Business Jet Traveler has won two more editorial prizes—its 24th and 25th major wins since 2005. This latest recognition comes in the 2014 Folio: Eddies and Ozzies, the largest awards competition in magazine publishing, which this year attracted upwards of 2,000 entries.
BJT won for Best Full Issue of a Transportation or Travel Consumer Magazine for its April/May 2014 issue, which included interviews with Sir Richard Branson and NetJets CEO Jordan Hansell. We also took the prize for Best Single Article in a Transportation Consumer Magazine for Margie Goldsmith’s feature on Papua New Guinea, which appeared in our December 2013/January 2014 edition.
We’re not resting on our laurels, as I hope you’ll see from our next issue, which will feature Margie’s terrific interview with filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola and incorporate BJT’s first major redesign in seven years.
In 2013, when The New Yorker unveiled its own latest redesign, editor David Remnick noted that “we’ve kept the DNA and added some modern elements.” If the magazine fell on the floor and were three feet away, he added, it would still be identifiable to longtime readers.
I could say the same about the version of BJT that we’re introducing in February—though if it were three feet away, you might mistakenly think it was just a little farther. That’s because we’ve shrunk the page size slightly. We did this because we believe the change will make for more attractive layouts and because readers have long requested a more compact, easier-to-hold-and-carry magazine. We’ve also incorporated new typefaces, altered our treatment of features and some departments and made a variety of other changes.
We hope you like the results. But whatever you think, please let us hear from you.
Meanwhile, our thanks to everyone who helped us to put a fresh coat of paint on BJT, and especially to creative director John Manfredo, who headed the redesign project, and production editor Lysbeth McAleer, who contributed many good ideas and kept us on a smooth track through this time of change. Kudos also to the rest of our first-rate design team: Mona Brown, Thomas Jackson, John Lewis and Aaron Tollin.
Jeff Burger joined Business Jet Traveler in March 2004, a few months after the publication’s launch. Besides editing the magazine, he has written many articles for it and conducted its interviews with such luminaries as Sir Richard Branson, James Carville, Suze Orman, Donald Trump, F. Lee Bailey, and Steve Van Zandt. Burger helped to oversee the introduction of BJT’s annual Readers' Choice surveys and Buyers’ Guide.
During his years with the magazine, it has won well over a hundred editorial awards. In 2011, Burger received the Gold Wing Award for Reporting Excellence from the National Business Aviation Association and the Aviation Journalism Award from the National Air Transportation Association. He has also won writing and editing awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. BJT, meanwhile, was named Best International Publication in 2017 in the Aerospace Media Awards. It was also a Magazine of the Year finalist in 2011, 2013, and 2016 and an Overall Excellence winner in 2018 in competitions sponsored by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
Before coming to BJT, Burger spent 14 years at Medical Economics, the nation’s leading business magazine for doctors, where he served on the editorial board; directed staff recruiting; oversaw a $2 million annual budget; and was financial editor, news editor, and director of special projects. He has been editor of several publications, including Phoenix Magazine in Arizona, and has been a consulting editor at Time Inc. His articles have appeared in more than 75 magazines and newspapers, among them The Los Angeles Times, Barron’s, Reader’s Digest, Gentlemen’s Quarterly , and Family Circle. Chicago Review Press published his books, Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounter, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, and Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters. His music writing appears on multiple websites, including his own byjeffburger.com.
Burger, a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, lives in Ridgewood, N.J. He and his wife, Madeleine, have two grown children. His off-hours passions include cooking, travel, technology, movies, and music.
