Twin Cities Business has earned national recognition for design and writing.

On Saturday, the magazine’s staff took home four awards at the Alliance of Area Business Publishers’ (AABP) summer conference in Atlanta. Award winners were chosen from more than 500 entries submitted by 41 business publications in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Faculty members at the University of Missouri School of Journalism judged the entries.

TCB art director Chris Winn earned two silver awards for design: one for the cover of the October 2018 issue and another for the layout of a June 2018 profile of Bryant-Lake Bowl owner Kim Bartmann.

AABP judges said Winn’s October 2018 cover design “illustrates the story effectively with a clear sense of the density and proportion suggested by the headline.”

“The visual perspective also gives the cover an illusion of depth, and the color palette is striking,” they said.

TCB senior writer Burl Gilyard received a silver award for best body of work from a single writer, while editor in chief Allison Kaplan earned a gold award for best bylined commentary in her September 2018 column about the historic Colonial Warehouse.

“Burl Gilyard applies flashes of creativity onto sturdy and well-constructed stories,” AABP judges wrote. “Whether it’s a feature on the snack industry or an analysis of housing density, he produces consistent and easy-to-read stories.”

Judges commended Kaplan for melding “the personal with the social” in her writing.

“Her ability to start with the personal and seamlessly extrapolate to broader concerns is a characteristic trait that enriches her commentary with the feeling of story and sincere perspective,” AABP judges said. “This personal filter allows larger issues to be better understood.”

Kaplan and publisher Shelly Elmore accepted the awards at a June 29 ceremony in Atlanta.