Reason.tv Snags Prestigious "Digital Ellie" Award Nomination for "UPS vs. FEDEX: Ultimate Whiteboard Remix" Vid

The National Magazine Awards, presented annually by the American Society of Magazine Editors, are the Oscars of publishing. We're pleased to announce that Reason.tv's "UPS vs. FEDEX: Ultimate Whiteboard Remix" has been named a finalist for best video in the first-ever National Magazine Awards for Digital Media.

Other finalists in this category include National Geographic, The Oxford American, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, and Yale Environment 360. For more information and full list of finalists in all categories, go here.

Winners will be announced on March 18.

"UPS vs. FEDEX," produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, was originally released on November 8, 2009. Click above to watch; the original text appears below.

You may have heard the UPS is in quite the fight with FEDEX. Though both are package-delivery companies, they're governed by totally different federal labor rules. As a result, UPS's workforce is much more heavily unionized than FEDEX's—and more than twice as expensive.

So now UPS is trying to get FEDEX reclassified under federal law as a way of screwing a competitor. That's horrendous, but it also makes a sick kind of business sense. And it also reveals the real villain: A government that is big enough to absolutely, positively guarantee it can screw any business. Overnight.

"UPS Vs. FEDEX" was produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie (who also hosts). Approximately two minutes long.

This video is based on "Using Unions as Weapons," by Veronique de Rugy, which appeared in the October 2009 print edition of Reason.

Scroll down for downloadable versions. This video is also available at Reason.tv's YouTube channel. Subscribe now.

Nominations for the print awards have not yet been announced. Reason magazine previously has been named a finalist for National Magazine Awards for Edith Efron's 1992 essay on Clarence Thomas; Glenn Garvin's 1995 articles on immigration policy (here and here); Michael Fumento's 1997 report on Gulf War Syndrome; and Jacob Sullum's 1997 cover story on how the drug war harms treatment of chronic pain patients.