Shaw named SABEW's distinguished achievement winner

Ray Shaw, chairman of American City Business Journals, will receive the 2009 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers at its 46th annual conference in Denver in late April.

Shaw has run the publisher of 40 business weekly newspapers since 1989. Before that, he was president and chief operating officer of Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, where he also worked as a reporter and editor.

“Ray has had a profound impact as both a business journalist and a business journalism entrepreneur,” said Bernie Kohn, investigative editor of the Baltimore Sun and president of SABEW. “In his so-called retirement, Ray built American City Business Journals into a company that has filled a major need for business-to-business journalism in numerous communities. We’re delighted to recognize his achievements in both journalism and business.”

Shaw is the 19th business journalist or business news executive to receive SABEW’s highest award since it its inception in 1993. Other winners include: Floyd Norris of the New York Times; Barney Calame and Paul Steiger of The Wall Street Journal; Stephen B. Shepard, former BusinessWeek editor in chief; Carol Loomis of Fortune; and Myron Kandel of CNN.

During the 10 years that Shaw was president of Dow Jones, the company’s annual revenues more than tripled to $1.7 billion. Shaw is credited with expanding Dow Jones’ business journalism operations into international markets.

Following his retirement from Dow Jones, Shaw Publishing Co. acquired control of American City Business Journals. It was sold to Advance Publications in 1995, but Shaw continues to oversee the company, which now employs more than 600 business journalists.

“I like Ray’s commitment to quality journalism,” said Kent Bernhard, who is vice president of editorial at American City. “He’s not a corner cutter when it comes to that.”