CSU’s Jim Blanchard Leadership Honors Neely Young with 10th Annual Blanchard Award
for Outstanding Stewardship and Ethics in Business
August 28, 2018
COLUMBUS — Georgia Trend’s Publisher Emeritus Neely Young received the 10th Annual
Blanchard Award for Outstanding Stewardship and Ethics in Business Monday night at
the Jim Blanchard Leadership Forum, hosted by the Leadership Institute at Columbus
State University.
The Blanchard Award recipient is selected annually by a committee led by William R.
“Billy” Blanchard, director, JBA Capital, LLC, and presented during the Jim Blanchard
Leadership Forum.
“He joins past recipients James Blanchard, Frank Skinner, Ray Anderson, Bill Turner,
Robert Lepson Jr., Tom Cousins, Dan Amos, Hank Huckaby and Dan Cathy,” said Billy
Blanchard. “It is my honor to present the 2018 Blanchard Award for Outstanding Stewardship
and Ethics in Business to Georgia Trend’s Publisher Emeritus, Neely Young.”
Neely Young joined his family owned newspaper, The Valdosta Daily Times, in 1968.
After working in various positions for newspapers throughout Georgia, he became CEO
of Morris Newspaper Corporation in 1986, overseeing 40 newspapers in six states. In
1989, he formed Southern Publishing Co. with Tom Cousins, building a chain of 13 Georgia
newspapers. Ten years later, he and Cousins purchased Georgia Trend Magazine, a business
and political magazine circulated in all 159 Georgia counties. He is an award winning
columnist and has served on several boards.
Established in 2009, The Blanchard Award for Outstanding Stewardship and Ethics in
Business recognizes outstanding stewards of business ethics and corporate responsibility
for success in these areas. The award’s symbol—and Georgia state tree—the live oak,
is a perennial and universal symbol of rectitude.
Past recipients include:
• James H. Blanchard, 2009
• B. Franklin Skinner, 2010
• Ray C. Anderson, 2011
• William B. Turner, 2012
• Robert S. Jepson Jr., 2013
• Thomas G. Cousins, 2014
• Daniel P. Amos, 2015
• Henry “Hank” M. Huckaby, 2016
• Dan Cathy, 2017
