Have you stopped publication of the newspaper? Why?

Yes. We announced on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 that Crinkling News could not continue without significant outside investment or support. We have stretched every cent of our modest personal savings and those donated through a crowdfunding campaign as far as humanly possible. We have rigorously pursued every new opportunity to diversify. But we need to be a much bigger organisation now to pursue and build on all the additional work, community services, and opportunities that opened up in 2017. We do not believe there is anyone who could have achieved more with the funds available or made them stretch any further in this market and environment and maintain the high standards for which Crinkling News is known.

What does this mean for my subscription?

You will no longer receive your weekly copy of the newspaper. Subscribers are eligible for a refund on the remainder of their subscription from the time of the announcement. We will be in contact with subscribers via email in coming days as to how you can claim your refund. We will work as fast as possible to process these, but we would ask for your patience.

Where can I get more information about how this happened and what happens next?

The Crinkling News founders’ full statement can be found here. If you have any specific queries around your subscription not answered in these FAQs, please email subscribe@crinklingnews.com.au

Why is Crinkling News ceasing publication after a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2017?

We are incredibly grateful to all the children and adults who helped raise money to keep Crinkling News in print through the crowdfunding campaign. We have operated with integrity from the beginning and produced a weekly newspaper to the highest standards because we took our readers seriously and believed they deserved the best.

The crowdfunding campaign raised $212,303. Of that we had to pay $19,477 to the crowdfunding platform and the payment processing system used.

Of the $192,826 remaining, $53,133.15 went to servicing new subscriptions to the newspaper and perks that people claimed as part of their crowdfunding contribution.

So $139,692.85 was left as new funds to invest in the continuation and growth of Crinkling News.

With that remaining money we were able to produce an additional eight months of quality journalism for children – paying professional journalists, photographers and cartoonists across the nation to produce Crinkling News week in, week out. In that time we hosted 10 junior assistant editors, gave dozens of children the opportunity to be reporters and gave hundreds of young people a voice in the national conversation.

And, as promised, it enabled us to bring business development expertise into the team to pursue new revenue streams to take us to sustainability. As a result, we were able to host Australia’s inaugural media literacy conference for kids, bringing children from around the country together with experts to develop a national media literacy action plan. We were also able to embark on the first national research into the news literacy levels and news consumption patterns of young people.

Finally, we were able to employ a small part-time administration team to free up some time for the founders to develop workshops, new partnerships and new opportunities with the weekly newspaper they managed at the core.

That $139,692.85, supplemented by countless hours of unpaid work, went a long way and we are incredibly proud of what we achieved with it. The funds were not raised in vain.

We are sorry it did not stretch further. We remain a very small team. In order to grow our readership base, produce the weekly newspaper to the standard our readers deserve, and pursue and grow all the new opportunities we have identified since the crowdfunding campaign, we need to be a much larger team with significantly more resources.

Knowing how much our readers value Crinkling News and all the work it has done to improve news and media literacy and give young people a meaningful voice, we hope a larger organisation with deeper pockets decides to build on all of our achievements.

How do I get in touch with a proposal for Crinkling News or with a media query?

Please email the co-founders editor@crinklingnews.com.au