We began celebrating Overdrive’s 50th year of publishing in October, when that milestone year began. Now, starting the calendar year of that golden anniversary, we’re introducing some improvements in the magazine.
If you look at our digital edition, you’ll notice this issue looks different. We’ve redesigned some visual elements and made other changes, as well.
The biggest one is that we’re wrapping three departments – Channel 19, Truck Gallery and Gauges – into one new, larger section, Roadside Attractions. It will start off each issue with a collection that builds on those departments by adding advice, upcoming events and brief, colorful news that stands out from the basic industry topics covered in our main news section, Log Book.
Another big change this month involves our Trucker of the Month and Trucker of the Year program. We announced last year that we are merging the program with the Truckload Carriers Association’s Owner Operator of the Year program, which Overdrive has co-sponsored in recent years. The result should be a stronger competition with more visibility and better prizes. Our sister publication, Truckers News, is doing the same with TCA’s company driver competition.
Overdrive will begin to profile the top six candidates as Owner Operators of the Month in March. This will follow the announcement in our February issue of the 2011 Overdrive Trucker of the Year, chosen from our 2010 Truckers of the Month.
From those six finalists announced in 2011, the top three finalists for Owner Operator of the Year will be presented at TCA’s annual meeting, March 4-7, 2012, in Orlando, Fla. The winner will be featured in an Overdrive cover story in 2012.
Solicitations for the contest’s next round will begin this summer. If you or someone you know is deserving, we hope you’ll take the time to enter.
The job of producing a magazine that meets its readers’ needs is never done. As you read this and subsequent issues, let us know what changes you like and dislike, and what we can do to improve. In the end, helping you do your job better is the only golden achievement that counts for us.