Welcome to a special 5th anniversary birthday issue of The Cud!

Although hard to believe, this month it has already been five years since we first launched The Cud back in November of 2004 at the Hotel Hollywood in Sydney's Surry Hills. At the time, along with co-founder Oliver Pennington, it was our goal to produce a monthly online magazine that could consistently offer 'free-form articles and opinion pieces on subjects from across the spectrum' and engage our readers with the challenge to 'Entertain A New Perspective: Chew The Cud.'

That goal certainly hasn't always been easy.

At various times in our short history -particularly during the first year online- we struggled to maintain a consistent visitor base, saw contributors come and go, and had to take measures to make the site far more cost-effective. And yet, while the large majority of most online endeavors fail within their first twelve months, thanks to a great deal of determination, persistence and goodwill we're here after half a decade very much alive and well- it's an achievement that we're really proud of.

Today The Cud enjoys a steady readership based primarily in Australia and the United States, and yet we regularly receive mail from throughout the globe, and have featured writers based anywhere from Harare to London, Seoul to Bogotá, and New York to Kabul. Indeed, we would be remiss if we failed to mention the great debt we owe to the many generous contributors who have so tirelessly given up their time and their words for our site. Each month we are blown away by the outstanding quality and variety of their work and it is this, above all, that has kept you, our readers, coming back time and time again.

Recently readers had the chance to vote for their favorite articles of the past twelve months. As we've done every November since our inception, this issue is dedicated to recapping some of those highlights.

We're also happy to announce that Tim Wilkinson is the winner of our $100 Amazon gift certificate competition. Tim voted for the March 2009 Ezy Reading article 'La Boca'.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make The Cud happen over the last five years- we really can't do this without you, and hope to continue as we have for another five years and, with luck, beyond...

Evan Kanarakis
Editor, The Cud