Gary Johnson Wins the Hedley Donovan Award

MSP Communications, an award-winning publisher and leading content marketing agency based in Minneapolis, is pleased to announce that its president, Gary Johnson, is the recipient of the 2017 Hedley Donovan Award from the Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association. 

The Hedley Donovan Award was created in 1999 by the MMPA to recognize individuals who have shown outstanding lifelong dedication and made exceptional contributions to Minnesota’s magazine industry.

Johnson joined Mpls.St.Paul Magazine in 1977 and was instrumental in its growth and development as a leading innovator in the city magazine industry. In 1993, Johnson oversaw the creation of Twin Cities Business, one of the most awarded regional business magazine brands in the nation.

MSP Communications has been a frontrunner in the custom publishing business since 1978. In the years since, the company has established a digital content creation division that has produced more than 225 titles, platforms and brands for some of the country’s most recognized companies and organizations.

“Our creative process is unique—one rooted in the practice of brand journalism that guides highly creative execution, solid audience engagement, and drives measurable outcomes,” Johnson said. “Magazines have demonstrated for decades what it takes to earn the trust of consumers and we apply those same principles to our digital strategies for some of the most trusted and recognized brands and organizations in the world.”

Johnson also received the Milton W. Jones Lifetime Achievement award from the City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA) in May 2016 and the 2016 John Caldwell Award from The Content Council. In addition to his duties as president of MSP Communications, Johnson teaches “Content Strategy & Brand Journalism” in a Strategic Communications master class at the University of Minnesota graduate school.

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