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New Year, New Covers: A fresh batch of January front pages for 2018

The decorations are packed away, resolutions have been made (and already broken!), and the dieting has begun. This can only mean one thing – a new year is upon us! And with 2018 already one month old, we’ve got a fresh batch of street paper covers that have welcomed January with open arms.

It’s a tough time of year for vendors, with poor weather and slow sales, so it’s now more than ever that bold, striking covers are needed to catch the eyes of passers-by.

With #VendorWeek just around the corner, don’t forget to look out for special #VendorWeek editions and events in your area, to celebrate the 9,000 vendors out there selling at any one time, in 34 countries.

Cover Highlights:

With winter weather creating additional hardships for our vendors, street papers covers have reflected on the cold temperatures and the problems they bring. Asphalt interviewed a forensic pathologist about death by cold, and why 27 degrees Celsius is the “point of no return”. StreetWise addressed the question “What do you do when you run into a homeless person out in the cold?”, and their vendors gave first-hand accounts of being homeless in Chicago winters. And Megaphone looked at the troubling dilemma faced by homeless campers: choosing between unsafe open flames to keep warm, or freezing to death.

Animal antics have been a running theme to kick off the year too – with birds, cats and bears being amongst the critters to migrate onto street paper covers. Straatnieuws‘ cover story was about our winged friends and their need for shelter too. The Big Issue Korea‘s first edition of 2018 was dedicated to all things feline. And Paddington Bear is on the move again, this time making it to the cover of The Big Issue Japan.

And, as ever, it’s not just photography that’s gracing street paper covers – some cracking illustrations and graphic design has found their way to the front page too. Shedia impressed with a Hansel and Gretel-inspired cover, looking at society’s addiction with social media. Big Issue North dissected the human body and how it relates to our sense of self, with a fun cover inspired by the classic board game Operation. And Lice v Lice‘s January edition was focused on “the media of the future”, which an out of this world cover!

We’ve also recently welcomed our latest street paper to the network, the Italian-based zebra., whose cover for this month is a very sweet affair!

Look back on our covers series here, and keep an eye out for the next round-up of covers coming at the end of February.