McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Senior Editor Kim Marselas enjoyed a stellar showing in the 2024 APEX Awards of Excellence journalism competition, having a hand in all four of the publication’s honors.
While she teamed up with McKnight’s Executive Editor James M. Berklan in winning a Grand Award for writing/coverage, she commanded Awards of Excellence on her own for her expansive “Rural Peril” series and for blog writing.
In addition, a team consisting of Marselas, Berklan, Staff Writer Josh Henreckson, Senior Art Director Monica Pizzi and Graphic Designer Aminah Beg earned an Award of Excellence in the Magazines, Journals & Tabloids – Print category.
The haul lifted McKnight’s Long-Term Care News’ lifetime total to 55 Awards of Excellence and 13 Grand Awards. All told, McKnight’s publications won nine APEX awards this year. Sister publications McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care won a combined five.
“This is the second journalism competition in 2024 that judges recognized Kim’s outstanding ability to write blogs that really make people think, and her ‘Rural Peril’ series on the extreme difficulties long-term care providers often experience in rural areas was simply unprecedented for its enormous breadth and personalization,” said McKnight’s Executive Editor Berklan. “It’s only fitting that her outstanding writing and reporting take center stage.”
The multi-part “Rural Peril” series kicked off with a bang, displaying Marselas’ strategy of meeting rural providers in several Plains states on their own turf to enhance the four-part series, which also included a column and special podcast segment.
Leading the list of her blogs for her nomination in that category was the publication’s biggest draw of 2023: “A slap in the face for LPNs who keep nursing homes running.” It discussed a glaring gap in federal regulators’ first-ever nursing home staffing mandate, which was the topic of coverage featured in the Grand Award. That entry included the pair’s breaking news bulletin at sunrise about the proposal’s first unveiling that led all other specialty publishers’ by several hours.
Now in its 45th year of publication, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News is the veteran publisher covering the LTC sector and has won an unprecedented 200-plus journalism and publishing awards.
The 36th annual APEX, or Awards for Publication Excellence, garnered more than 1,100 entries nationwide. The program is administered by Communications Concepts.
