SIGNAL Magazine has won its share of awards over the years, and all of its staffers justifiably have taken pride in their accomplishments. Usually, these awards have consisted of a single annual recognition for an article, a report or a graphic layout. This year, however, SIGNAL was blessed with separate awards for several endeavors.

The magazine has won three APEX 2009 Awards for Publication Excellence. Executive Editor Maryann Lawlor won an award in the Newswriting category for her article, “Morphing Robot Under Development” (December 2008, page 61). Editor in Chief Robert K. Ackerman won in the Scientific and Environmental Writing category for the article, Computer Researchers Look Past Silicon (June 2008, page 39). And, New Media Editor Helen Mosher won in the Blogs, Wikis and Forums category for the SIGNAL Scape blog, which she originated.

The winners, below, from left to right: Robert K. Ackerman, Maryann Lawlor, and Helen Mosher.

As promised, we have a new feature on SIGNAL Scape as of this month. Robert K. Ackerman, editor-in-chief of SIGNAL Magazine, describes the logic in moving the Business Bytes column to the web in the July issue’s “Behind the Lines”:

Compared to a monthly paper publication, the Web offers a huge advantage in timeliness. One of the first additions to the enhanced Web site’s news center comes directly from the magazine. Loyal SIGNAL readers who have perused the Business Byte column no longer can find it on paper—it has migrated to the Web site as Contract Awards under SIGNAL Scape. This change makes sense in terms of timeliness and relevance, because instead of learning about a contract two months after its award, readers now can see it on SIGNAL Online within days of its announcement. Web hot links connect readers with more information from the source of each contract announcement.

The Contract Awards section of SIGNAL Scape is edited by Katie Packard, SIGNAL Magazine’s Assistant Editor. You can access the Contract Awards section directly here, or subscribe to the section’s feed with this RSS link. Please note that the contract awards are not included in the regular SIGNAL Scape feed.