Despite more than 500 entries and some very stiff competition, Bowhunting World and sister title Archery Business took home a total of six 2012 Excellence Awards recently, at the 16th Annual Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association (MMPA) Excellence Awards banquet held November 1 in Minneapolis.

Bowhunting World, took home a Gold Award for Best Cover Design, in the Special Interest category. The winning Nov. 2011 cover features a rut theme complete with photo of a burly whitetail buck rubbing a tree.

Bowhunting World also took home a Silver Award for Best Regular Regular Column, for Whitetail Science, and Bronze Awards for Best Single Topic Issue (for the Feb. 2012 60th Anniversary issue) and Best Editors Column (From The Editor), penned by Mike Strandlund.

Archery Business, BW’s sister trade publication, won the Silver Award in the “Best Single Topic Issue” category for Business/Trade pubs—for the Jan./Feb. 2012 Trade Show issue that previewed all the trade shows including the ATA and SHOT shows, as well as much of the year’s great new gear.

Archery Business also won a Silver Award in the Best Cover Design category, for the March/April 2012 cover that featured a candid photo from the floor of the 2012 ATA Trade Show held in Columbus, Ohio.

Hundreds of professionals from Minnesota’s magazine publishing community attended the MMPA event, which saw awards presented in more than 40 categories, to more than 60 different publications.