CIO, HealthLeaders Get Top Honors as ASBPE’s Magazines of the Year

In feature article categories, award-winning stories tackle tough topics.

Magazines of the Year: L. Ann Movalson, editorial director of HealthLeaders and CIO editor-in-chief Abbie Lundberg pose with their award-winning magazines.

In what has become a very tough competition, CIO and HealthLeaders rose to the top of the ASBPE Magazine of the Year contest.

And for the first time, because of the number of high quality business magazines being published, ASBPE this year awarded honorable mentions in the category.

Judges said CIO, the winner in the 80,000+ circulation division, kept its readers “thoroughly engaged ... with useful and actionable information.” The twice-monthly CIO, part of CXO Media Inc. and based in Framingham, Mass., is designed for chief information officers and other senior executives.

With HealthLeaders, winners in the under 80,000 division, judges were impressed with “the solid interaction between the magazine and its audience.” HealthLeaders, in Nashville, Tenn., targets the healthcare industry.

The Magazine of the Year editors, along with winners in 36 other categories, accepted their awards before 150 attendees at the Society’s Awards Banquet in Chicago, June 20. The next morning, Editorial Conference attendees heard the magazines’ editors describe their reasons for success in the popular Magazine of the Year Case Study session.

The ASBPE awards program acknowledges the best work among business, professional, association, and trade magazines, and their associated Web sites. Magazine of the Year judging is based on:

1) quality of writing, reporting and editing;

2) value and usefulness to the reader;

3) editorial organization;

4) interaction with readers; and

5) layout and design.

See more about the Magazines of the Year, including cover images, staff listings, and judges’ comments.

Tough Topics Addressed

Overdrive magazine received a Gold award for best feature and an honorable mention as Magazine of the Year.

In 2001, Overdrive magazine published a sensitive examination of the clinical depression that plagues many truck drivers. That same year, Bloomberg Wealth Manager ran a probing story about the difficulties of providing investment advice to retired doctors. This year, both stories won honors as top feature articles of 2001.

“Driven to Despair,” a November Overdrive cover story by Jill Dunn, captured the Gold ASBPE award among magazines with a circulation of more than 80,000 readers. The story cited a survey by the magazine showing that three of 10 truckers believe depression interferes with their work or personal lives. That compares with 9.5% of the general public. In addition to tracing why trucking’s work style may lead to a high level of depression, the article offered many helpful treatment scenarios for readers. Overdrive, a publication for truckers, is based in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

In “When Retirement Needs a Cure,” New York-based Bloomberg Wealth Manager offered its investment-advisor readers a point-by-point guide to meeting the psychological as well as financial needs among the huge numbers of physicians who are retiring early these days—often because of their dissatisfaction with managed care. Many aren’t prepared for their change of lifestyle. The article, the Gold award-winner for magazines with a circulation of 80,000 or fewer readers, ran in Bloomberg Wealth Manager’s April 2001 issue.

Other publications honored with Gold awards for their articles included Builder, Computer Graphics World, Informationweek, Lubes ‘N’ Greases, CFO, Sales & Marketing Management, PC World, Institutional Investor, and Auto Interiors.

See a full list of the Editorial award winners.

Rauch Recognized for Lifetime Achievement

ASBPE’s Robin Sherman presents the Lifetime Achievement Award to editorial consultant Howard Rauch.

ASBPE bestowed its Lifetime Achievement Award on Howard Rauch, president of the business-to-business consultancy Editorial Solutions and former vice president and editorial director of Gralla Publications.

Rauch is known as a champion of quantitative analysis for editorial performance. He wrote what has been called the first definitive position paper on performance-evaluation standards. He’s also been a strong supporter of training programs and an advocate for corporate editorial-director positions. His consultancy is devoted to the goal of helping editors do their work more effectively.

Rauch’s clients have included Bobit Publishing; Joe Hanson, founder of Folio: magazine; Jim Prevor, publisher of Produce Business; and Shore Varrone (now part of VNU Business Publications USA).

“In 1990, I did my first workshop for the Bobit editorial team; that relationship has continued until now,” Rauch says. “[The Bobit relationship is] my best example of success: longevity!” He believes his backing of editorial quality and integrity have been key. “If you’re a consultant who works enthusiastically to help clients reach a higher editorial level, but speak up for editorial rights in the process, you earn the privilege to stay on the team,” he notes.

Howard Rauch is only the third person to receive The Lifetime Achievement Award. It was established in 2000, with Bernie Knill of Penton Media’s Material Handling Engineering magazine as its first recipient. Last year the award went to Vernon Henry, corporate editorial director for Advanstar.

Rauch accepted his award and spoke at ASBPE’s national Awards of Excellence Banquet on the evening of June 20 at the Mid-America Club in downtown Chicago. The awards banquet was held in conjunction with ASBPE’s national Business Publication Editorial Conference.

Candidates for the Lifetime Achievement award must have at least 20 years of experience on business publications. They must have demonstrated commitment to editorial excellence, to the business press, and to the industries their publications serve.

Read about Rauch’s accomplishments—including what those who have worked with him have to say.

Read Rauch’s acceptance speech, in which he outlines the major challenges facing editors today.