Advanstar’s Debby Savage and Pharmaceutical Media Inc.’s Gina Bennicasa won the Association of Medical Media’s 17th annual Nexus Representatives of the Year Awards, honoring outstanding sales professionals in medical publishing.

Savage won the award for multi-specialty publication for her work on Medical Economics. Bennicasa, of PMI, a New York City marketing and sales representation firm, won the award for specialty publication for her work representing Elsevier’s American College of Cardiology properties, including both print and online.

The awards luncheon was held today at the Palace Hotel in midtown Manhattan. Keynote speaker Harry Sweeney, formerly of Dorland Global and now managing partner, SouthPennSquare Associates, discussed the journal advertising recession and laced into marketers pulling back on print ads, noting AMM research showing that journal ads deliver a higher ROI than any other channel.

“What part of Number One don’t these people get?” asked Sweeney. “Why are pages dropping in the face of this evidence?” He added, getting a guffaw out of the crowd: “Are you the worst sales people in the world?”