Judging Is Underway

Regional winners to be announced in coming weeks.

Entrants saved money
on fees by
using our automated
entry system.
A printable form
was also available.

The deadline for the 2008 Azbee Awards of Excellence was Feb. 22, 2008. Judging is going on now; results for regional awards will be announced in the coming weeks. National winners will be announced at our National Editorial Conference, July 24-25, 2008.

More about the 2008 awards:

• Tips for entering online
• New categories for 2008
• Journalism professor Abe Peck wins Lifetime Achievement Award

Tips on Winning Awards

Want to know how some publications manage to consistently take home multiple awards? You can increase your chances of earning awards — either in the Azbees or other competitions — by proper planning and entry selection.

Learn how with our Tip Sheet, “Secrets to Winning Azbee Awards.”

At a webinar in December, attendees got the inside scoop on how to win an Azbee award from top editors at Hanley Wood and IDG, which have garnered numerous editorial and design awards.

The presentation included:

• How and why the editors chose the articles they entered;
• What the awards have meant to the winners’ careers and to their publications;
• How to build award potential into the articles you write and edit; and
• How to apply the standards of editorial competitions to your day-to-day work.

Presenters:

• Don Tennant, vice president and editorial director of Computerworld and InfoWorld.
• Boyce Thompson is the editorial director of the Builder, Multifamily, and Technology groups of magazines published by Hanley Wood, LLC.

ASBPE members may download presenter Boyce Thompson’s slides:

2007 Azbee Winners

Builder Magazine, Public CIO took 2007 Magazine-of-the-Year honors in Azbee Awards; PCWorld.com won Web Publication of the Year.

Public CIO, small-circulation Magazine of the Year

Builder magazine and Public CIO took honors as the Magazines of the Year, and PCWorld.com was named Web Publication of the Year at the 29th Annual Azbee Awards of Excellence presented by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. The ceremony was held at New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel Thursday, the first day of the 43-year-old organization’s two-day National Editorial Conference.

Builder is the large-circulation Magazine of the Year

The Stephen Barr Award for feature writing went to David McClintick, an investigative reporter and author, for his feature article “How Harvard Lost Russia” in the January 2006 Institutional Investor.

McClintick examined Harvard University’s disastrous contract to help privatize financial markets in parts of the former Soviet Union.

Azbee Awards are given in 56 print, digital, and multi-platform categories, for editorial and graphic excellence, recognizing both large and smaller publications. This year, 41 Golds were given to organizations in editorial fields, and 31 Golds were awarded for graphics.

The biggest winners included CFO magazine, CIO magazine and Computerworld, with 11 national awards each. CFO took home an evening’s record nine Golds in categories from print editorial and graphics to Website to multi-platform.

Magazines of the Year and Web Publication of the Year

PC World took top honors as Web Site Publication of the Year.

For its work in 2006, Builder was recognized as the top magazine among those of 80,000 circulation or larger, while Public CIO, a was honored in the under-80,000-circulation category.

Large-circulation magazines given honorable mention in the Magazine of the Year category were BusinessWeek and Teacher. In the under-80,000-circulation category, ASBPE gave honorable mentions to QSR, a magazine covering for those in the quick-service restaurant industry, and Residential Architect.

The judges said Builder is “editorially challenging — takes gutsy approaches to issues — examines major national issues and their affect on readers — transcendent reporting — meets its mission well — great typography.”

Of Public CIO, the judges said “Top tier — compelling information everyone has an interest in — brings ordinary subject matter to higher level — goes above and beyond — great magazine without flaunting itself — appears effortless — reader friendly.”

For honorable mention in the Web Publication of the Year competition won by PCWorld.com, ASBPE named CFO.com, eWeek.com, and Macworld.com.

Judges called PCWorld.com “well-organized, authoritative, informative, and entertaining. Inventory of how-to videos is a big plus. The presence of video for describing tips, test drives, and case studies, coupled with interactive attributes such as polls and tips from readers, enable PCWorld’s Web site to be one of the most useful Web sites of its kind.

“Clean look backed by solid content.”

This year ASBPE added categories recognizing excellence in digital Web publications, e-newsletters, digital magazines, and blogs. Another category likely to serve as a harbinger of the future was Multi-Platform General Excellence, won by CFO, honoring excellence in coordination of print with other mediums such as Web sites, e-newsletters, blogs, Webinars, or podcasts.

