Note: Lola Digital Media is AllGear Digital as of December 2022.
Lola Digital Media is proud to announce that Outdoor Media Summit has recognized Sean McCoy as “Editor of the Year.” The award was granted by a panel of judges at Outdoor Media Summit, held Sept. 27-29, 2021, in Estes Park, Colo.
McCoy, currently serving as Editorial Director, has a long history with the company and its media sites. He served as Editor-in-Chief of GearJunkie.com from 2015 to 2019, and before that held various positions within the company.
Since 2011, McCoy has written, edited, and published thousands of articles. He also traveled the world for GearJunkie, running ultra-marathons, climbing mountains, hunting, fishing, and testing the cutting edge of gear along the way.
In addition to the “Editor of the Year” award, McCoy nabbed “Best Outdoor Story” with his 2020 essay, “A Griller’s Call to Arms During Weird, Scary Times.” The judges noted the story takes the prize as “among the most-eloquent statements about the life and times of an outdoor enthusiast in COVID times.”
“Since his days in journalism school, McCoy has exhibited a passion and focus rarely seen in professional or personal life,” said Stephen Regenold, the founder of GearJunkie and VP Strategy. “Whether it’s climbing a first-ascent icefall in Canada, or copy-editing a dense article on a new outdoor-gear technology, McCoy has always leaned into an internal fire that produces outsize results.”
Today, McCoy oversees a suite of publications. He recently spearheaded a Newsroom initiative to break stories and better cover trends in real time within the company.
The judges at Outdoor Media Summit noted McCoy’s tenure and his unrelenting passion and work ethic. Yoon Kim, a founder at the summit, spoke at a live awards ceremony about McCoy’s transition from “dirtbag freelancer” to a professional at the top of the field.
“Sean spent nine years of his life as a local beat reporter for the Virgin Islands Daily News. In 2011, he moved stateside to start over as a freelancer,” Kim recounted onstage to the audience in Estes Park. “He went from dirtbag freelancer to leading editorial direction for titles such as GearJunkie, Autowise, Bikerumor, and Switchback Travel.”
Kim continued, noting McCoy’s propensity for staying involved, hands dirty, even as he rose through the ranks. “You can still find him hunched over a dimly lit laptop, editing and cranking out gear reviews.”
ABOUT LOLA DIGITAL MEDIA: Lola Digital Media owns and operates best-in-class media brands that fuel readers’ passions. Based in Los Angeles, the company was founded in 2018 and runs a portfolio of digital publications and media brands.
ABOUT OUTDOOR MEDIA SUMMIT: Held annually since 2015, Outdoor Media Summit is an annual conference that brings together the top writers, editors, influencers, and brands of the outdoor industry. The three-day summit includes dozens of workshops that teach communicators skills such as storytelling, marketing, and monetization.
