Lee Nichols, Vice President of Content for Gulf Energy Information of Houston, Texas (U.S.) and London, England has been named the 2025 winner of the prestigious G.D. Crain Jr. Award, the highest recognition for editorial in business-to-business media.

The G.D. Crain Jr. Award, now in its 57th year, is given annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the development of editorial excellence in business media over the course of their career. By its name, the award honors the founder of Advertising Age.

In his role with Gulf, Nichols manages all nine information brands of Gulf, which focus on the various segments of the oil, gas, energy and hydrogen industries. He also is directly responsible for Hydrocarbon Processing, Gas Processing & LNG and H2Tech publications. Nichols has authored more than 400 articles on various subjects within refining, petrochemicals, hydrogen and gas processing/LNG, including deep dive analyses on major trends and capital spending in the global hydrocarbon processing and hydrogen industries, as well as presented at many industry events.

Nichols has been with Gulf for 16 years, beginning with the company as a researcher for refining and petrochemical projects, where he managed the company’s market intelligence division. He then became Editor-in-Chief of Hydrocarbon Processing in 2015 and was promoted to Vice President of Content in 2022.