2019 Azbee Awards of Excellence

Category

Online > Web Microsite/Special Section (Non-Trade Show/Conference) > Mid Atlantic

Awarded to

Managing Editor / Multiplatform Gary Kicinski, Content Manager Scott Achelpohl, Staff Reporter Eugene Mulero, Web Director Michael Benfield, Production Manager Debra Devine, Intern Keegan Wiggins.

Entry details

Road to NTDC

Issue date (if applicable): 
Publication name: Transport Topics
Publishing company: Transport Topics
Website home page: ttnews.com

Please describe the publication's mission and readership:

Transport Topics is the news leader in trucking and freight transportation and serves a weekly print readership of over 22,000 and a monthly unique visitor digital audience of nearly 190,000. For the last 80 years, the media group's hallmark coverage of the regulatory environment and the business and technology landscapes has set the standard in its competitive set. Transport Topics' journalistic mission is to ensure that executives in a fast-moving industry are kept abreast of industry issues that matter with constantly updated, refined, and relevant news on multiple platforms.

Please describe the enterprising work that went into this entry and its significance or impact on readers:

The National Truck Driving Championships are known as the “Super Bowl of Safety” and participants who compete are recognized as the top truck drivers in the industry.
But to get there, they first have to qualify by having a perfect safety record for an entire year – and they have to win one of nine classes of competition at the state level.
We chronicled those efforts with “The Road to NTDC.”
This five-month project required working with 50 state associations to obtain results of their truck driving championships, held between March and July. We also sought their help with photos, which we turned into galleries, and video. States were not used to media coverage of competition at their level, but we still managed to collect results in nine categories from all 50 states, generate stories on 29 Grand Champions, build 25 photo galleries and produce 7 videos.
An interactive map tracked Grand Champions from each state – displaying the state in yellow with the date of the competition before the event, and in green with a photo of the winner after the event.
The project helped build interest in our national event coverage and generate notoriety for drivers and associations at the state level.
Important note: The “Road to NTDC” coverage was overwritten at the same URL once competition reached the NTDC stage. The JPGs attached represent “Road to NTDC” while it was in progress while the live URL represents a mix of “Road to NTDC” and NTDC coverage.

Links to entry URLs

Please note: These URLs are only required for entries in the Online division categories, entries in the Design division categories that are specific to websites, entries in the Website of the Year category, and entries in the Cross-Platform Package of the Year category.

Entry URL(s), if applicable:
https://www.ttnews.com/events/special/2018-ntdc
https://www.ttnews.com/events/special/2018-ntdc/map
https://www.ttnews.com/events/special/2018-ntdc/photos
https://www.ttnews.com/events/special/2018-ntdc/video

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