BloodHorse and Keeneland Magazine were honored with 12 awards from the Equine Media Association's annual media competition, which announced the winners May 16 in Lexington during the final day of the association's annual conference.
Equine Media Association was formerly known as American Horse Publications and announced its new name during the conference to be more representative of traditional publishers along with freelancers, influencers, podcasters, videographers, and designers who contribute to storytelling throughout the horse industry.
BloodHorse platforms received four first-place awards, highlighted by BloodHorse magazine being honored as the best print publication with a circulation of 10,000 and under and BloodHorse Daily being recognized as the best electronic publication.
Another first-place award for BloodHorse went to an image by New York photographer Skip Dickstein showing jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. dangling between horses after being unseated from Mindframe during the Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Dickstein's image was published in the October issue of BloodHorse in the Front Row Seat photo montage. Dickstein was honored with a Media Eclipse Award for this image earlier in the year.
BloodHorse managing editor Joe Perez received the fourth first-place award for his article "Foreign Worker Policy Changes Figure to Impact Racing," which looked at the anticipated effect of federal policy changes to increase the deportation of illegal immigrants and reduce the number of legal immigrants through a reduction in available work visas. Perez's analysis also included the impact of tax law changes related to the depreciation of farm equipment and horses.
READ: Foreign Worker Policy Changes Figure to Impact Racing
Senior correspondent Lenny Shulman won a first-place award for his personality profile of Stone Farm owner Arthur Hancock III that appeared in the Winter 2025 issue of Keeneland Magazine. Hancock recently released a memoir called "Dark Horses: A Memoir of Redemption." He shares with Shulman the key turning points in his life, filled with tribulation, remarkable success, and eventually redemption.
Keeneland Magazine also won first place in editorial design for its photo essay "Baby Steps," with images from Mathea Kelley and Amy Lanigan. The photo essay appeared in the Summer 2025 edition.
Additionally, BloodHorse was recognized with three second-place and three third-place awards.
The second-place award winners include:
- For equine-related podcast, "BH at the Breeders' Cup Analyzing Saturday's Races" with Sean Collins and Louie Rabaut
- Video, "3 Things You Might Not Know About: Ted Noffey" from Anna Curlin and Anne Eberhardt Keogh
- Service to the consumer article, "State Incentives Help Sustain Thoroughbred Industry" by James Gazzale
The third-place awards went to:
- Editorial Photograph, "Calm After Storm" by Anne M. Eberhardt
- Personality profile, "Family, Faith, Positivity, and Horses" by Karen M. Johnson
- Personal Column, "Iron Man" by Byron King.
