Award attests to our passion
Ray Allegrezza, Editor in Chief -- Furniture Today, March 27, 2005
Sometimes I can really relate to the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, especially when he lamented that it wasn't easy to be him.
Then there are days, like a very special day earlier this month, when being me is not only easy, it's downright enjoyable. The day I'm talking about occurred in New York, where Powell Slaughter, Furniture Today's case goods editor, and I were at the Jesse H. Neal Awards ceremony.
In case you're not familiar with the Neal Awards, they were launched by American Business Media in 1955 to recognize and reward editorial excellence in independent business publications. Each year, the competition gets tougher and the number of entries goes up. In 1955, there were 22 entries. This year's competition drew 1,168 entries.
A panel of judges, including Marshall Loeb of MarketWatch, Sharon Begley of The Wall Street Journal, Jill Dutt of The Washington Post, Diana Henriques of The New York Times and others, pared the entries to 81 finalists. Then they named only 27 Neal Award winners.
I am proud to report that Furniture Today was among those 27 winners, honored for best news coverage for our reporting on the antidumping issue.
To give you an idea of the depth and breadth of the coverage, which was spearheaded by Slaughter and supported by Clint Engel, Jeff Linville, Tom Russell and Jay McIntosh, our entry consisted of well over 50 articles on antidumping.
According to the judges, the award was based on journalistic enterprise, extent of service to the field and editorial craftsmanship. That made me feel great about the ability of our staff, and about our vision and dedication to the furniture industry. I hope this passion for the business comes across loud and clear in every issue of Furniture Today.
When you see any of the Furniture Today team at market, give them a pat on the back. They deserve it.
