NEW YORK, NY (April 15, 2019) – SourceMedia, a business information, media and events company serving professional communities in financial services, technology and healthcare, won 12 Jesse H. Neal Awards for excellence in business journalism and media. SourceMedia also won three Best in Business awards and one honorable mention from the Society for Advancing Business Editing & Writing (SABEW).
American Banker led the SABEW charge, with a General Excellence award, and along with Financial Planning, was responsible for most of the company’s Neal and SABEW honors this year. SourceMedia also won a Neal for a ground-breaking cross-community project, “Sexual Harassment in the Professional Workplace,” which reached the audiences of American Banker and Financial Planning, as well as those of Accounting Today, Employee Benefit News and other SourceMedia brands.
Other Neal awards include Best Website honors for both American Banker and Financial Planning, and the Grand Neal, the competition’s best-in-show award, which went to American Banker reporter John Heltman for Nobody’s Home, a 10-part podcast series about housing blight. Heltman also won a Neal for Best Range of Work by a Single Author and is the recipient of this year’s McAllister Fellowship at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern.
In his McAllister acceptance speech, Heltman thanked his colleagues, “who create such a collaborative, selfless, fun environment to work in.” He added: “That’s the real award, getting to do work that is important, that has credibility, that influences people and hopefully works as a force for positive change in our society.”
“Each of these honors reflects SourceMedia’s strengths across many capabilities and competencies, including reporting and analysis, research and writing and visual design in multiple media,” said Chief Content Officer David Longobardi. “They also demonstrate the team’s deep knowledge of, and strong relationships in the communities they serve.”
American Banker’s SABEW General Excellence is SourceMedia’s third such honor (American Banker won in 2013, and Financial Planning in 2016). The SABEWs received nearly 1,000 entries, submitted by 175 news organizations across the country, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Bloomberg.
Additional SABEW Awards
- Banking/Finance First Prize to American Banker, for “Bank CEO’s fire-and-rehire maneuver reaps windfall at taxpayer expense” by Kevin Wack
- Banking/Finance Honorable Mention to Financial Planning for “Keep Quiet: Confidential emails reveal a top Wells Fargo advisor’s despair after he cried fraud” by Ann Marsh
- Breaking News First Prize to American Banker, for “Comerica scrambles to address fraud in prepaid benefits program” by Kate Berry
Additional Neal Awards
- Best Subject-Related Package to SourceMedia, for “Sexual Harassment in the Professional Workplace” (also a runner-up for the Grand Neal)
- Best Art Direction for a Single Article to Financial Planning Senior Art Director Nick Perkins for the immersive digital feature “The rise of the class of '68”
- Best Single Article to Financial Planning, for “Keep Quiet,” by Ann Marsh
- Best News Coverage to American Banker, for “Consumer Credit on the Brink,” with reporting and editing by Kevin Wack, Bonnie McGeer, Alan Kline, Dean Anason and Kristin Broughton
- Best Commentary to American Banker, for a series of articles on bank regulatory issues by Editor in Chief Rob Blackwell
- Best Commentary to Financial Planning for columns by contributor Allan Roth
The Neal Awards, founded in 1955, recognize and reward editorial excellence in business media and journalism. Bestowed by Connectiv, The Business Information Association, the competition received more than 500 entries this year.
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About SourceMedia
SourceMedia is a business information, media and events company serving professional communities in financial services, technology and healthcare. The company advances communities of professionals and marketers, uncovering powerful ideas and their business implications, connecting and rallying industry leaders, setting standards and benchmarking progress. Brands include American Banker, The Bond Buyer, PaymentsSource, Financial Planning, Digital Insurance, Accounting Today, and National Mortgage News.