About Georgia Trend

Georgia Trend , the magazine of Georgia business, politics and economic development since 1985, is the only statewide business publication in the market. Georgia Trend is published once a month with two extra?issues: Business Georgia and Small Business Guide . It is delivered to more than 50,000 subscribers and has become indispensable to the leaders that shape our state.

Continued investments in GeorgiaTrend.com and Georgia Trend Daily have made them equally valuable resources.

Georgia Trend has won numerous national and regional awards for journalistic excellence, including the prestigious Green Eyeshade Award, as well as awards from the Magazine Association of the Southeast (MAGS) and the Alliance of Area Business Publications (AABP).

Before submitting story ideas, please read our? editorial and submission guidelines ?and our? Editorial Calendar .

Mission

Georgia Trend’s editorial mission is simple. With every issue we strive to:

• Offer balanced analysis of business and political trends around the state.
• Paint an accurate portrait of economic development at state and local levels.
• Create a forum for state and local leaders to voice their opinions on critical issues.
• Spotlight individuals making a positive impact on Georgia.

We adhere to the highest practices of business journalism; all editorial content is prepared independently of advertising sales.

History

30+ Years of Georgia Trend

By Susan Percy, Editor-At-Large

Joe Frank Harris was governor of Georgia, Andrew Young was mayor of Atlanta and Ronald Reagan lived in the White House in September 1985 when Georgia Trend made its debut as “The Magazine of Georgia Business and Finance,” under the aegis of The St. Petersburg Times Corporation, headed by former Atlanta Constitution Editor Gene Patterson.

At that time, the state’s textile industry was still viable, and Atlanta’s traffic was still manageable. Macon and Perry were vying for a $32-million Agricultural Exposition Center ? Perry Won; Home Depot was on a roll with 40 stores ? now it’s more than 2,000. The Braves were still waiting for their pivotal “worst to first” season, and folks were still buzzing about the New Coke flap. Prime commercial space in Buckhead was going for $20 a square foot, and the word “yuppie” had not yet worn out its welcome. The banking industry was on the verge of major upheaval and Ted Turner was about to make a big Hollywood move.

The very first Georgia Trend ran a cover photo of Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle (now adding two new reactors) with the headline, “The Humbling of Georgia Power.” Other stories looked at Atlantic Steel (its location now the site of Atlantic Station) and its “gamble for survival” and Macon’s Charter Medical Corporation, then the state’s fastest-growing healthcare company.

In the magazine’s first year of publication, one story reported that Savannah had passed Charleston as a leading container port, and another noted that Georgia’s weak public schools were a concern to foreign investors. The first Economic Yearbook in April 1986 charted the course of the economy in “The Two Georgias.”

The St. Petersburg Times sold Georgia Trend in 1991 to longtime Georgia newspaperman Millard Grimes’ Grimes Publications, and Grimes became editor and publisher. The following year he sold the magazine to businessman Virgil Williams, then bought it back in April 1994 and published it until January 1999, when he sold it to the current publisher and editor-in-chief Neely Young and his business partner Tom Cousins. In 2017, Young retired, and Morris Publishing Group based in Augusta, bought Trend Publications. Ben Young, Neely’s son, continues as Georgia Trend’s publisher and editor-in-chief.

In its early years, the magazine covered banking and finance heavily. During Williams’ tenure as owner, he bought out Georgia Trend’s chief competitor, Business Atlanta, and expanded coverage of public policy issues.

Under Grimes’ ownership, the magazine became more interested in history as well as politics and broadened its coverage of areas outside of Georgia’s cities. This was the period when the magazine added some of its signature features, such as “Most Influential Georgians,” “Georgian of the Year” and “40 Under 40.”

Under Young’s ownership, Georgia Trend enhanced its coverage of statewide issues like water and air quality, transportation policy, education and healthcare and intensified its coverage of economic development activity throughout the state. The magazine published its first “Legal Elite” list in 2003 and began its “Best Places To Work in Georgia” selections in 2006.

The cover tagline reflects changes in the magazine’s direction. It changed in 1989 to “The Magazine of Georgia Business” and again in 1992 to “The Magazine of Georgia Business and Politics Since 1985.” In 2010 it became “The Magazine of Georgia Business, Politics & Economic Development Since 1985.”

Since 2000, Georgia Trend has won 15 gold, 9 silver and 14 bronze awards in national or regional competitions sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, the Magazine Association of the Southeast, and the AABP (Alliance of Area Business Publications). In 2011, Georgia Trend was named one of the country’s top three business magazines by the AABP.

Throughout its more than 30 years, Georgia Trend has maintained a high standard of journalistic excellence. The magazine continues to focus on people, issues and businesses that have made Georgia the No. 1 state in the nation to do business for five years running.