In honour of our People's Lovie Award, here are some of our favourite pieces from the last year
Tonight, we're pleased as punch to be collecting the People's Lovie Award for Best Writing at the annual Lovie Awards, which recognises the top bloggers, networks and content publishers in Europe. That's down to our readers (i.e. you guys) supporting our work and voting for us in the competition, and of course, we couldn't have done it without the writers and editors that make our site tick.
To celebrate our award for best writing, our editors have chosen some of their favourite articles over the past year:
SILK ROAD HAS BEEN BUSTED BY THE FBI
Tim Noakes, editor: When the FBI busted Ross Ulbricht and shut down the Silk Road, no other site or writer reacted as quickly with such detail, insight, and balanced reporting as Zing Tsjeng did for Dazed Digital. Factually on point, easy to digest and written with knowledge and wit, it's my favourite news piece we've published this year. Read here
PUSSY RIOT INTERVIEWED IN PRISON
Charlie Robin Jones, digital commissioning editor: One of my clearest memories of year was squeezing into a tiny editing suite to watch Pussy Riot's Maria Alyokhina halfway through her sentence. She spoke quietly and defiantly in a language that we couldn't begin to understand through a Skype variant blessed by Putin's prison system. We watched our translator ask questions, hiding from the webcam lest the authorities cotton on that we were recording the conversation, unaware that she was weeks from embarking on a hunger strike. We filed out of the tiny room with an outstanding article. She left her tiny room to carry out the rest of her sentence. Read here
CHANCE THE RAPPER'S ACID REIGN
Owen Myers, music editor: As Chance The Rapper's "Cocoa Butter Kisses" was becoming a BBQ jam of the summer, Phoebe Lovatt's cover story on the Chicago rapper was a hilarious all-access look at a major new talent on the brink. In between acid flashbacks, running into The Game at Venice Beach and dipping in Childish Gambino's infinity pool in a tie-dye bikini, Phoebe's subtly incisive piece was really about a new dissenting voice in pop culture, which is what Dazed is all about. Read here
JEAN PAUL GAULTIER: OOH LA LA!
Zing Tsjeng, digital news editor: Kate Lawson interviewed Jean Paul Gaultier, one of fashion's most notorious enfant terribles. It's a revealing look into his aesthetic and personal philosophy, and hilarious to boot. My favourite part is probably his description of what Madonna and him talk about when they get together: "Gossip yes! Bitchy things, yes! And sexy things, yes!" Read here
Carmen Gray, film editor: Hannah Lack's interview with Bronx-born filmmaker and photographer Jerry Schatzberg to mark his film Scarecrow's re-release was just great to read. Despite shooting some of the great cinema of '70s New Hollywood - from The Panic in Needle Park with Al Pacino as a junkie and small-time hustler to Puzzle of a Downfall Child starring Faye Dunaway as an unravelling fashion model - this colourful anecdote-teller is lesser-known today. I love that the site's committed to flagging up not only the newest work but also to that rare hidden gold that will always inspire. Read here
Francesca Gavin, visual arts editor: Raquel Meyers was a total new discovery for me - and i love how the internet still can surprise! Apart from Stephen Fortune's always spot on writing and questions, it was a perfect place to discover a girl using technology in a really fresh and addictive way. Read here