Virginia Business wins nine Virginia Press Association awards

Virginia Business won nine awards in the 2012 Virginia Press Association news competition. Competing in the specialty publication division, the magazine placed first in general news writing and news writing portfolio and picked up awards for headline writing, design and commentary.

Freelance writer Richard Foster’s “Winners in a landslide” story, which examined the presidential election’s effect on local television advertising, was one of the magazine’s first place awards. The judges said of Foster’s work: “It presents an issue that applies to areas all over the country, from business to politics to programming — a very interesting piece about something most people probably don’t think too much about.”

Gary Robertson, a freelance writer in Richmond, won first place in news writing portfolio. His body of work included stories on the development of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Prince George County, the student debt crisis and the ripple effects from last summer’s turmoil at U. Va. The sudden ouster of the university’s president, who was later reinstated, caused higher education to take a closer look at its corporate governance structure. “There’s no excuse for any story, no matter what the topic, to be dull,” one judge wrote. “Yours held my interest and stood out in a category that had many fine entries.” Robertson’s piece on U.Va. also won second place for public affairs writing.

Garry Kranz, another Richmond freelancer and longtime writer for Virginia Business, also received praise for his health, science and environmental portfolio, which earned second place. “This was an unbelievably competitive category,” noted one of the judges. “Congratulations on winning an award over some extremely fine entries.”

For the full list of winners, see below:

First place:

General News Writing: Richard Foster, “Winners in a landslide”

News Writing Portfolio: Gary Robertson, “Game changer,” “Dealing with debt,” and “Who’s minding the store?”

Second place:

Column or Commentary Writing: Publisher Bernie Niemeier

Front Cover: Adrienne R. Watson, Art Director, Virginia Business; April, May and October covers

Headlines: Editor Robert Powell and Managing Editor Paula Squires

Health, Science and Environmental Writing: Garry Kranz, “Securing cyberspace,” “Old king coal,” and “Virginia’s burning question”

General News Writing: Tim Loughran, “Changes afoot at Genworth?”

Public Affairs Writing: Gary Robertson, “Who’s minding the store?”

Third place:

Online Video: Veronica Garabelli’s “Mr. Fix-It: Virginia Business Person of the Year”