Babble launched in December 2006. Here's our original press release.
Here are some of our prestigious awards:
"Best Editorial Consumer Website, Silver Medal: Babble.com (Gold: TIME; Bronze: Newsweek)" — Folio Magazine's 2008 Eddie and Ozzie Awards, the top awards for editorial and design excellence in the largest competition for magazines.
"Taking on such controversial issues as parents' recreational drug use and the anti-vaccination lobby, Babble shows that every modern childrearing problem can be conquered with expertise, wit and love. The magazine skillfully combines in-depth reporting, thoughtful journalism, a dazzling variety of blog voices and visually arresting, interactive digital features. The result is a smart, hip and endlessly entertaining website that has revolutionized the parenting field." — The American Society of Magazine Editors, "Overall Excellence Online" nomination (opposite TheNewYorker.com and Slate.com), 2008 National Magazine Awards
"With its lively compendium of practical information, entertaining (and often controversial) commentary, and hilarious blogging, there's something here for everyone . . . The smart writing and thoughtful editorial direction make it appealing to truly grown-up mothers. — Plum magazine, which named Babble 2008's "Best Site to Get It All in One Place"
Here's some of what people have been saying about us in the press:
"Babble.com, the second online magazine from Nerve Media, launched December 12, 2006, with the desire 'to tell the truth about parenting, to bypass the clichés and dig into the magical and maddening reality,' according the site's mission statement. And really, is there any genre that needed a shake-up more than parenting? By combining great writing — complete with blunt, honest viewpoints and humor — with site design and technology, Babble is breaking new ground in the parenting magazine genre. So far, the site has been a runaway success." — "How to Pitch Babble.com," Mediabistro.com, October 24, 2008
"A few weeks ago, Ms. Rendell wrote an essay about Benny's first day of 'unkindergarten' — complete with an evocative description of that hot afternoon and the beer the parents enjoyed — for the hip online parents' magazine, Babble (babble.com). Its editor in chief, Ada Calhoun, published the piece under the magazine's personal essay rubric, the coyly named Bad Parent. (Past columns have included essays about fighting in front of one's children and, last week, a mother's embrace of fast food.) Despite the column's reputation and mandate as a forum for parents to discuss choices made outside the mainstream, Ms. Calhoun said, Ms. Rendell's essay drew howls of protest from readers, and broke the record, at nearly 200, for the number of its comments." — New York Times, October 16, 2008
"Babble is the hipster parents' own online magazine." — David Brooks, The New York Times
"It's good, really good. Finally, an exciting, intelligent daily publication and interactive community for urban parents. ... Take a look for yourself...it's a treat."
— Huffington Post
"The online Bible for hipster parents." — Details
"A is for Alternadad. B is for Babble.com. C is for Cookie
magazine." — Slate.com
"Babble . . . aspires to appeal to educated, culturally engaged urban hipsters who are knee-deep in baby gear and seeking not just advice but the humor in it all." — Pamela Paul, The New York Times Sunday Styles
"Service, all powerful in traditional parenthood offerings, will play only a partial role here. Humor is in." —The New York Post
"Babble is a really ambitious effort with much to offer. The site is easy to
navigate and nicely cross-linked." — Cookie
"Babble has become the go-to site for parents anxious for advice but intimidated by the sunny banality of traditional baby magazines. Its layout is crisp but unpretentious, its gray and burgundy design serene and grown-up in comparison to the screaming pastels of a Babies "R" Us." — Baltimore City Paper
"Babble offers readers brutally honest, funny, and irreverent takes on the joys and frustrations of being parents." — Brown Alumni Magazine
"Parents are certainly caregivers, but they are also adults, and Babble.com will address them as such." — Medialife
"10 great blogs every working mum should read: 1. Babble
It's great-looking and very arty, with articles about taking your kids to
Japan and plenty of unfeasibly well groomed columnists." — Times Online
