The Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) has named Martha “Marty” Steffens, the SABEW Chair in Business and Financial Journalism at the University of Missouri, as the 2026 recipient of the society’s Distinguished Achievement Award. Considered the organization’s highest honor, the award recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the field of business journalism.
An alumna of Indiana University, Professor Steffens joined the Mizzou faculty in 2002 after three decades leading major American newsrooms, including service as executive editor of the San Francisco Examiner and in senior editing roles at the Los Angeles Times. As an educator, she teaches students how to analyze live financial data, report on earnings in real time, and engage with industry leaders. Throughout her career, she has traveled to over 30 countries to train students and professional journalists, including the first generation of women journalists in Saudi Arabia.
Professor Steffens’s research has contributed to textbooks, foundational texts, and ongoing scholarship into media, ethics, and history. She is the author of Essential Economics (Kendall Hunt Publishing, 2022) and Reporting Disaster on Deadline: A Handbook for Students and Professionals (Routledge, 2012).
“This recognition means a great deal to me because it reflects the work my students and those SABEW members in my training sessions have gone on to do,” said Professor Steffens. “Business journalism, at its best, holds power to account and helps people understand the forces shaping their lives. From any workshop or class that I teach, I hope that my students leave Missouri ready to ask better questions, follow the money, and report with both rigor and courage.”
Professor Steffens is slated to retire from Mizzou at the end of the current academic year.