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Ward's AutoWorld Wins Top Automotive Journalism Awards

6 January 1998

Ward's AutoWorld Wins Top Automotive Journalism Awards

    SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Jan. 6 --  Ward's AutoWorld won two 1998
International Wheel Awards on Sunday, two of the most prestigious awards in
automotive journalism.  The magazine won first place in the hotly-contested
Special Interest Publications category for "Engineers & The Law," a 20-page
series of stories in its March 1997 issue.
    Ward's AutoWorld Editor-in-Chief David C. Smith also won a first place
award in the Product Review category for his creative evaluation of the
Plymouth Prowler.  The Wheel Awards -- including $12,000 in cash prizes --
were presented by Edward Lapham, president of the sponsoring Detroit Press
Foundation, during the first of the press preview days preceding the Saturday,
January 10 opening of the auto show.  Stylized wheels and a $1,000 cash prize
were presented to each of the contest's first place winners.
    Organizations competing for the awards included top media outlets, from
Business Week and Car and Driver to the Chicago Tribune, Automotive News, and
Detroit's major daily newspapers.  Over 195 entries from North America, Europe
and Australia competed in four categories.
    An editorial team of five Ward's Communications reporters and editors and
several international correspondents spent nearly three months conceptualizing
and researching the special series.  They coordinated their efforts with
Managing Editor Mike Arnholt and Ward's Communications art directors and page
designers to produce the information-packed series.
    The editorial team consisted of Ward's AutoWorld Senior Editor Greg
Gardner, Ward's Automotive Reports Associate Editor Jeff Green, Ward's Dealer
Business Managing Editor Tim Keenan, Ward's AutoWorld Editor-in-Chief David C.
Smith, and Ward's AutoWorld Executive Editor Drew Winter.
    "Ward's AutoWorld won far more editorial awards than any of our direct
competitors last year, and this looks like a good start for 1998," says Ward's
AutoWorld's Mr. Winter.
    Last year, Ward's won a second place Wheel for its special issue on the
100th anniversary of the automobile, plus two regional first place awards, a
first place national award from the American Society of Business Press
Editors, and an award from the Detroit Press Foundation.
    The 32-year-old Detroit Press Foundation established the Wheel Awards
competition as an extension of its charter to foster excellence in journalism
and in recognition of Detroit's International significance in the auto
industry.  Faculty of the University of Nebraska's College of Journalism and
Mass Communications performed the judging under the direction of Dean Will
Norton, Jr.

SOURCE  Ward's AutoWorld