It is the 10th anniversary of Oakville News, and we thought now is the perfect time for a makeover.
In the current world of pressure on local journalism, it is a source of pride to have survived this long. It is a result of the determination of Nolan Machan, the founder, and the contributions of a small group of dedicated Oakvilleans who have supported us.
We are still a long way from self-sufficient, but recently your subscriptions have begun to give us hope that our project can be sustainable in the long term.
This year is a very special one for us and we are going to mark it in two important ways:
1) A new logo
First, we are proud to share a new modern logo to reflect our existence as an online news source.
Originally, we wanted Oakville News to have the credibility of traditional print news, and we chose a font that reflected our commitment to reliable, fact-checked information.
Oakville News
Oakville News
The fact is, however, more and more people have stopped consuming print media and get their information online.
With feedback from our readers, we have settled on a new look: one that reflects both our respect for the written word as the primary way we chronicle our community’s events and concerns, and our confident commitment to sharing our messages digitally.
We also thought carefully about the colours. As proud Oakvilleans, we considered the blue and yellow of our town's official palette. We even considered green, as homage to the once proud but now departed standard bearer of the news in Oakville.
In the end though, we picked red. As we are committed to being an independent free press, while loyal to our community, we are independent of its government, criticizing or praising it as we judge appropriate.
So we needed to set ourselves apart from the town itself, and from the news media of the past, owned and operated outside Oakville. This new colour can be distinctly ours.
Proudly Oakville owned and operated, and independent, we are at the same time happy that the colour we chose, coincidentally, is the colour of Canada. In helping to build our own community, we hope we will contribute in some way to building a better Canada too.
Our mission is to help Oakville flourish. To do this, we will celebrate our community, and hold its leadership, whether government, business, arts and culture, sport or charity, up to the light of day. In doing so, we will seek balance and fairness in our reporting and in the opinions we publish.
Without a free press, democracy cannot thrive. Oakville needs local news, and local news needs subscribers. We hope you will join us on this journey.
2) The Year in Oakville 2023
The second way we intend to mark our ten years serving Oakville is to produce a special hard copy publication, The Year in Oakville 2023, chronicling the most interesting stories of this year from the many hundreds we have published.
A curated collection of what happened in Oakville in 2023, this will be a handsome archive to be treasured and shared. It will be a full colour 200 page publication beautifully bound as a memento of our town’s highs and lows on this 10th anniversary of Oakvillenews.org. There will be a limited number printed.
You can pre-order yours for $49.95 (and you can subtract $10 if you have an annual or 3-year subscription!) at sales@oakvillenews.org
These chronicles will be displayed with pride and retained by those who obtain one. Advertising in The Year in Oakville 2023 will have a longevity and value unusual in modern media. Advertising inquiries should be directed to Pierce.lang@oakvillenews.org.
We hope you are excited about our new logo and upcoming book as we are. Thank you to all of our dedicated readers for your continued support.