New categories were also added for print newsletters, which now vie for top honors for best feature article, how-to article, or original research.

David McClintick uncovered political corruption in his Barr Award-winning story.

Barr Award Winner Combines
Distinctive Writing, Great Reporting

David McClintick, the Stephen Barr Award winner, is the consummate investigative reporter, known for works like 1982’s film-industry study Indecent Exposure, and for definitive magazine reports written for such publications as Forbes and Vanity Fair.

His story for Institutional Investor took readers back to the 1990s, when Russia stumbled toward establishing a free-market economy in Eastern Europe. The January 2006 piece focused on the depths of global political intrigue and corruption, but taught as much about the heights of hubris — at Harvard. The university had let professors engage, unchecked, in self-dealing as they became tangled in the malaise.

Emerging for Institutional Investor readers was Harvard’s “apparently limitless arrogance,” as one judge put it.

ASBPE’s fourth annual Stephen Barr Award, accompanied by a $500 cash prize, is named for a CFO reporter who died in 2002 at the age of 43.

“Last year was a great one for business-to-business publications,” said Roy Harris, ASBPE’s national president and a senior editor of CFO. “Winning entries helped readers understand such things as corporate recovery from a devastating storm like Hurricane Katrina, proper management of a company 401k plan, and the challenging life of a chief information officer.”

At the Azbee Awards banquet, famed magazine designer and author Jan White accepted the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

About the Competition

Questions? Wondering about Awards of Excellence judging, contest rules, or anything else? Get answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the awards.

The competition is open to U.S.-based business-to-business, trade, association and professional magazines, Web and newsletter/E-newsletter publications, and their editorial and design staff and contributors. ASBPE membership is not required.

About the Judging Process

Experienced judges with background in business publications read each editorial, design, Web, newsletter, and Magazine of the Year entry. Their introduction to each entry is a required and important one-page cover letter of 250 words or fewer, describing the publication’s mission and readership and discussing both the work that went into the entry and its significance to readers.

The following are the general criteria for judging:

Editorial (and newsletter) judging — based on quality of writing, reporting and editing; development of the subject; presentation, and value to readers.

Design judging — layout and composition; use of typography, graphics and photography; content; originality; relevance to the related story or publication, and how easily the entry communicates useful information to the reader.

Web judging — reporting, writing, design, usability, readability, organization, value to readers, interactivity and effective use of online technology.

Magazine of the Year

Top honors go to the Magazine of the Year in our two circulation divisions: under 80,000 and 80,000 or more. Judging is based on five criteria:

1) quality of writing, reporting and editing;

2) value and usefulness to the reader;

3) editorial organization;

4) interaction with readers; and

5) layout and design.

Past winners include

Year	Small circulation	Large circulation
2006	CSO	Computerworld
2005	CMO	Restaurants & Institutions
2004	CSO	Computerworld
2003	SQL Server	CFO
2002	HealthLeaders	CIO
2001	Sales & Marketing Management	Selling Power
2000	Meetings & Conventions	Selling Power
1999	HomeCare	CIO
1998	civic.com	CFO
1997	Best’s Review	Selling Power

Stephen Barr Award

This “best in class” prize, which comes with a $500 cash award, goes to the individual writer whose work most reflects inventiveness of approach (and especially use of narrative style), insightfulness, balance in the presentation of a complex subject, depth of investigation, and impact among the community of readers.

Those qualities are among the those exemplified by Stephen Barr, a perennial ASBPE excellence-award winner in his role as senior contributing editor of CFO magazine. Stephen died in 2002, at age 43. The award is endowed by his family. Past winners include:

• Shabnam Mogharabi, for her feature series “Minority Report”
  in Aquatics International
• John Gibeaut, for two ABA Journal articles,
  “The Good Fight Gets Harder” and “Open Sentences”
• Adam Minter, for his three-part series in Scrap magazine,
  “Scrap in China”

Contest entrants don’t compete directly for the Barr Award. Rather, a panel of judges will select the “best in show” among the top feature-writing categories, identifying the finest example of writing that displays the qualities Barr’s work exemplified:

• inventiveness of approach (and especially use of narrative style),
• insight and balance in the presentation of a complex subject,
• depth of investigation, and
• impact among the community of readers.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Our Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 2000 to recognize editors who have made significant and lasting contributions to our editorial profession and to the industries their magazines serve. Recipients have included:

• Jan White, designer, teacher, and “visual journalist”;
• Stan Modic, senior editorial advisor, columnist, Nelson Publishing;
• Don Ranly, professor emeritus, University of Missouri School of Journalism;
• Patrick J. McGovern, founder and chairman, International Data Group;
• Dana Chase Jr., chairman, Dana Chase Publications, and editorial director of Appliance magazine;
• Howard Rauch, editorial consultant;
• Vernon Henry of Advanstar Communications; and
• Bernie Knill of Penton Media.

