Azbee
Awards of Excellence
Contest to split into digital, print
competitions for 2009
Separate programs
will have their own conferences.
Print magazine,
newsletter entry deadline: January 30.
Entry brochure,
online submissions for Print Azbees
will be ready early December.
To
increase the prestige and visibility of
the high-quality digital work that
b2b editorial and design staffs do,
ASBPE is creating a separate digital Azbee
Awards
program for 2009. It will operate on
a later schedule than the print awards.
First up is the Print
Azbees, with an entry deadline of January
30, and its
associated two-day National
Editorial Conference with the Print
Azbee Awards of Excellence banquet.
Both are set
for July 15–17 at the Marriott
Washington in Washington, D.C.
The Digital Azbees
will have an entry submission deadline
in late summer and a
one-day digital conference and digital
awards banquet set for fall 2009 on
the West Coast.
Members will be notified
when digital submissions may begin.
Other benefit of split
Another advantage of
separating the print from the digital
is the creation
of additional
award categories that match the actual
work that editors and artists do every
day, especially on the digital side.
“By offering a
separate digital awards banquet and conference,
we can recognize
the hard work that editors are doing
to not only publish a quality print publication,
but also to drive revenue and encourage
reader interaction through online projects,” said competition and conference committee
chair Amy Fischbach.
The fall 2009 Digital
Azbee Awards banquet will allow ASBPE
to develop an associated
one-day digital conference, yet another
educational opportunity for editors.
The event likely will feature beginner
and advanced
tracks.
While the digital conference
will focus solely on Internet-related
topics, the
print conference largely will explore
the interrelationship between print
and digital.
The July Print Azbee
awards ceremony will acknowledge the two
Magazine of
the Year
winners, while the Digital Azbees will
honor the Web Site of the Year and the
Multi-Platform Presentation of the Year.
Improved submission
process
After rolling out the
online entry process for the first time
last year, ASPBE
asked competition entrants and judges
for comments
about the process.
“We’ve listened to the feedback and
are improving the entry process,” Fischbach
said. “We want to make it easier
for publications to enter the competition.”
For example, ASBPE
is looking to expedite the payment and
receipt process. Entrants
will also find instructions on how
to make a low-resolution PDF and will
be
informed of a successful upload. For better entry preparation,
a well-written mission statement, geared
for judging
purposes, will be posted.
Although entrants can
still send hard copies, most categories
will now be
available for PDF submission, including
design entries.
Some categories, such as those needing
entire issues, will still require hard
copies.
Custom publications
category added
On the print side,
four new categories have been created.
To
recognize more freelance business writers
and editors working on
custom
publications,
and to separate these publications
from other b2b magazines, Best Custom
Magazine
and Best Custom Newsletter categories
have been developed.
Unlike previous Azbee contests, custom
publishers may only enter in these
two new categories.
A Best Humorous/Fun
department and a Most-Improved Publication
category have been added
to the editorial division.
Details about digital
categories will be announced later in
2009.
Criteria
All of ASBPE’s editorial categories
have a design component for judging purposes,
and the design categories have an editorial
element as well.
“This is the Azbee
hallmark,” Fischbach
said. “No one understands better
than ASBPE what quality work and
the interrelationship between editor
and artist are.”
Call for entries
Rather than printing
a Call for Entries brochure this year,
ASBPE will instead
email the entry form to publications
nationwide.
Reminder postcards
with the URL of the online entry system
as well as the deadline
for the competition will be mailed.
Fees
Submitting online will
carry a lower entry fee than submitting
a hard copy:
- For
members, a fee of $75 will apply
for entering online and $90 for entering
hard copies.
- For
nonmembers, the fee is $85 for online
and $100 for hard
copies.
Fees for the Magazine
of the Year are slightly higher.
The Azbees will continue
to include gold, silver and bronze awards
nationally.
All
three awards generally will be awarded
in the regional divisions as well.
Notification of finalists
In advance of the national
and regional awards banquets, all entrants
will be
notified by email of the finalists and
their posting to the ASBPE Web site.
Azbee awards banquet
National awards will
be presented during the ASBPE annual National
Editorial
Conference the evening of July 16, 2009,
at the Marriott
Washington, Washington, D.C.
Regional awards will
be presented at ceremonies around the
country sponsored
by various
ASBPE chapters. Regional ceremony
dates will be announced later.
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