It may be surprising to some how early we plan our editorial calendar. We’re already hard at work on the 2023 calendar, which will be finalized by the time this letter is published. Guiding us are lessons learned from our 2022 planning process, in which we moved away from writing specific headlines a year out, opting instead to identify over-arching themes in which we could find tighter angles closer to publication.

We also added a “focus” to almost every month. Some months focus on a particular region, others on a specific topic. The idea of the focus isn’t one feature story or a special section but instead how we can apply that focus throughout the issue, where appropriate.

For example, this month has a focus on safety. When we looked at who to invite to participate in Off the Cuff; when we discussed what companies to potentially feature via photography; and when we considered sources and topics for the rest of our content, we asked ourselves if there was a connection to safety. There wasn’t for every story, and that’s fine: the point is to ask the question, not to force an angle that doesn’t make sense.

For 2023, we’re going to include focuses again, and we’re deliberately going to update and change them. There was an obvious connection in our June issue between our transportation special section and a focus on the Pacific Northwest, but it would also be interesting to have an Arctic, labor, or technology focus in June. In particular, we are excited to move the regions: for 2022, our Alaska Native special section will be complemented by a focus on the Interior, but as Alaska Native entities have statewide operations, it would definitely be beneficial to guide our thinking to the Southeast, Western Alaska, or the Arctic.

This month’s issue features the Industrial Support Services special section, paired with the focus on safety, and I feel it’s a particularly fitting combination. Many support service providers offer specific safety services, from security to emergency response to environmental consulting and cleanup. But even for those companies that don’t sell safety services, safety is top of mind.

It may sound cliché, but we love contacting a range of companies in Alaska and hearing their outright enthusiasm to celebrate their safety programs, culture, and records. A growing number of companies have reported to us an entire year—or longer—of zero lost-time incidents.

I’m particularly excited that we are launching a new column this month, which will run bi-monthly for the next year: Sean Dewalt is writing the Safety Corner, in which he explores risk mitigation and safety topics. We’re focused on safety this month, but like all of the exceptional companies we talk to, we’re happy to keep the conversation ongoing.

Tasha Anderson
Managing Editor, Alaska Business