Heavy Duty Trucking magazine editors have received two 2018 Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Awards – one for Best Subject-Related Package and the other for Best Commentary/Blog. The awards were presented at a luncheon held in New York City on April 5.

Written by HDT Editor in Chief Deborah Lockridge, Executive Editor David Cullen, and Equipment Editor Jim Park, the Alt-Fuels Update that ran in the September 2017 print edition garnered the Neal Award for Best Subject-Related Package. The articles within the alternative fuels update package delved deeply into such topics as the state of electric trucks, why some fleets still embrace natural gas, how to tap solar power onboard, and smart trucks.

Deborah Lockridge was honored individually with the Neal Award for Best Commentary/Blog for three of her monthly print magazine editorials:

• Is Your Lease-Purchase Program a Problem?

• A Whirlwind of Last-Minute ELD Preparations

• It's Time to Think About Hourly Pay

HDT editors were also named finalists in two other categories. The 10-part series Trucking in the 21st Century was named a finalist for Best Series. The series of articles explored the technologies that are impacting the trucking industry and what it means for the success of our readers’ businesses. The series consisted of features written by Deborah Lockridge, David Cullen, Jim Park, Senior Editor Jack Roberts, and Technology Contributing Editor Jim Beach, as well as additional online content.

HDT was also named a finalist in the Best Instructional Content category for three articles offering how-to advice. The recognized articles were:

• 6 Steps to Thwart Cargo Theft by David Cullen

• 4 Ways to Control Creeping Maintenance Costs by Jack Roberts

• Outside Service: Evaluating the Options by Aftermarket Contributing Editor Denise Rondini

To date, HDT editors have collectively won 29 Neal Awards and received 37 Certificates of Merit/Finalist honors. In additon, HDT editors have twice been named the recipient of the annual Grand Neal Award.

The Jesse H. Neal Awards were created by the American Business Media trade association (now known as Connectiv) in 1955 to recognize and reward editorial excellence in business-to-business journalism.

All Neal entries are put through a two-tiered screening process to reach the final judging. Entries are scored in three areas: journalistic enterprise, extent of service to the field, and editorial craftsmanship. A board of 12 to 18 journalism professionals goes through each of the finalists to make the final determinations.