"The site, which will be updated almost daily and feature interactive community-building features like video sharing and message boards, will attempt to cater to its prospective audience's sensibilities by mixing low-brow and high editorial content." — Marketing Vox
"Babble readers aren't 'vain or adolescent just because they have an iPod,' says editor in chief Ada Calhoun, 30. They want to hold onto the culturally rich life they had as childless adults, 'and they want to be good parents.'" — USA Today
"Whatever the issue, someone is probably discussing it somewhere on the site. And if not, anyone can start a new discussion." — Toronto Star
Heres's some of the praise we've gotten from bloggers:
"Babble.com hosts a myriad of attractions ranging from baby fashion to babbling baby blogs. If you are babbling to yourself over how to raise that new little creature you just brought home from the hospital – than you need not find yourself talking to the mirror any longer." — The Mag-a-Scene Critic
"My belief is that Babble will tap a need which is so far largely unserved
online. To the degree that Babble can work together and augment the
parent-blogosphere, the site will be tremendously successful." — Planting
Liberally
"As it turns out, Babble.com is as hip and
dad-friendly as they claim. You've gotta love a place that rounds up The
Zero Boss, MetroDad and, apparently, DaddyTypes. And let's face it, any publication that dares
to take on Maisy the Mouse is worth a second look." — Rebel Dad
"Brand spanking new to the scene is Babble, a site
devoted to being 'a revolution in parenting magazines: a publication that
talks to parents not just as caregivers, but as fun, smart, intellectually
curious people.' Well, hallelujah, I say."
— Pop Goes the Library
"I like the site's irreverant attitude towards the nuances of parenting.
There is a lot (I mean A LOT) of interesting content to read." — Self Made
Mom
"Babble.com, I have come to praise you: Wow! Babble.com doesn't suck.
When I first heard about this Web site for "the new urban parent," I figured
it was another example of a disturbing trend: Your baby/child is a fashion
accessory. "Cookie" magazine, events like Baby Disco and Ramones onesies
send the message that you've had a baby, but that doesn't mean you have to
stop being an annoying hipster jerk.
Babble had all the earmarks — New York City-centric, snarky tone, interns
sporting weird haircuts. It was also started by the people behind Nerve.com, the famous sex-focused Web site....OK, here I am a
few days since the launch and I'm hooked. Funny blogs, useful information
and an overall impression that everyone involved actually enjoys having
children." — Kid You Not
"According to editor-in-chief Ada Calhoun quoted in last Sunday's New York
Times, Babble intends to avoid the fear and didacticism she sees as endemic
to the parenting magazine category. Amen ... In a web overrun with
mommy-daddy drivel we'll see if this one makes it. I have a good feeling." — Parenting Solved
"Of course I am always looking for signs that our society is moving in the right direction, and at first blush, this looks like one of those signs." — Dad at Work
"Babble is the latest and greatest parenting site up and running" — The Collin Chronicles
"So for all you parents and soon to be parents or even people who think they might one day be parents, I urge you to read Babble and belly laugh like I did over the honesty of the writers and the absolute hysterics of having a baby." — VELVETDE
"Babble is as good as I'd hoped. It's intelligently written, insightful and frequently funny. And it's really content-heavy; there's a ton to read."— Marketing Mommy
"If you ask me, Babble is a breath of fresh air." — DC Baby
"I've been reading the Strollerderby feed with glee ever since it launched. Multi-author blog of Nerve's new parenting site, Babble
, it's got a fresh, gender-neutral take on the ups and downs of urban parenting. A lineup of fantastic writers keeps it comin'." — Parent Hacks
"It is hands down the coolest site I've come across in the last while." — Pirate Papa
"Babble has tons of links to entertaining blogs, cute baby stores, and good info, too — plus columns on everything from traveling with babies on band tours to breast feeding. This site makes me feel almost normal." — Whistling in the Dark
Press inquiries should be directed to Editor-in-Chief Ada Calhoun.
