Not only did L.A. Times circulation take another hit today — down more than four percent — but Editor & Publisher named N. Christian Anderson III of the Orange County Register its Publisher of the Year. That even though the Register's circulation slipped 5% daily and 7% Sunday.

The Register under Anderson's leadership is "pointing a path for newspaper revitalization" in an extraordinarily challenging time for the industry.

The E&P honor also recognizes Anderson’s crucial role in shaping the very identity of Orange County: “It's no exaggeration to say that an amorphous area known for Disneyland, orange groves, and pretty much nothing else, became 'The O.C.' in large part because of the work of Chris Anderson and the Register he began transforming as a 30-year-old editor just arrived from Walla Walla, Washington.”

Via Romenesko.