Nebraska Life Magazine 10th Anniversary
It’s a fact: Most magazines, like most other businesses, die young. When Tom Collignon founded Nebraska Life Magazine, there was no guarantee it would survive its first year, let alone its first decade. But Tom believed that Nebraskans wanted a magazine about life in their state – even if they didn’t yet know that they wanted it, and though he was so inexperienced as a publisher that he didn’t even own a computer or typewriter.
In hindsight, Tom’s plan may
sound about as naïve as that of some greenhorn 19th century Nebraska homesteader
who believed that “rain follows the plow.”
Except that in this case, figuratively speaking, rain did follow the plow. Tom
was right. Nebraskans do indeed want this kind of magazine. His initial 750
subscribers have grown to more than 20,000 today, and the magazine itself has
grown from a 48-page, mostly black-and-white quarterly into the publication
you are holding in your hands.
In the anniversary spirit, the following
pages feature favorite stories and photos from each of our first 10 years, along
with anecdotes from Tom, from former publisher Bernie Hunhoff, and from managing
editor David Bristow.
Thanks for proving one pioneering Nebraskan right.
(The complete story appears in the January/February 2007 issue of Nebraska Life Magazine.)