Bill Joyner Bestowed Newspaper Business Development Network Award

By: E&P Staff This year's Newspaper Business Development Network's (NBDN) Helm-Colucci Award is going to Bill Joyner, former advertising director for The Huntsville (Ala.) Times. The award, which will be presented at the NBDN conference on Aug. 6-8, honors the founders of the Newspaper Special Sections Network.

Alton Helm, of The Washington Post, and Marie Anne Colucci, formerly with the Montreal Gazette, are founders of NBDN and were the first recipients of the award.

"NBDN exists to assist newspapers in pursuit of new business, whether it's additional revenue from existing customers or new business from new customers and Bill Joyner has been the persistent leader in this effort," Ray Carlsen, outgoing executive director of the Inland Press Association, which handles the business and administrative functions for NBDN, said in a statement. "It's been his 'crusade.'"

Joyner worked at the Huntsville Times starting in 1995 before he took a buyout this year. Through his work in the ad department, he helped sales grow more than $35 million. Joyner launched six niche magazines with annual revenue of $1.5 million and installed a new pricing matrix for automotive accounts increasing revenue 24%.

Joyner has held management positions at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., and The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss. He serves as classified committee chair for the Inland Press Association and is a board director of NBDN.