Actors have the Oscars, musicians the Grammys and in the business press, the most coveted award for editorial excellence is the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award. I’m pleased to announce that Commercial Carrier Journal was the winner in the “Best Subject-Related Series of Articles” at the 50th annual Neal Awards held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on March 18, 2004. Editors from business publications judge the entries and choose the winners. Peer recognition – like the Oscars and the Grammys – is sweet, although it doesn’t match the recognition we get from our readers.
The winning six-part series, “The Cost of Risk” explores one of the most pressing concerns of the trucking industry – high insurance costs and the resulting challenge for risk management. Editorial Director Avery Vise, Art Director Tony Breland and the editorial team developed a package of in-depth information about controlling insurance costs and protecting against multi-million-dollar lawsuits.
The series explores conventional insurance programs that exchange heavy premiums for limited exposure and captive programs that offer a better return on investment but with higher risk. Other topics include hiring and training practices and handling catastrophic accidents.
Vise, known industry wide for his meticulous research and ability to put complex information into easily understandable prose, tackled the series with the intent to shine light on a complex subject. Feedback from the series was buzzing long before the Neal announcement.
The series on risk management, like all of our editorial content, resulted from listening to your concerns. Our mission, to provide the best, most accurate and up-to-date information about the trucking industry, means we are constantly working as a team to achieve this goal. It’s in everyone’s best interest that your trucking company is profitable, and it’s our goal to give the information you require to make the best management, purchasing and recruiting decisions possible. Please continue to call or e-mail your concerns and insight into the industry’s most pressing issues.
It makes my day when a CCJ reader e-mails me to say that he has tried something he read about in the magazine and it made his operation more profitable or cost efficient. That’s the true measure of success. The Neal award means editors from other business publications think so too. Congratulations to the staff of CCJ and to the readers who keep us on our toes.
