O2 Award for All Together Now

Upbeat disability newspaper, All Together Now, has been Highly Commended in the Specialist Publication of the Year category at the prestigeous O2 Media Awards.

Tackling Inequality

All Together Now was launched in Liverpool in 2005 to tackle inequality and health related issues.  Since then the popular paper has grown in size and content and expanded its coverage to include Manchester and much of the North West.

Founder Tom Dowling became paralysed in 1974 whilst on a road trip with mates to Mount Everest.  While he and his friends slept in their old minibus at the side of an Iranian road, they were attacked and a rogue bullet struck Tom in the spine.

Changing Perceptions

Tom refused to let this hold him back and six months later he was back at his desk, thinking of ways that he could use his journalistic prowess to change people’s perception of disability.

After many years working for the Liverpool Echo, where his responsibilites as a journalist included local disability issues, Tom branched out on his own in 2004 and All Together Nowwas born.  The paper is free, with more than 115,000 copies distributed around the North West by way of the NHS, local authorities, community groups and supermarkets.

Lively Read

Although it’s aimed at people with disabilities, All Together Now has grown a reputation for its lively and upbeat coverage.

The O2 Awards judges praised the publication, saying: “All Together Now is the essential newspaper for anyone with a disability.  It actually doesn’t matter whether you have a disability or not, the stories are bright and interesting and cover a wide range of topics.”

Click All Together Now here to read some of their great stories from the North West.