Thursday, July 24, 2008

Winning awards starts with publisher

Winning awards begins at the top. The magazine publisher needs to believe that quality pays, believe in hiring good people and believe in hiring enough of them, said Rick Bush, editorial director of Transmission & Distribution World, based in Overland Park, Kan., and published by Penton.

Mr. Bush gave a presentation "Taking the Awards Process to the Next Level" at the Western Region Azbee awards banquet held July 23 at the Plaza III Restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., and run by the Kansas City chapter of the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

A sufficient staff will allow a publisher to let an editor loose to tackle big issues and create award-winning copy, Mr. Bush said. He gave an example of how Transmission & Distribution World was able to report from New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina's effects.

He added editors may invest in the future of a publication by investing the time to learn about the industry the publication covers.

"Find out what your readers would find out by themselves if they only had the time," Mr. Bush said.

Planning for an awards competition may start a year before entries are sent out, or when magazine personnel are creating editorial calendars. Magazine editors and publishers should know which categories they excel in, he said. For example, Transmission & Distribution World normally does well with stories in such categories as case histories, editorials and individual profiles. However, the mgazine rarely enters stories in the categories of how-to articles, feature series and government coverage.

The editors of Transmission & Distribution World are selective when entering awards. "We save a lot of money by entering only what we're proud of," Mr. Bush said.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Western Region Azbee Finalists Announced; July 16 Last Day to RSVP for Awards Banquet

The names of the publications that are finalists in the Western Region competition of the Azbee Awards of Excellence have been published at www.asbpe.org. Categories and names of the winning articles, editors, and designers will not be revealed until the Kansas City awards banquet on Wednesday, July 23. If you plan to attend the banquet, you must RSVP by Wednesday, July 16. Details here.