International Automotive Media Awards go to NYC

TUCSON, Ariz., July 15 -- The 2002 International Automotive Media Awards (IAMA) will be presented at the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society (MASCDCS) at the November 12th luncheon, it was announced today by Bruce and Genia Wennerstrom, co-directors of MASCDCS, and Walter R. Haessner, executive director of IAMA. The monthly luncheon is held at Sardi's, New York City.

This will be the 11th awards presentation, but the first to be held in New York City. The awards are for those automotive media efforts that meet the highest standards of the profession. In addition to the IAMAs the Recognition of Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contribution to automotive media will be presented. Past recipients are David E Davis, Jr., Editorial Director, Motor Trend; the late Leon Mandel of AutoWeek; Denise McCluggage, magazine and syndicated newspaper writer; and Chris Economaki, publisher emeritus, National Speed Sport News.

The IAMAs are broken down into Best of Conference, and 11 Best of Divisions covering Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, TV, Graphics, Books, Public Relations/Marketing, WWW, Multimedia, Newsletters and Single Issue. The full awards program includes Gold, Silver and Bronze medallions for excellence in the numerous categories within the divisions. Judging is by peers. Haessner noted that "though all awards will be announced on November 12th, only the IAMA Best of's and Lifetime Achievement will be physically presented at the luncheon. The IAMA Best of's are selected from the highest point Gold Medallion awards in each division. Anyone in automotive media is welcome to make an entry."

MASCDCS, known to the automotive world as "The Chowder Club," has been the monthly gathering spot for automotive pr, marketing and media people for over 40 years. Bruce Wennerstrom, who is also co-founder and co-chairman of the Greenwich Concours d'Elegance and is editorial director and host of Classic Cars on Mag Rack, stated he was "looking forward" to having the first East Coast IAMA presentation at Chowder.

The IAMAs, a function of the International Society for Vehicle Preservation, a nonprofit 501.c.3 educational organization, recognize and encourage excellence in all facets of automotive media Entries for 2002 must have been published or aired between August 1, 2001 and July 31, 2002. Closing for entries is August 19, 2002. Entry forms and full details may be found at http://www.iamc-isvp.org/root/iamc.html