FleetOwner named award finalist

FleetOwner has been named a finalist in the 52nd Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards presented by American Business Media.

FleetOwner is one of three finalists in the category "Best News Coverage: Other Frequencies" for its coverage of the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the trucking industry.

While there was no lack of general news on the hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast, Fleet Owner recognized that its readers- in print and online-required news coverage tailored specifically to the effect of the disasters on truck fleet operations.

According to editor-in-chief Jim Mele, from the day Katrina struck, the FleetOwner daily news web site provided a constant stream of updates as trucks delivered the first relief to the area. He said coverage in the news pages of the monthly magazine supplemented that daily coverage with a more general news overview of the ongoing story as seen through the eyes of trucking.

Last year, FleetOwner received a Neal Award in "Best How-To Article or Series of How-To Articles" category for "Lockdown," a series of three security-related feature articles that ran in the May, June, and July 2004 issues.

This year's Neal Award winners will be announced on March 23 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

The American Business Media's Neal awards, established in 1955, have been called "the Pulitzer Prize of the business press" and are intended to recognize editorial excellence in business-to-business publications.