Courant.com Pets Site Wins Digital Edge Award, Prompts Expansion to Markets Nationwide

CHICAGO, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Interactive (TI), a subsidiary of Tribune Company , today announced that the 2007 Digital Edge "Edgie" Award for Best Classified Innovation was awarded to Courant.com. The Edgies, sponsored by the Newspaper Association of America, have honored the newspaper industry's most innovative and outstanding online achievements since 1996.

Courant.com, the website of The Hartford Courant and part of the TI network, received the award for its Pets classified site, which was launched in 2005. Courant.com/Pets offers listings of pets for sale or adoption, plus extensive online resources for consumers that own or plan to own a pet. Courant.com/Pets includes information about veterinary services and shelters, pet columns and advice, visitor message boards, pet news and other items of interest to animal lovers.

The Digital Edge Awards recognize creative, engaging work in multimedia journalism. Founded in 1996 by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), the awards are presented each year by The New Media Federation during a ceremony held at the annual NAA Connections conference.

"Consumer response to Courant.com/Pets has been extremely positive, and we are honored to have that success recognized by the NAA Digital Edge Award," said Chris Morrill, vice president of interactive and New Mass Media for The Hartford Courant.

Courant.com/Pets was designed and launched by Courant.com after a very successful online pet photo contest. The site initially featured a pet listing and search engine developed by Legacy.com, a leading provider of online lifestyle and community services. The success of this venture prompted TI and Legacy.com to develop and launch Gadzoo, a comprehensive pet portal currently available on Courant.com and through nine other Tribune Interactive news and information websites.

"TI is dedicated to quality and innovation in our efforts to serve consumers and advertisers," said Tim Landon, president of Tribune Interactive. "The achievements of our team at Courant.com and our partners at Legacy.com are great examples of that commitment in action."

For more information about Tribune Interactive, visit http://www.tribuneinteractive.com/ .

About Tribune Interactive

Tribune Interactive, a subsidiary of Tribune Company, manages the interactive operations of major daily newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday and their associated websites. National network sites owned with partners include CareerBuilder.com, Cars.com, Apartments.com, ShopLocal.com and Topix.net. With more than 50 websites overall, Tribune Interactive ranks among the nation's leading news and information networks. The sites attract more than 14 million unique visitors per month.