Rubber News named Ohio's 'Best Trade Publication,' nets 15 awards in state competition

CLEVELAND—Nobody covers the rubber industry like Rubber News.

We have the awards to prove it.

For the second consecutive year, Rubber News was named Best Trade Publication in the state of Ohio by the Press Club of Cleveland. In all, the staff took home 15 awards, including seven first-place nods in the statewide competition.

Rubber News staff members were individually recognized for outstanding work ranging from graphic design and opinion writing to news, features and trends stories.

Editor Bruce Meyer took three first place awards, including one in the Features: Personality Profiles category for his story on how Tayte French-Lutz found her place in helping lead family-owned French Oil Mill Machinery Co. after pursuing a career in fashion.

Reporter Andrew Schunk took home second place in the same category for his profile on Executive of the Year honoree Linda Muroski of Trelleborg, who was just the second woman to earn the honor from Rubber News.

Meyer and Managing Editor Erin Pustay Beaven shared first-place honors for their collaboration on editorial writing and coverage of the oil and gas industries in turmoil following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These awards came in the Departments/Columns and Special Section/Package categories, respectively.

Pustay Beaven's story on the tire industry's pursuit of 100-percent sustainable materials tires also took second place honors in the Special Section/Package category.

Pustay Beaven also received two other first place awards.

Her six-story package on nonpneumatic tire development was the first-place winner in the Trade Report category. The headline for the NPT package—"An industry left BREATHLESS"—took home third-place honors in the headline writing category.

Pustay Beaven's feature story on the Morgan family and its company, Morgan Polymer Seals, took top honors in the Features: General category.

Online Content Editor Sam Cottrill also received second-place honors in the Features: General Story for her feature on trends in golf cart tire development with a specific focus on Kenda.

Rubber News Art Director Michael McCrady took home several awards for his graphics and page design work. McCrady took first place honors in Visuals: Infographics for his graphic detailing of some of the best tire recycling efforts across the U.S.

McCrady received third-place honors for his Global Tire Report front-page design, which featured two stories on the rise of nonpneumatic tire technology. The front page image juxtaposed NPT concept designs from the world's three largest tire makers—Michelin, Bridgestone and Goodyear.

In the Features: Trends category, Cottrill took second-place honors for her coverage of the rubber industry's efforts to inspire the next generation to seek out career opportunities within the industry.

Schunk took third place in the same category for his exploration of how the conflict in Ukraine was impacting the European carbon black industry. He also took home second-place honors in headline writing for "Big things come in nano-packages," a story about the partnership between Goodyear and Molecular Rebar.