The Stranger (newspaper)

The Stranger is an alternative biweekly newspaper in Seattle, Washington, U.S. The paper's principal competitor is The Seattle Weekly, owned by Sound Publishing, Inc. It has a progressive orientation.

History
The Stranger was founded in July 1991 by Tim Keck, who had previously co-founded the satirical newspaper The Onion, and cartoonist James Sturm. Its first issue was produced out of a home in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood and was released on September 23, 1991. The newspaper's title reflected the fact that Keck had almost no connection to Seattle prior to launching the paper. In 1993, The Stranger relocated to Seattle's Capitol Hill district, where its offices remained until 2020. The Stranger's tagline is "Seattle's Only Newspaper".

In its early days, The Stranger had a print run of 20,000, and focused on Seattle's University District. It was originally distributed as a single sheet of newsprint wrapped around a wad of coupons redeemable at local businesses.

Dan Savage was the Stranger editor-in-chief from April 4, 2001, to September 2007. Associated with the paper since its inception, he made a national reputation writing the paper's sarcastic and sometimes inflammatory sex advice column, "Savage Love", which has since appeared in every issue of The Stranger. Savage became the paper's editorial director in 2007, and was replaced as editor-in-chief by Christopher Frizzelle.

Erica C. Barnett, who was an early news editor for the paper, was named reporter of the year in 2007 by Seattle's Municipal League.

On April 16, 2012, The Stranger won a Pulitzer Prize. Eli Sanders was awarded a Pulitzer in the "feature writing" category for "The Bravest Woman in Seattle", described as "a haunting story of a woman who survived a brutal attack that took the life of her partner, using the woman's brave courtroom testimony and the details of the crime to construct a moving narrative." The feature appeared in the June 15, 2011, edition. In 2014, columnist Jen Graves was a Pulitzer finalist for her criticism columns.

Since at least 2013 The Stranger has been owned by the Seattle-based Index Newspapers; it has been described as distinguishing itself from the Weekly by its continuous local ownership. By 2015, the influence of the paper's endorsements in local elections, which reflect a left-leaning perspective was being felt.

The Stranger made the transition to a biweekly magazine-style format with its September 27, 2017, issue. The paper was distributed to local businesses, newsstands, and newspaper boxes free of charge every other Wednesday. The offices of The Stranger moved from Capitol Hill to Seattle's Chinatown–International District in 2020.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 13, 2020, The Stranger announced that, due to a dramatic decrease in income from loss of advertising revenue, it would suspend its print edition. COVID-19 triggered The Stranger to lay off eighteen of its employees, which reduced its writing department. A successful online fundraiser was then organized to keep The Stranger afloat. Printing resumed in March 2023 with a quarterly arts magazine, while regular editions remain suspended.

Awards programs
Since 2003, in association with the cigarette company Lucky Strike, and later the antismoking arts organization Art Patch, the newspaper has awarded the annual Stranger Genius Awards to four Seattle-area individuals and one Seattle-area arts organization. Besides the recognition, each winner receives a $5000 cash award and a cake. Winners of the award include the filmmaker James Longley, the filmmaker Lynn Shelton, the writer Sherman Alexie, the poet Heather McHugh, the actress Sarah Rudinoff, the experimental-theater collective Implied Violence, Strawberry Theatre Workshop, the artist Jeffry Mitchell, and the artist Wynne Greenwood. A party and rock show for the winners is held every fall; past Stranger Genius Award parties have been held at the downtown public library, Seattle Art Museum, and the Moore Theater.