Fortune Small Business wins award

Fortune Small Business and The Scientist took honors as the Magazines of the Year in the 31st Annual Azbee Awards of Excellence presented by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

The group’s 2009 Stephen Barr Award for feature writing went to Frank Lessiter, editor of a 7,000-circulation publication for horse-shoers, American Farriers Journal, for a remarkable series of articles over the last half of 2008 that described the shocking practice of “soring.” In an offense little-known outside the world of equine shows — and too often ignored within that world — some unscrupulous characters injure the feet or legs of animals “to promote hoof action that judges look for in gaited horse competitions.”

The awards were announced on July 16, the first evening of the two-day ASBPE National Editorial Conference, at the Washington, D.C. Marriott Hotel.

In another presentation, HSToday editor David Silverberg was honored with the first annual Journalism That Matters Award for his criticism in the pages of his homeland-security magazine of the National Football League’s unwillingness to run advertisements mentioning terrorism, borders, and immigration. After the articles, the NFL changed its policy.

The award reflects ASBPE’s work on the book Journalism That Matters: How Business to Business Editors Change the Industries They Cover.

For its work over the past year, Fortune Small Business was recognized among magazines with 80,000 or larger circulation, while The Scientistwas honored in the under-80,000 category.

Judges said Fortune Small Business was “well reported, richly packaged, audience sensitive.”