LOS ANGELES (March 2009) – Parenting Publications of America (PPA) gave out more than 400 Editorial and Design Competition awards to 81 parenting newspapers and magazines at a banquet, the climax of the three-day PPA Annual Convention in New Orleans, LA.

Charlottesville’s own local parenting magazine, AlbemarleFamily Living, was honored with four awards for excellence: A Gold Award for their Calendar of Events editorial as well as a Bronze Award for its design. Already popular with local families, the judges said, “This calendar is packed with strong break-out boxes and value-added content. It’s well organized and easy to navigate.”

A Gold Award was also presented for Design of a Special Section honoring the “Back-To-School” of August 2008. “If the goal was to make the idea of heading back to school fun and interesting for both parents and children, then this section gets all As.”

Perhaps most rewarding to the publishers and staff at Ivy Publications, is their Gold Award recognizing the complete redesign the Magazine undertook to celebrate their 10-year anniversary in 2008. The judges agreed with all the local fans of AlbemarleFamily, “This is a beautiful publication. It is open, airy and inviting. The presentation is professional, and it makes the content look and read better. The new NEWS format is innovative and inviting. Headlines seem sharper.”

“Our goal is to provide local parents with a high-quality magazine that is both fun to read and useful,” explained Jennifer Bryerton, Co-Publisher of AlbemarleFamily. “We’re very excited to have our work honored by professionals in the field.”

In business for 11 years, 2009 marks an incredible expansion for Ivy Publications as their popular AlbemarleFamily Magazine has increased its circulation by 50%. The company has also introduced a new title, The Charlottesville Welcome Guide for tourists and newcomers as well as brought out the 2nd edition of their popular AlbemarleFamily Let’s Go! Guide to Charlottesville & More.

Established in March 1988, PPA is a national trade association of regional parenting publications that reaches from Seattle to Boston. PPA’s Editorial and Design Awards Competition recognizes excellence in journalism, photography and design achieved by publishers, editors, writers and designers at member publications. Prof. Daryl Moen of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism coordinated the annual contest. A panel of judges reviewed more than a thousand entries to choose the winners in each category. parentingpublications.org.

Started in 1998, AlbemarleFamily is dedicated to being “The Ultimate Resource Making Parenting Easier & Growing Up Fun”. Their popular weekly website receives over a million hits and provides over 50,000 visitors each month with extensive community resources. In addition to the website, AlbemarleFamily also publishes a weekly e-Newsletter, monthly print Magazine, and an annual directory. AlbemarleFamily.com