Virginia Business wins four VPA awards

Virginia Business magazine won four awards in the Virginia Press Association’s annual journalism contest.

This year’s VPA awards banquet was canceled due to the coronavirus and the association asked member publications to announce the winners on April 30. Virginia Business competes in VPA’s specialty publications division.

Freelance photographer Mark Rhodes won a first-place in the feature photo category for his photo of Suffolk restaurateur and arts advocate Ed Beardsley that ran in the 100 people to meet in 2020 feature in the December 2019 issue of Virginia Business.

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster won a second-place award for column writing for his InsideView column, including this September 2019 column about the gun control debate in Virginia.

Former Virginia Business Editor Robert Powell won a second-place award for headline writing and former Virginia Business Art Director Adrienne Reaves received a third-place award for design and presentation.

Three Virginia Business staff members also won awards for work they did for other publications prior to joining Virginia Business. Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews won a second-place group award for arts writing for Style Weekly magazine and a third-place award for business and financial writing for Richmond magazine. Virginia Business Art Director Joel Smith won 13 first-, second- and third-place awards in VPA’s annual advertising contest for work he did for Style Weekly. He and Virginia Business Vice President of Sales and Marketing Lori Waran shared a first-place award for digital advertising work for Style Weekly.