Berkshire Living and its affiliated publications were honored with six awards by the National City and Regional Magazine Association at its annual meeting in Providence, R.I., on Monday night, including top honors for BBQ: Berkshire Business Quarterly, in the Best Ancillary Publication category.
Berkshire Living was recognized for General Excellence, Best Redesign, General Criticism (for Seth Rogovoy’s “The Beat Goes On” Column), Community Service (for The Rest of the Story community forum series), and for Best Ancillary Publications – Berkshire Living home+garden and BBQ: Berkshire Business Quarterly.
“While our mission is always to serve our readers foremost, it is always gratifying to receive the recognition of our peers in the industry,” said Michael Zivyak, founder and publisher of Berkshire Living. “”Still only in our fifth year, we are considered a benchmark publication in our field, and this is a tribute to our entire team, especially editor-in-chief Seth Rogovoy, who oversees all our print and online publications.”
“These awards from the CRMA are a tribute to our our incredibly hardworking and talented staffers and freelance contributors,” said Seth Rogovoy, editor-in-chief of Berkshire Living. “The top award for BBQ in particular is a tribute to the dynamic team of editor Lesley Ann Beck and creative director Adam Rothberg.”
The CRMA judges hailed Berkshire Living for its “crisp, sophisticated design that works to complement its clean, carefully edited stories. The magazine is infused with a sense of place— its stories couldn’t have been written about anything but the Berkshires. In-depth features mesh well with quick department stories to give each issue a sense of completeness.”
In honoring BBQ: Berkshire Business Quarterly, the CRMA said, “The forces behind BBQ explore the creative reaches of what a business publication can be. The playful title and cooking-themed sections are memorable and lead readers to engaging articles on topics that venture beyond business-magazine staples. The design is equally innovative and provides added impact. The carefully selected photos and typography make for lush pages that draw readers in.”
Berkshire Living home+garden was noted for the manner in which “the graceful elements that make a house a home receive special play in Berkshire Living home+garden: from antique French wallpaper and tribal rugs made from vegetable dyes to a stone table covered with green moss and white lichen. Inviting photos and articles capture the personal stories that bring elegant homes to life.”
Berkshire Living’s 2009 redesign garnered praise for how “The magazine’s elimination of the spread section openers in favor of one main image gets the reader engaged right away. Combining the back-of-book listings make the Guide more appealing and functional. Overall, the font’s change from a classic serif to a much rounder and friendlier typeface makes this magazine more inviting.”
Berkshire Living’s editor-in-chief Seth Rogovoy was honored for the fourth year in a row for his music colum, “The Beat Goes On,” which vied with critics from Los Angeles magazine and Texas Monthly for top honors. The judges hailed Rogovoy’s “richly textured rock ’n’ roll columns [that] recall the glory days when LP liner notes told you something you didn’t already know about your favorite musicians. He digs into his subjects and renders a complete picture of their history, significance and sound.”
Berkshire Living’s free community forum series at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, Mass., was honored for the manner “in which citizens gathered at a local cinema for a question-and-answer session, appealed as a meaningful way to foster community conversation. Although this was not a fundraising endeavor, it got people out of their homes and into one another’s lives for learning and conversation.”
More than 75 judges representing publications such as Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, The American Prospect, Body+Soul, Sports Illustrated, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, Taste of Home, Men’s Journal, Budget Travel, The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, ESPN The Magazine, The Washington Post, Outdoor Life, Men’s Journal, USA Weekend, Fitness and journalism professors from the Missouri School of Journalism selected the finalists and winners.
The competition is open to members of CRMA and other city and regional magazines throughout North America that qualify. The contest is a 25-year-old national competition and has been coordinated by the University of Missouri School of Journalism on behalf of CRMA for the past 14 years.
