Nation’s Restaurant News on Friday was named Best Media Brand at the 65th annual Jesse H. Neal Awards, which honor editorial excellence in business media.
The Neal Awards, the Pulitzer Prizes of business-to-business media, judge the Best Media Brand category on a publication’s depth of offerings, journalistic experience, presentation and service to readers across print, digital media, events and social platforms.
“I’m thrilled for the Nation’s Restaurant News team to receive the Neal Award recognition for overall editorial excellence. There’s no group of journalists more passionate or hardworking than this team,” NRN editor-in-chief Jenna Telesca said. “For more than 50 years, NRN has continued to evolve to provide the restaurant industry unbiased information through NRN.com, our print publication, our Top 200 interactive database and our awesome events.”
Other finalists in the Best Media Brand category included American Banker, Architectural Record and Engineering News-Record.
“Nation’s Restaurant News has always been the leading industry media brand, exceeding the needs of our foodservice community with expert, independent business intelligence,” Sarah Lockyer, group publisher of the Informa Restaurant & Food Group. “This highest honor from the Jesse H. Neal Awards is recognition of the hard work, diligent attention to audience needs and true heart that the editorial team brings every day. The result is a brand both our audience and customer partners value greatly.”
NRN's senior managing editor Christi Ravneberg, digital content manager Leigh Anne Zinsmeister, editor-in-chief Jenna Telesca and co-art director Sue Pearsall at the Neal Awards luncheon
The Neal Judges said: “Nation’s Restaurant News issues and articles are packed with data, creative perspectives, eye-capturing illustrations and high-value information to assure readers are well aware of industry trends, can benchmark against each other, and have the insights they need to do their jobs better.”
NRN also won a 2019 Neal Award for Best Single Issue for its Sept. 24, 2018 issue, which showcased a redesign of the magazine as well as “Teen Vision,” an in-depth report on how the latest generation of teenagers — Gen Z — eats, works and plays.
The Neal Awards, founded by Connectiv in 1955, were presented March 29 at an awards luncheon in New York City.