To receive the Lifetime Achievement Award, a candidate must meet four requirements:

1) Significant involvement (25 years or more) with business publications. Nominees need not currently hold editorial positions, and may be retired, but ideally will have spent the bulk of their careers in senior editorial positions or will have served the industry in some significant way. Nominees need not be members of ASBPE. Past nominees not selected in previous years are encouraged to reapply.
Please provide the nominee’s current title and employer/business (if retired, please state such). Provide a brief description or résumé of the nominee’s job history. Include dates, job titles, magazines, companies.

2) A commitment to editorial excellence. This may be demonstrated by general reputation of their publication(s); industry-related awards (e.g., ASBPE Azbees, Neal Awards, Folio:, Tabbies); internal company awards; other forms of recognition or other valid measures of editorial success.

3) A commitment to the business/professional press. Nominees should be or should have been involved in lending their experience and time to benefit others in the business press. For example, this may be participation in local or national business press or related organizations; corporate or university teaching; mentoring programs; or significant research or publication of articles on business press issues.

4) A commitment to the industry(ies) the nominee’s publication(s) serve. Examples might include committee work with trade or professional associations or standards groups; frequent speaking engagements at industry events; significant research or publication of articles on industry issues; or significant advocacy work with government agencies.

The Lifetime Achievement Award winner will receive the award on the evening of the awards banquet, where the honoree also will receive a special tribute and will deliver the keynote lecture. The winner’s name will be announced to the public prior to the banquet.

A call for nominations goes out around the beginning of each year.

Free Membership Award

Look, too, at the nonmonetary rewards that come with winning a national ASBPE Gold. Named winners will receive free ASBPE membership for the next year, a $75 value. In the case of a current member, the year’s free membership will take effect upon expiration of current membership.

Young Leaders Scholarship

To help young editors who are just starting their careers, ASBPE started the annual Young Leaders Scholarship in 2001. The scholarship allows younger editors who might otherwise be unable to attend the ASBPE National Conference. It is open to all business editors, including print and Web.

Scholarships pay the conference and hotel room costs for up to five worthy applicants per year. (Transportation to and from the conference, any non-conference meals, and other incurred costs are the responsibility of the winners or their individual publishing companies.) Scholarship recipients also receive a free one-year membership to ASBPE if they are not already members.

Qualifications for the scholarship include the following:

• Applicant must be 30 years of age or younger.
• Applicant must have worked at least two years as an editor of a business magazine or the magazine’s associated Internet publication.
• Candidacy must be sponsored by applicant's chief editor.
• Applicant must plan to continue in the business press as a career.
• Applicant may not be a past ASBPE Young Leaders Scholarship winner.

A call for nominations/applications goes out around the beginning of each year.

Want to know what the categories and entry criteria were? Download the entry form from this year’s Azbee awards (831K PDF).

About the Awards of Excellence

ASBPE’s Awards of Excellence recognize print editorial and graphics as well as publication-associated Web sites. The Awards of Excellence program is one of the most competitive there is for business publications.

For more than 20 years, the American Society of Business Publication Editors' Awards of Excellence have honored the hard work and commitment to excellence by trade publication editors and graphic designers. These prestigious awards bestow respect, heighten the thrill of accomplishment, build confidence, and help motivate staff.

ASBPE gives out awards for print and for web and Internet excellence.

The top entries nationwide receive national awards. Publications also compete against others in their own regions, as follows:

Northeast: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

Central-Southeast: Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Midwest-South: Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Frequently Asked Questions

For answers to frequently asked questions about entries and the competition, please click here or contact:

ASBPE Competition
214 N. Hale St.
Wheaton, IL 60187
(630) 510-4588
fax 630-510-4501
info@asbpe.org