It's time for the finalists of the 2023 Folio: Eddie and Ozzie Awards to be announced, and Fleet Maintenance Editor-in-Chief John Hitch is being nominated for not one, not two, but three of his published works.
The annual awards celebrate excellence in editorial and design in the publishing industry with more than 1,100 entries received across nearly 170 categories. Finalists represent the highest-scoring entries per category, adjudicated by qualified editorial and design professionals. The Eddies are reserved for editorial content, three of which Hitch has been nominated for, while the Ozzies are for art and design.
As the tech shortage continues, Hitch's piece, "Finding and retaining technicians: Understanding the supply and demand," was selected as one of the top single articles of B2B transportation journalism. He is also in the running for the most outstanding B2B profile piece after sharing the inspiring story of Fleet Fast Owner Raj Basran, who followed in his immigrant father's footsteps to take on the family auto body shop business in Akron, Ohio. Hitch also put his whole heart into his March 2023 column, "A recovering workaholic's guide to self-maintenance," which clinched a spot in the finalist round for best column in B2B City & Regional Transportation.
"I can’t take all the credit," Hitch said. "We have a great editorial and art team, and these stories told themselves: How the industry is solving the tech shortage and the profile on Fleet Fast Owner Raj Basran, a first-generation shop owner doing everything he can to improve uptime and do right by his employees. However, I will take full credit for having a heart attack at 43 and shamelessly writing about it.”
“A single nomination is something to be proud of, and three—that’s exceptional,” Kevin Jones, editorial director for the EBM Commercial Vehicle group, said. “But the range of these stories is really impressive, and it reflects the engaging and important work John, Erin [Brown, art director], and team deliver every issue for Fleet Maintenance readers.”
Just last year, Fleet Maintenance magazine's achievements include a May 2022 print feature, "The dawn of hydrogen trucks," named best single technology article in the B2B category by the judges of the 2022 Folio: Eddie and Ozzie Awards, authored by then Associate Editor, now Managing Editor - Community Manager at Supply Chain Connect Tyler Fussner, who dove into the latest developments of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in the commercial transportation space. Senior Art Director Erin Brown earned a first honorable mention in the B2B Overall Art Direction and was named 2019 Designer of the Year.
Fleet Maintenance is part of Endeavor Business Media's Commercial Vehicle Group (CVG).
