I work with an extremely talented group of people and it would seem others agree with me.

My colleagues who produce our newsletter, Quality + Design, just received an American Inhouse Design Award for the cover of the November 2008 edition. This is a competition that draws entries from leading in-house design, marketing and communications departments.

Doesn’t it look great? Our staff photographer, Brandon Smith, says he thinks photography is about “showing ordinary things in extraordinary ways,” which prompted him to take this unusual angle when approaching the pool table.

Smith's expert eye combined with the design talents of our graphic artist, Brooke McKinney, created a winning look.

And while I’m handing out commendations, I’d like to congratulate the entire publication department for receiving six awards from the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists for our 2008 work. The awards were on both the design side and editorial side of the magazine, which just means we all rock. Two of our awards were for “Best Consumer Reporting” – which is what Angie's List is all about!

Congrats go out to all. If you can, pat yourself on your back. Or, shoot me an email and I’ll come pat your back for you. Or, uh, maybe I’ll hire a massage therapist from Angie's List to do the dirty work for me. Yeah, that sounds like a much better idea.