Kentucky Living Magazine Wins Coveted National Journalism Award
02/17/2010

Kentucky Living and Editor Paul Wesslund, CCC, accepted the prestigious George W. Haggard Memorial Journalism Award for 2009 from the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) - the national association of electric cooperatives.

The award recognizes and publicly commends the editor and electric co-op publication that demonstrate the most lucid, forthright, and effective presentation of ideas advancing the objectives of electric cooperatives and issues that affect them and their consumer-owners.

NRECA Chief Executive Officer Glenn English and NRECA President F.E. “Wally” Wolski presented the award to Wesslund at the 2010 NRECA Annual Meeting this month in Atlanta. The magazine is published by Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives, the statewide organization representing the interests of cooperative electric utilities in Kentucky and the consumer-members they serve.

“Kentucky Living’s goal in 2009 was to raise reader awareness of energy cost issues and their knowledge of co-op positions on those issues,” English said. “The magazine increased its coverage of energy efficiency and developed content to involve readers directly, like the new “On the Grid” section and an annual Energy Guide.”

Wesslund said the magazine focused heavily on the need for increased electric generation and on environmental and climate change concerns. “In addition, we developed a strategy to increase revenue through custom publishing and new advertising niches such as energy efficiency,” he said.

Wesslund, a Certified Cooperative Communicator (CCC), has been editor of Kentucky Living since 1996. The magazine has been published by the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives since 1948.

The Haggard Award judges praised the magazine for its recent transformation in both editorial content and graphic design. Kentucky Living increased its focus on energy and cooperative issues. The judges commended its fuller coverage of important electric industry news, along with its excellence in Kentucky-focused features. In addition to judging magazine entries for forthrightness, clarity, and balance, the Haggard Award competition encourages co-ops to raise the standards and professional excellence of statewide publications, to recognize the publications’ contribution to the electric cooperative network nationwide, and to strengthen cooperative education and member relations programs. The judges praised the winner for its overall design and production quality. “The publication has undergone a redesign that is eye catching, easy to read, and is printed on high-quality paper,” was the consensus.

One judge concluded, “The magazine’s co-op identification is quite clear. Kentucky Living has set a new standard for statewide publications."

The award memorializes George W. Haggard, a former statewide editor, statewide manager, and REA official who championed the creation of electric cooperative statewide publications, which consistently rank among the most widely read consumer publications in the United States. They reach more than 10 million households, or 25 million readers, every month in 37 of the 47 states in which electric cooperatives provide service. Twenty-one publications were entered in the 2008 competition.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.

More than 6,000 representatives from cooperative electric utilities across the nation attended the NRECA Annual Meeting, February 15-18, at the Atlanta Convention Center, during which time they set NRECA’s legislative and organizational agenda for 2010.

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