Progressive Dairyman has been awarded the James Flanagan Award by peer judges of the Livestock Publications Council (LPC).

The professional citation is awarded to the most improved member publication within the past year and was presented during LPC’s annual meeting in Tampa, Florida, July 29, 2008.

A review of same-month editions from 2005, 2006 and 2007 was the basis for the competition. Judges analyzed editorial content, layout, relevance of articles, columns and overall readability as parts of their evaluation.

“Competition for the Flanagan Award is tough,” Diane Johnson, LPC executive director, said. “Every year, publications and their accompanying communications vehicles must address more livestock-related business issues quicker, more comprehensively and more appealingly than ever before. Winning this award demonstrates improvement in every editorial-related category possible.”

Judges' comments:

“Using a heavier, coated stock and redesigning the cover has made this publication much more appealing.The quality of the cover photographs is much improved, and the apparent new focus on people, rather than events, makes the publication far more appealing. I like the redesigned flag, the teaser boxes in the upper and lower right corners, and the pleasing balance of the front page. The publication has been redirected from a corporate/technical to a people-oriented approach. That is admirable, and not an easy task, since it is, after all, a specialized, technical publication.

“Although this publication was the only one on newsprint, and the rest of the entries were slicks, it was not difficult to select this publication as the ‘Most Improved’.” PD