Last week Editor of HRZone.com Jamie Lawrence, won the award for HR Technology Journalist of the Year at the tenth annual Towers Watson Media Awards. The accolades, announced at the Getty Images Gallery in London, celebrate excellence in business journalism in the areas of human resources (HR), pensions, benefits and institutional investment. Jamie was selected by a panel of leading industry figures from a pool of entries by well over 100 high calibre journalists.
On the importance of the Awards, Paul Morris, regional leader for Towers Watson EMEA, says “The business media has a vital role to play as a platform for sharing ideas and best practice, and for debating the important issues that impact our working lives”. These awards are intended to celebrate those who adopt this role head-on and our hearty congratulations go to Jamie, who has proven time and time again that he is on the leading edge of HR journalism and fully understands his audience.
As noted in our recent interview, Jamie worked previously as a copywriter for a digital media agency and then as a small business journalist before joining HRZone. “I’ve always been fascinated with words and have always wanted to be a writer, and I think I’ll be working with words for the rest of my life!”
This degree of passion is not unique to Jamie. We’re fortunate that all editorial staff at Sift Media are experts in their field who strongly believe in what they do – and believe in doing it at the highest level possible. It is our core principle of delivering quality, relevant editorial content which is the key to our success as a publisher, and this is very much ingrained in the culture at Sift Media.
The outcome of this approach is our greatest asset – our loyal audiences. These are the people who shape the agenda and influence the content we publish.
With regards to the HRzone audience Jamie points out, “The professionals who visit HRZone are expected to be clued up on HR innovation and how HR needs to communicate with the rest of the business as well as the latest thinking when it comes to developing strategies that achieve the best outcomes.” Our role editorially, across HRzone and our full portfolio of other titles, is to understand our audience and deliver engaging, high-quality features that provide practical, easy-to-follow advice which helps readers to get the most out of the activities they undertake every day.
Jamie is a remarkably talented editor and high profile recognition is just reward for such dedication, professionalism and passion. We’re fortunate that it reflects the type of individuals who are attracted to work at Sift Media. It is important to note however, that our staff and our approach to content doesn’t simply deliver in terms of depth of engagement, it also delivers in terms of breadth of reach. An example of our increasingly global audience comes in the form of one of Jamie’s latest projects, The Employee Engagement Awards and Conference, held in New York on June 17th, which aims to celebrates the people companies who remake the way organisations think about and engage people to achieve their purpose.
And so we come full circle, from the winning of a major media industry gong by an outstanding professional, to the delivery of a major award ceremony to celebrate excellence in the HR profession. Excellence breeds excellence!
Congrats once again to Jamie.