Affordable Housing Finance: Awards

This is very big news around the office and throughout B2B Publishing. The Jesse Neal Award has often been referred to as “the Pulitzer Prize of business media.” Winning one award for any publication is an outstanding achievement. Affordable Housing Finance won 2 of these awards and was nominated as a finalist for the Grand Neal Award.

Congrats to Andre and his editorial team on this extremely prestigious recognition.

I think this news is particularly important for anyone who does business in affordable housing. It speaks to the commitment that is made to both readers and advertisers of Affordable Housing Finance. Those who have invested in the success of the brand over the years share in this tribute in more ways than one. Jesse himself said it best:

"I believe that the deepest satisfaction that a business editor can enjoy is realizing his success can and does affect an entire trade or industry." –Jesse H. Neal, 1955

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - March 25, 2008) - Hanley Wood's AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE magazine, the leading publication serving the affordable housing industry, won top honors at last week's 54th Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Honored for its article, "The Trouble with HUD and How to Fix It," AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE was named a winner for the Best Subject Related Series of Articles category and a finalist for the Grand Neal Award. Additionally, AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE magazine won an award for Best Single Issue of a Magazine.

The Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards are sponsored by American Business Media, the national organization representing business to business media.

"We are extremely honored to be recognized by American Business Media. These prestigious awards are a testament to our talented staff, our honest and groundbreaking reporting style, and our commitment to improving affordable housing," said Editor-in-Chief, Andre Shashaty. "This recognition helps publicize certain practices that demand public scrutiny and furthers our industry's mission in solving the nation's housing problems," added Shashaty.

Here is a link to the full press release.

Editorial Awards Part 2: Magazine of the Year

During its annual awards program last night, the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) named Hanley Wood’s Builder “Magazine of the Year” in the 80,000+ circulation category. Builder surpassed nearly two dozen esteemed publications including BusinessWeek, PC World, CIO and The Scientist.

We are all extremely proud of this accomplishment because it is symbolic of the tremendous creative talent we have here at Hanley Wood. It also demonstrates the commitment that is made to reinvesting in each and every brand.

The support from our customers give us the resources to make this all possible. The end result is a more engaged audience and a greater return on advertising investment.

Editorial Announcement: MFE & Developer

Shabnam Mogharabi officially takes the lead as Editor of Multifamily Executive and Developer. She will replace Alison Rice, who has moved on to pursue other opportunities but will continue to manage the programming for the MFE Conference this year.

Shabnam, who has been with Hanley Wood for three years, started as a senior editor for Pool & Spa News and was promoted last year to Manager of Business Development for the Outdoor Group. Shabnam recently won a Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award (American Business Media) which is recognized as the most prestigious editorial award in B2B publishing.

She also received the Stephen Barr Award for Individual Writing from the American Society of Business Editors. She has a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern.

Shabnam will be joining me on Friday, June 29, 2007 at our booth at the NAA Expo in Las Vegas. If you would like to set up a time to meet with the newest addition to the team please give me a call at 415-315-1241 x323.

Editorial Awards

The purpose of this blog is to give you an insider's view of some of the things we do here at Hanley Wood that are often overlooked or lost in the spam filter. My goal is to offer insights that we observe in the hopes that you come back on a regular basis and eventually contribute to an ongoing discussion. My name is Rob Britt and I am the Publisher of Hanley Wood's Multifamily Group which includes Affordable Housing Finance, Apartment Finance Today, Developer and Multifamily Executive.

On that note, what better way to start a blog than to ackowledge some accomplishments of our best and brightest? Providing engaging information to our readers is what we do best and being recognized by other B2B editors is certainly a key indicator of performance. Hats off to our editorial team for bringing home the nominations in the 2007 ASBPE Awards (American Society of Business Publication Editors).

* Affordable Housing Finance is a finalist for a Regional ASPBE award:

- Editorial/Editor's Letter Category: Editor-in-Chief, Andre Shashaty’s Grapevine columns in the October and December 2006 issues.

* Multifamily Executive is also a finalist for three regional awards this year:

- Regular Department: Tech Specs, a monthly department written by steadfast freelancer Joe Bousquin
- Individual/Company Profile: "Urban Legend," Rachel Z. Azoff's October 2006 cover story on Forest City Residential CEO Ronald Ratner
- Opening Page Spread/Illustration: "Disappearing Act," a custom illustration assigned by Melissa Goldweitz to accompany Les Shaver's report on the vanishing apartment supply.

These are just a few of the recent accolades that are worth noting, and definitely worth reading if you hadn't had the chance to do so. Our editors set the bar higher each year knowing that readers have more places to go for information with each passing day.