ABA Journal named Magazine of the Year by business publication editors
Law in Popular Culture
ABA Journal named Magazine of the Year by business publication editors
May 15, 2023, 11:00 am CDT
The ABA Journal took home the Magazine of the Year award for overall excellence on Thursday in a national contest held by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
The contest, known as the Azbee Awards of Excellence, honors the best in business-to-business media. The ABA Journal won Magazine of the Year in the category for publications with 11 or fewer issues per year.
The ABA Journal’s win is based on its “quality of writing, reporting and editing; value and usefulness to the reader; editorial organization; interaction with readers; and layout and design, in regard to the flow and style of individual issues.”
Besides winning Magazine of the Year, ABA Journal editors and writers won a gold award, two silver awards and a bronze award in the same competition.
In a different competition, ABA Journal Assistant Managing Editor Liane Jackson won a Peter A. Lisagor award for her Intersection column in the category of best column or editorial from a small print/online publication. The Lisagors, sponsored by the Chicago Headline Club, are the most prestigious honor for Chicago-area journalists. Legal Affairs Writer Julianne Hill also won a Lisagor in the category of best reporting on crime and justice for a broadcast piece she did before she joined the Journal in October.
ABA Journal Editor and Publisher John O’Brien says he is “extremely proud of our staff for these well-deserved honors.”
Managing Editor Kevin Davis accepted the ABA Journal’s awards at the National Azbee Awards Banquet in Atlanta.
“It is my privilege to work among such a dedicated, talented and hard-working group of people,” he said.
Judge Herbert B. Dixon Jr. (Ret.), chair of the board, said, “The ABA Journal Board of Editors is proud of our editor and his talented staff. This award confirms what the board has known for many years: that the Journal is the preeminent professional magazine in the country.”
The ABA Journal won these four awards in the Azbee Awards of Excellence:
National Gold Award
Category: Print, Feature Article, 11 or Fewer Issues per Year
Title of Entry: “America’s Lost Children: Reckoning with the abusive legacy of Indian boarding schools”
Winners: Matt Reynolds, Legal Affairs Writer, and Blair Chavis, Assistant Managing Editor
National Silver Award
Category: All Content, Group Profile
Title of Entry: “2022 Legal Rebels: No Turning Back”
Winners: Lyle Moran, Legal Affairs Writer; Stephanie Francis Ward, Senior Writer; Amanda Robert, Legal Affairs Writer; and Victor Li, Assistant Managing Editor
Category: All Content, Enterprise News Story
Title of Entry: “Psychedelic Rx: Legal battles aim to expand patients’ access to psilocybin and other hallucinogens”
Winner: Amanda Robert, Legal Affairs Writer
National Bronze Award
Category: Print – Regular Department
Title of Entry: “Business of Law”
Winner: Victor Li, Assistant Managing Editor
The ABA Journal also did well in the regional Azbees competition in April. The magazine and its staff members earned three gold, three silver and six bronze awards.
Two other ABA Journal staff members were finalists in the Lisagor competition. They are legal affairs writers Matt Reynolds and Amanda Robert, who were finalists for their stories on Indian boarding schools and patients’ access to psychedelic drugs.
