? And what moment or insight will stay with you and why?
I attended all three days of the 2025 AAN event, including a variety of events on each track for editorial or advertising. The events that stuck out the most for me were the vendor showcase, which allowed me to learn about programs and options to grow or change our processes to make them more efficient and effective, as well as those on building community events as part of your editorial process. That is something we have wanted to do for a very long time, and it gave us support and ideas and was incredibly inspiring.
Q: What did you learn that shifted your perspective or will shape your work in a lasting way?
Many of the connections I made were invaluable to learning new information about other publications and how they do things. This conference even inspired our staff to take a break from how we currently do things to innovate and implement objectives and methods we learned to add further value to our publication. It was also just incredibly inspiring to connect with other alternative publications and know that others are out there passionately fighting the good fight for non-mainstream journalism and that there is a community of like-minded individuals.
Q: How did the Shackelford Shines Stipend open a door for you–personally or professionally?
Yes, absolutely! The AAN conference was one of the most impactful and informative professional development experiences I’ve had. I likely would not have had the funds to attend had it not been for this stipend.
Read the interview on the Tiffany Shackelford Foundation site here.
