Two pros, three awards.

• Author: Gray, Tim
• Position: Upfront

The highest praise I can give any writer is that he makes me care about something I didn't previously give a damn about. That's what Senior Editor Ed Martin did with his profile of U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, a Brevard Republican (cover story, June 2001).

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The judges of the Association of Area Business Publications, the trade group to which we belong, liked the piece, too. At AABP's summer conference in June, they named it the best profile in a magazine. As they said in their citation, "In North Carolina, Charles Taylor is a well-known man who's managed to keep a lot of secrets. Martin digs beneath the public veneer for a look at how Taylor really operates."

For me, the best thing about Ed's piece was how it captured the central paradox of Taylor. The things his critics hate--his outspoken conservatism, his unwillingness to kowtow to the media, his success in business while serving in elective office--are exactly what many of his constituents admire.

Ed almost didn't get an interview with Taylor. The day before it was supposed to happen, the congressman's press secretary called to cancel. Ed assured him that we would do a story anyway and that he was still coming up to Brevard to keep other appointments he had made.

And that's what he did, stopping by Taylor's Blue Ridge Savings Bank on a Friday afternoon to introduce himself to the congressman's secretary and interview the bank's president. While Ed was there, the congressman called and had his secretary relay the message that he'd changed his mind, he'd do the interview.

Ed's persistence made that interview happen, and that kind of doggedness is one of the hallmarks of a good reporter. I've said this before, but it's worth saying again: Ed is one of the best I've worked with.

Ed also has a great eye for telling detail...