Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine August/September 2021 online issue
FREDERICK, MD – The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association (AOPA), and the AOPA Air Safety Institute, were recognized June 16 for their news and educational media during the virtual 41st Annual AM&P Network Association Council Excel Awards hosted by Association Media and Publishing.
The awards “are the largest and most prestigious program recognizing excellence and leadership in association media, publishing, marketing and communication,” among nonprofit and for-profit associations, according to Association Media and Publishing’s parent organization, the Software & Information Industry Association. The association recognized 240 finalists across 82 categories in the peer-reviewed awards program.
“AOPA employs the largest group of media professionals covering general aviation,” said Tom Haines, AOPA editor in chief and senior vice president of media, communications, and outreach. “Combining that talent with our aviation expertise allows us to create compelling content across all of our channels. We receive great feedback from members routinely, but it’s also rewarding to receive recognition from our publishing peers in the association world.”
AOPA Live® earned a Gold Excel Award for its Arsenal of Democracy 2020 video that showcased the last two Boeing B-29 Superfortresses still flying, joining up with other warbirds for an aerial parade in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. About 60 warbirds had gathered in northern Virginia in September 2020 to fly over Washington, D.C., but weather scrubbed the mission. Still, AOPA covered the show of force from every angle and brought it to members as a tribute. The video also features U-Haul CEO Joe Shoen’s Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer, the last of its kind still flying; the Military Aviation Museum’s Consolidated PBY Catalina; and the moment when a true “Rosie the Riveter” reunited with one of the bombers she helped rivet.
AOPA Senior Photographer Chris Rose’s photo featured on the cover of the April 2020 issue of AOPA Pilot, featuring a sunrise-lit seaplane in a remote area of Quebec Province, won a Bronze Excel Award for best cover photography.
AOPA’s “Coronavirus impact on GA” microsite earned a Bronze Award in the new pandemic response microsite category. The microsite enabled pilots, flight schools, and the media to learn about the effects of the pandemic on GA, what the aviation community was doing to help manufacture and transport personal protective equipment and vaccines, and how AOPA advocated on Capitol Hill to keep aviators flying safely during the pandemic.
The AOPA Air Safety Institute swept the educational video category, earning a Gold Award for “Accident Case Study: Lake Renegade,” which examines a fatal accident that occurred in 2017 at the seaplane base on Lake Winnebago in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, when a pilot attempted to take off in high waves; a Silver Award for “Real Pilot Story: Pressure Over the Atlantic,” which details how a ferry pilot flying solo over the North Atlantic, discovered a serious issue with his auxiliary fuel tank and found a solution and survived; and a Bronze Award for “Reality Check: What are the Costliest Insurance Claims?”, which looks at the types of claims that can drive up aviation insurance rates, and provides tips on how pilots can be part of the solution to reducing the cost of insurance.
In addition, the institute’s digital “CFI to CFI” newsletter won a Silver Award for general excellence in the newsletters category. The quarterly publication is free to more than 57,000 subscribers and promotes relevant safety education materials for flight instructors and their students. Alyssa J. Cobb, AOPA
