Big thanks to editorial interns Owen Johns and Jean Hoffman for getting our biggest issue of the year off on the right foot, in particular by maintaining the integrity of our balloting process.
Our freelance writing staff worked like maniacs again this year, and we can't thank them enough for their creative dementia. They are: Harold Assman, Alan Birch, Rebecca Cook, Tom Danehy, Royce Davenport, Dan Davis, James DiGiovanna, Andrew Gardner, Kristin Giordano, Scotia Hicks, Jennifer Hard, Polly Higgins, Jean Hoffman, Eleanor Horner, Dan Hostetler, Dave Irwin, Owen Johns, Susan Knight, Laura May, Kate McAndrew, Todd McKay, Greg McNamee, Lori McNeill, Janet Miller, Angela McCormick-Owen, Brian Mock, Christina Palacio, Dan Parslow, Margaret Regan, James Reel, Michaela Steed, Mark Taylor, Tim Vanderpool, Christine Wald-Hopkins, Lisa Weeks, Jack Vaughn and Jeff Yanc.
Special thanks to Margaret, Angela and Christina for their help with this year's celebrity profiles.
On the graphics side, mad genius Geoffrey Grahn scratched out our fabulous cover and those delightful icons opening each section, while photographers Kristin Giordano, Dan Huff, Maniaverse Studios, Desirée Riós and Marshall Scott snapped (so to speak) to produce a wonderfully skewed perspective of our findings. Big thanks to graphic designer Mark Wyner and art director Héctor Acuña for tying it all together in the wee hours.
The production process for this issue could make any seasoned pro cry for a nice room with padded walls, but production chief Jan Mosier and her unflappable staff once again handled the insane task with nary a twitch. Hats off to Nicole Carlsson-Otero, George Huffman, Troy Martin, Matthew Pike and Kay Sather.
Congratulations and thanks to our display and classified account executives for their amazing effort, and to Matt Rendon and his fearless team of drivers for getting our biggest issue of the year into the right hands as quickly as humanly possible.
Thanks to the folks at Sunrise Silkscreen and Aristocrat Printing for making us look so good with those spectacular T-shirts and posters. And as always this time of year, we'd like to extend our unabashed gratitude to the businesses who support us with their advertising dollars and professional services with every issue. You've kept us going strong for more than 15 years, and we hope you're having as much fun with the investment as we are.
Rounding out this year's Best Of staff is Managing Editor Mari Wadsworth, who masterminded the editorial effort for the fourth year running...and as far as we know, she's still running, leaving editor-shaped holes in every wall between here and Mexico.
Shortly before her powers of speech failed, she wished to thank editorial partners-in-crime Jim Nintzel and Christina Palacio for their indispensable input and maddening attention to detail. To the rest of The Weekly team, too numerous to mention by name but essential to the success of this and every issue throughout the year, our sincerest thanks.
(And one apology to the unflappable Lori McNeill, whose powers of organization saved us in the dead of night...even though our unfortunate phonecall seemed to trigger her cat's relentless yowling mechanism. We hope she got to back asleep okay.)
