BLR has won an APEX 2005 Grand Award for its FLSA: Wage and Hour Self-Audit Guide.

APEX Awards are presented to recognize excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence. With close to 5,000 entries, this year's competition was exceptionally intense, according to John De Lellis, editor and publisher of Communications Concepts, which runs the competition.

"Research, organization, clarity of copywriting and content formatting are all first rate," the panel of judges said in recognizing BLR's guide. "Clean layout and typography reinforce the crisp in-depth copy. An exceptional guide."

The judges presented a total of 100 APEX Grand Awards in 11 major categories. The self-audit guide received a Grand Award in the category of Special Publications.

In August 2004, the Department of Labor published new rules governing who is eligible for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. BLR designed the guide to help employers learn the new rules and aid them in bringing their companies into compliance.

BLR also received four APEX 2005 Awards for Publication Excellence. BLR publications winning this award were Environmental Manager's Compliance Advisor Newsletter, HR Manager's Legal Reporter Newsletter, Safety Training Tips Ezine, and the Safety.BLR.com website.

In addition, BLR's ERI division in California received an APEX 2005 Award for Publication Excellence for its Cal/OSHA Compliance Advisor.

The panel of judges for APEX 2005 included De Lellis, Carolyn Mulford, Senior Evalutator for the Publication Evaluation Program and Senior Writer & Editor of Writing That Works, Christine Turner, Contributing Editor of Writing That Works, and Bill Londino, Consulting Editor of Writing That Works.