ASI Media Honored With Two More Prestigious National Awards For Journalism Excellence

TREVOSE, PA – April 29, 2022 – ASI Digital News Director Christopher Ruvo was honored with two prestigious national Jesse H. Neal Awards for his exhaustive coverage of the historic supply chain crisis and overall reporting throughout 2021, the Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) announced today.

In addition, ASI Media staff earned 11 Neal Award finalist nominations for excellence in reporting, art direction and social media, including “Best Industry Coverage” for its comprehensive coverage of the $23.2 billion promotional products industry, along with honors for the annual Counselor State of the Industry report, Person of the Year profile and its State and Regional Sales Report.

The Jesse H. Neal Awards are considered the Pulitzer Prize of B-to-B business media, honoring winning reporting on major industry issues and pressing business challenges while helping guide industry leaders to higher levels of effectiveness.

The 2022 awards are the 20th Neals won by ASI over the years, and ASI Media is the only industry media entity to ever win a Neal award. To date, ASI Media has earned a total of 274 journalism awards. C.J. Mittica is editor-in-chief of ASI Media and Michele Bell is ASI vice president of editorial, education and special events.

The 68th annual Neal Awards ceremony was held at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan. Judges in the category of “Best Range of Work by a Single Author” said of Ruvo, “Chris is obviously a passionate journalist. His breadth of work is impressive, and his industry knowledge is apparent. Excellent writing – especially when having to find fresh angles for coverage of an ongoing, global issue.”

Share:

Christopher Ruvo

“Excellent writing – especially when having to find fresh angles for coverage of an ongoing, global issue,” said a Neal Awards judge

Judges for the category of “Best News Coverage: The Supply Chain Crisis,” said of Ruvo’s months-long reporting, “A great variety of multimedia, featuring exclusive interviews and other well-researched journalism.” Ruvo, who joined ASI in 2011, was also honored as ASI’s 2021 Employee of the Year.

The Neal Awards are conducted by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA). Sixty-one awards were presented across 26 categories and winners were chosen from over 500 entries. The contest attracts such B-to-B publications as Ad Age, Crain’s New York Business and Family Business Magazine.

Below is more info on the other honored finalists in ASI’s brand revenue category:

• Best Subject-Related Package for Reinvention Week, a series of stories that honored promo’s ingenuity and explained how to stay agile in the face of future challenges, to the ASI Media staff
• Best Use of Social Media for the social media campaign #ASIPromoInsanity, to C.J. Mittica and Digital Content Director Vincent Driscoll
• Best Profile for Counselor Person of the Year, a story on Jonathan Isaacson, chairman/CEO of The Gem Group, parent company of Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070), to Ruvo and Digital Art Director Hillary Glen
• Best Art Direction for a Single Article for the 2021 State & Regional Sales Report, to Senior UI Designer and Interface Developer Kathleen Fitzgerald
• Best Instructional Content for The Promo People’s Guide to Social Media, to Glen and Executive Editor of Digital Content Theresa Hegel
• Best Art Direction for a Single Article for The Promo People’s Guide to Social Media, to Glen
• Best Infographics for ASI Media Infographics, to Ruvo and Glen
• Best Editorial Use of Data for the Counselor 2021 State of the Industry, to the ASI Media staff
• Best Range of Work by a Single Author, to Executive Editor of Digital Content Sara Lavenduski
• Best Range of Work by a Single Author, to Hegel

For more information on ASI Media, please contact Michele Bell at mbell@asicentral.com.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI^®; asicentral.com) serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $23.2 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP^®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 53 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s media and research operation provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 200+ live and online education courses for industry professionals. The company, family-owned and -operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA.