Despite hundreds of entries and some very stiff competition, Archery Business took home two 2011 Excellence Awards recently, at the 15th Annual Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association (MMPA) Excellence Awards banquet held November 2. The event saw Grand View Media publications take home a total of four Excellence awards.

Archery Business won the Silver Award in the prestigious “Overall Excellence” category for Business/Trade pubs. Winners “presented a strong and consistent package targeted to the audience it serves…written clearly and authoritatively…with clean and consistent, content-driven design.”

Archery Business also won a Silver Award in the Best Feature Article category—“Leagues Of Their Own.” The article on running more-profitable archery leagues appeared in our Jan./Feb. 2011 issue, penned by longtime contributor Patrick Durkin.

AB’s sister consumer pub, Bowhunting World, took home a Gold Award for Editor’s Letter in the Special Interest category. Penned by Editor Mike Strandlund, “Reclamation Redefined” appeared in the November 2010 issue; it chronicles the rebirth of a Missouri land tract raped by coal mining, into a virtual bowhunting haven.

Nine magazines were first-time award recipients, including Grand View Media’s hot new digital magazine, AR Guns & Hunting, which took home a Bronze award for Feature Article in the Special Interest category. “Squirrel Hunting Saved My Life” was written by Vietnam vet and longtime outdoor writer Gary Clancy

Hundreds of professionals from Minnesota’s magazine publishing community attended the MMPA event, which saw awards presented in 82 categories to 68 different publications.