The Business Journal’s Edward Smith capped off journalism awards season with top honors in a national competition among other regional business publications.

Smith’s story from 2021 headlined “When it comes to apartments, high-end is the flavor of the day” took gold in the category of “Best Local Coverage of a National Business/Economic Story” for small-sized tabloids as part of the Alliance of Area Business Publishers (AABP) Editorial Excellence Awards.

The awards, which match competitors from across the United States, were announced during the AABP’s annual summer conference in Columbus, Ohio, over the weekend.

The June 11, 2021, edition of The Business Journal featured the story about how market conditions are causing multi-family real estate developers to build almost exclusively for the luxury segment. 

“This unique look at the nationwide housing crisis goes beyond simply explaining why building materials are so expensive. It deftly takes us along with the building managers as they explore and implement creative cost-effective solutions,” according to a comment from judges at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The AABP award is the latest piece of hardware Smith has brought home this year for his work published in 2021. In April his “Tsunami Series” about the impending wave of evictions earned a George F. Gruner Award for newspapers in the region. His story about drought and the Delta also earned the Fresno County Farm Bureau’s annual journalism award for general print media.

His “Eviction Tsunami” series also took a second-place award in the category of Public Service Journalism from the California News Publishers Association statewide awards competition.