FreightWaves earned silver in two categories of the 2024 Regional Azbee Awards in the Southeast from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE).
Finance Editor Todd Maiden and former Editorial Director Rachel Premack’s coverage of the demise of less-than-truckload carrier Yellow Corp. received Regional Silver for Online Breaking News Coverage. Additionally, FreightWaves’ ELD: Five Years Later series on the fifth anniversary of the electronic logging device mandate took Regional Silver. Senior Editors Clarissa Hawes and John Gallagher, Premack, and former Detroit Bureau Chief Alan Adler all contributed to the series.
Thirty-four awards in total were given in the Southeast region.
The ASBPE is a membership community dedicated to editorial excellence. It was founded in 1964 and known then as the American Society of Business Press Editors. The annual Azbee Awards of Excellence are highly regarded accolades that celebrate the best in editorial, design and online achievement. The ASBPE National Board of Directors as well as volunteer committees are responsible for the programming.
FreightWaves’ coverage of Yellow spanned numerous breaking news articles, as the end of one of the nation’s largest trucking companies rocked the industry. More than 30 articles have been published in real time on the bankruptcy and the fallout from it since last summer, and news continues to arise.
“I’m honored to be recognized for breaking news coverage,” said Maiden. “Thank you to our editorial team for the around-the-clock help.”
The ELD: Five Years Later series was sparked by continued polarizing debates over the technology and mandate. Articles looking back at the disruptions it may have caused and what the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration could do to improve that, as well as investigative looks into ELD fraud and how the mandate would work with autonomous trucks were published in succession last April.
Federal regulators began enforcing the mandate on April 1, 2018.
“When the FMCSA’s ELD mandate took effect in trucking companies that were using approved Automatic On-Board Recording Devices (AOBRDS), it was not welcomed by many truck drivers,” Hawes said. “Our team of journalists, who cover different areas of the trucking industry, took an in-depth look into how ELDs are impacting drivers, highway safety and how some ELD providers are skirting the hours-of-service regulations to drive more hours in a day.”
“I’m very thankful. It’s great to have our hard work recognized by business publishing editors,” added Gallagher.