Thanks for an Award-Winning 2023!
Y'all Weekly wins two awards for local journalism - and our sister publication Soccer Sheet covers a big announcement at Charlotte FC's headquarters
In 2023, Y’all Weekly turned 1 year old - and we continued our local Arts & Culture coverage.
Along the way, we won some awards. Thanks to all of you who voted for Y’all as the Best Web Blog in Charlotte! Queen City Nerve also selected us as their “Critics Pick” for Best New Newsletter, and what they wrote inspires us to have an even better 2024:
BEST NEW NEWSLETTER: Y’all Weekly
Launched by Queen City Nerve Charlotte FC reporter Sam Spencer alongside co-founder Jesse Boykin Kimmel, Y’all Weekly is a Substack newsletter that covers cultural stories from across the state, but mostly here in Queen City. While we usually try to avoid such conflicts of interest (people voted for Queen City Nerve a LOT in Readers Picks, we swear!), we kept Sam out of this decision and followed our own subjective opinions.
In fact, we could also argue that a new outlet offering up theatre reviews in a coverage area starved for such content might get our bristles up, but we think there’s room for more cultural coverage in Charlotte. No matter the topic, Y’all Weekly keeps y’all (us all?) entertained with its articles that feature a great mix of personality and journalistic flare rarely seen in local legacy media.
Full Disclosure: Y’all Weekly’s Sam Spencer is a freelance contributor to Queen City Nerve.
Thanks to all of our contributors this year - co-founder, arts reporter, and Soccer Sheet contributor, Jesse Boykin Kimmel; our stalwart pop culture critic Matt Cramer; Soccer Sheet contributor Yara Al Bayyari; our resident historian Michael Cooper; our culinary expert Sarah Sheldon; writers Calla Hales, Jennifer C. Martin, Patrice Wilson, Deja Mayfield, Amy Eagleburger, Adrian Singerman, and Scott Lazer; and the irreplaceable Rebekah Whilden. (Sincere apologies if I missed someone. -Sam)
Special thanks to you, dear reader, and all of our free and paid subscribers who help us pay some of our overhead expenses for this labor of love.
More after the break …
And Deano Was His Name-O …
In case you missed it, Soccer Sheet was on hand to cover the introduction of English soccer coach Dean Smith as the new head coach of Charlotte FC. It’s a pivotal moment for the soccer club as it enters its third year of competition, especially since new media has been filling the coverage gap for Charlotte’s third major league team.

Thanks to John Hayes from the Charlotte Soccer Show for a conversation that inspired part of this story:
For two years, traditional media outlets have treated the Charlotte Football Club as the stepchild of Carolina sports. The diverse, international soccer fan base isn’t their traditional audience. Charlotte FC doesn’t have the money of the Panthers, the success of the Hurricanes, or the international profile of the Hornets. They aren’t intertwined with the culture of the region like NASCAR or college hoops.
To make matters worse, the team drew match after match in 2023, and a string of ties isn’t a great story.
The fan and community interest in Charlotte FC has always outpaced the coverage the team gets - look no further than the rise of new outlets like Queen City Football Chronicle, Topbin90, the Charlotte Ledger, Queen City Nerve, Soccer Sheet, Charlotte Soccer Show, and many others to fill the void in coverage left by the traditional media.
However, the introduction of Dean Smith as Charlotte FC head coach on Monday, December 18 showed a new direction for both the club itself, and media interest in the sport.
If you don’t want to miss any of our local (and occasionally international) soccer coverage, make sure you’re subscribed to Soccer Sheet, where you’ll be hearing a lot about Dean Smith over the coming weeks.
New Years Resolution: Write For Y’all!
While this is far from our last newsletter of the year, we thought it was a good time to remind you that we take submissions on any topics about food, art, culture, and society in the South. If you’d like to see your work in Y’all, e-mail sam@yallweekly.com.
What’s New in Charlotte?
Charlotte City Council had a marathon zoning session last night (Queen City Nerve)
Speaking of City Council, it’s apparently the new place to get a “legal joint” in Charlotte (WFAE)
Gantt Center names Bonita Buford its next president and CEO (QCity Metro)
Sponsor a Newsletter
If you’re interested in being a banner sponsor of one or multiple Y’all Weekly newsletters, let’s chat! You can reach thousands of subscribers in Charlotte and the Carolinas for a much lower price than you think. E-mail sam@yallweekly.com for more details (and so we can force him to finalize his pitch deck).