The Volkswagen Magazine, which the Wolfsburg-based automaker publishes in cooperation with G + J Corporate Media GmbH, ran for the first time in the Custom Publications, Automobiles category and was awarded a place among the top 3 at this first attempt.

The high-quality magazine comprising some 100 pages and with a print run of over 700,000 copies is published quarterly in Germany. Customers receive the publication via Volkswagen dealers. The Volkswagen Magazine is also distributed in Australia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Japan, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Turkey. "We are delighted that the Volkswagen Magazine is so well received by our customers, and that we have been honored with such a prestigious international award," commented Jochen Sengpiehl, Head of Marketing at Volkswagen.

The Mercury Award is presented each year for the world’s most outstanding publications in the field of public relations and corporate communications. This year, the jury reviewed 930 submissions from 17 countries on the basis of a predefined set of criteria covering overall presentation, editorial quality, design and efficacy as a customer retention and marketing tool. Further information on the Mercury Awards and the International Academy of Communication Arts and Sciences (IACAS), which is presenting the 2006 awards in New York on March 29, is available from www.mercommawards.com.

The name "Mercury Award" refers to Mercury, the messenger god in Roman mythology and symbolizes the spirit of communicating news. The Mercury Award was presented for the first time in 1986.