Awards Program

Azbee Awards of Excellence

Magazine of the Year, other print award finalists announced!

Contest to split into digital, print competitions for 2009;
each will have its own conference.


The national and regional finalists in the print Azbee Awards have been announced. These publications are up for awards. How each publication placed, and in which categories, will be revealed at the regional and national banquets.

See which publications are finalists:

The national awards banquet will take place on July 16 during the two-day National Editorial Conference at the Marriott Washington in Washington, D.C.

Information on regional banquets is as follows:

  • Northeast: July 22 in New York City
    Get details.
  • Midwest: July 8 in Chicago
    Get details.
  • West: July 9 in Kansas City
    Get details.
  • Central-Southeast: July 15 in Washington, D.C.
    Details to come

Additonal information on the awards ceremonies will be posted here as soon as it is available.

Journalism That Matters Award Winner Announced

The first-ever Journalism That Matters award will go to David Silverberg, editor of HSToday, which covers homeland-security issues. In his January 2008 editorial, Silverberg took on the NFL for refusing to run a job recruitment ad for the U.S. Border Patrol during the Super Bowl.

Inspired by the journalism in the ASBPE-published book Journalism That Matters: How Business to Business Editors Change the Industries They Cover, the Journalism That Matters award recognizes a B2B journalist whose coverage triggered a tangible change within government or industry.

Read more about how Silverberg won the award.

Separate Print, Digital Awards

This year, ASBPE will hold a separate Digital Azbee Awards program. It will operate on a later schedule than the print awards.

The entry deadline for the Print Azbees was Jan. 30. The Digital Azbees entries will be due in late summer; the exact date will be announced. A one-day digital conference and awards banquet is set for Nov. 5, 2009, in San Francisco. Members will be notified when digital submissions may begin. Details about digital categories will be announced later in 2009.

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. 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.

Learn more about the changes to the competition for 2009.

Get a primer on how to win an editorial award (96K PDF).

2008 National Azbee Award Winners
2008 awards announcement
Editorial Design Digital
Multi-Platform B2B Web Site of the Year Magazines of the Year
Stephen Barr Award   Lifetime Achievement Award
30th Anniversary Azbee Winners
Magazines of the Year B2B Web Site of the Year
Download 2008 Awards Banquet Program
Includes full listing of 2008 and 30th anniversary national award winners.
(988K PDF)
2008 Regional Winners
Northeast Central-Southeast Midwest-South West
Previous Awards of Excellence winners
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002
2001 2000 1999 1998 1997

About the Competition

ASBPE’s Awards of Excellence program is one of the most competitive there is for business-to-business, trade, association, and professional publications. The awards recognize outstanding work by magazines, newsletters, and digital media — Web sites, e-newsletters, digital magazines, and blogs. The competition is open to all U.S.-based publications. ASBPE membership is not required for entry, but members will receive a discount on entry fees.

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

Map of contest regions

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

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
    2008 The Scientist Restaurants & Institutions
    2007 Public CIO Builder
    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

Journalism That Matters Award

For the first time in 2009, ASBPE presented a new honor: the Journalism That Matters Award. The award was inspired by ASBPE’s book of the same title, which features case studies of B2B journalists whose articles brought about change within their industries. Editors may nominate themselves or a deserving colleague. An entry form for the Journalism That Matters Award is included in the Azbees entry brochure.

More about the Journalism That Matters Award.

B2B Web Site of the Year

Entries for the B2B Web Site of the Year category are judged on:

1) the quality of writing, reporting, and editing

2) value and usefulness to readers, 

3) design, 

4) effectiveness in quick communication of information, 

5) navigation ease, 

6) interactivity and community, 

7) use of Web technologies and graphic design to support and add usefulness to editorial, 

8) legibility and readability, 

9) clear distinctions between editorial and advertising, 

10) depth of information, and 

11) information architecture/editorial organization.

Past winners include

Multi-Platform Presentation of the Year

The Multi-Platform (Print and Digital) category recognizes the coordination of print  and digital media packages in the presentation of a single topic. It honors excellence in coordinating print with digital platforms, e.g. Web sites, e-newsletters, blogs, Webinars, or podcasts.  

Judges examine:

1) coordination of print and digital media that makes excellent use of the qualities of both approaches;

2) the originality in using the print and digital forms;

3) the journalism;

4) design, information architecture/editorial organization; and

5) other criteria mentioned in the Web Site of the Year category.

Year Winner
2008 Network World
2007 CFO.com

 

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:

  • David McClintick, for his feature article “How Harvard Lost Russia” in Institutional Investor January 2006
  • 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:

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.

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 U.S. applicants and two international editors per year. (U.S. applicants or their publishing companies are responsible for transportation to and from the conference, any nonconference meals, and other incurred costs; international winners get a stipend toward travel expenses.) 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.

Get a nomination form for this year’s Young Leaders Scholarship (472K PDF).

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:

Part 1
slides 1–2

5.8MB .ppt file

Part 2
slides 3–6

2.9MB .ppt file

Part 3
slides 7–12

1.2MB .ppt file

Part 4
slides 13–18

2.9MB .ppt file

Download zipped file of entire presentation. (11.3MB)

 

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American Society of Business Publication Editors
214 North Hale St.
Wheaton, IL 60187
(630) 510-4588
Fax: (630) 510-4501
info@asbpe.org