G.D. CRAIN AWARD

Click here to download the 2010 Call for Entries

The American Business Media Crain Award is given annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the development of editorial excellence in the business media. The award was established with a grant from the G.D. Crain, Jr. Foundation and includes a distinctive crystal trophy and a $1,000 prize. The award is named after a great business publication editor, the founder of BtoB (formerly Business Marketing) and Advertising Age.

Nominees must have a proven career record of editorial accomplishment. He or she must have formulated editorial policies and directed editorial activities for one or more business publications, and must have assumed leadership in the field that his or her publication serves. The nominee must have demonstrated a capacity for maintaining the highest editorial standards, and must have advanced American Business Media’s tradition of editorial initiative, leadership and integrity.

About G.D. Crain, Jr.
G.D. Crain, Jr. (1885-1973)
Founder
Crain Communications

A native of Kentucky and an MBA graduate of that state's Centre College, Gustavus Dedman Crain, Jr. spent his life enveloped in the news business. As a young boy, he sold newspapers. At age 19, he joined the staff of The Louisville Herald. Two years later, he was made city editor and then sports editor.

Subsequently he organized a business news service which produced news and features for nearly 100 business publications. Crain served as head of the firm from its inception until 1916, when he founded Hospital Management, a trade publication serving hospital administrators, and followed up one month later with what is now BtoB magazine (formerly Business Marketing), a specialized paper for business media marketers.

In 1916, Crain moved his publishing headquarters to Chicago, where, in 1930, he began Advertising Age. His idea for fast, effective news coverage in the general advertising and marketing field succeeded in lasting out the depression, and Advertising Age moved steadily onward until it became one of the world's premier sources of business information. For some thirty-five years, Crain wrote a column for Advertising Age, “Rough Proofs,” under the name of Copy Cub.

In 1967, he started his second non-marketing publication, Business Insurance, which was targeted at corporate purchasers of insurance. Automotive News was acquired in 1971, and Pensions & Investments launched in 1973. In later years, Crain's other publications included American Laundry Digest, American Drycleaner, American Coin Op and American Clean Car (no longer in publication). At various times, he served as president, editor and publisher of the company from its inception until 1964, when he became chairman of the board, a post he held until the close of his life.