IEEE Spectrum announced that it received the coveted Grand Neal Award during the Association of Business Information & Media Companies’ (ABM) 59th Annual Jesse H. Neal Awards ceremony, held Tuesday at Pier Sixty in New York City.
This is IEEE Spectrum's third Grand Neal Award, and it is the only publication in the last 20 years to have achieved this distinction. Known as the “Pulitzer Prizes" of the business press, the Neal Awards were established in 1955 and have continuously recognized editorial excellence since their inception.
The winning entry, "A Shocking Truth," by Mark Harris (March 2012 issue), earned the Grand Neal from a pool of 640 submissions and also took home the Neal Award for "Best Single Article." His story, about automated external defibrillators (AEDs), describes how and why AEDs fail and what happens when they don’t work. The devices are expected to operate perfectly, even if they have been hanging on the wall of an office or a school gym for years without being used.
IEEE Spectrum also won the Neal Award for "Best Use of Mobile" for its innovative “Robots for iPad" app. The critically acclaimed app features more than 100 real-world robots, with photos, videos, and interactive animations. IEEE Spectrum plans to release an update for the app, adding even more robots this spring.
“Being recognized by our peers for important, innovative work is fantastic. As a magazine covering groundbreaking advances in technology, innovation has to be one of our own core values as well,” says Susan Hassler, IEEE Spectrum’s Editor-in-Chief. “These awards tell us we’re moving in the right direction.”