For 2014, ASBPE presented two Magazine of the Year Awards—one in the $3 million and over division and another in the under $3 million division—in the 36th annual Azbee Awards of Excellence competition. The national award winners were honored during a dinner banquet at ASBPE’s National Conference, held July 25-26 at the Hotel Allegro in Chicago.
Download the list of winnersThe Finalists
ASBPE named these Magazine of the Year finalists in the over $3 million division:
- Architect
- Automotive News
- Builder
- CIO
- Connect
- Farm Industry News
- Financial Planning
- Government Technology
- HR Magazine
- IEEE Spectrum
These Magazine of the Year finalists were named in the under $3 million division:
- ABA Journal
- Emergency Management
- Employee Benefit Adviser
- Stitches
- Restaurant Development + Design
Magazine of the Year Criteria
In the Magazine of the Year competition, judges from the professional B2B magazine-editing world evaluated three consecutive issues from each entrant, examining their writing, reporting, and editing; their usefulness to and interactivity with readers; editorial organization; and layout and design. The finalists stood out from the competition with their strong writing, understanding of their target audience, and intriguing design, according to the judges.
Web Site of the Year
ASBPE also named the top 10 finalists in its Web Site of the Year competition. An elite panel of judges judged the entries based on the sites’ reporting, writing, editing and depth of information, along with the organization and navigability.
The 10 finalists for the Web Site of the Year competition are:
- americanbanker.com
- autonews.com
- ComputerWorld.com
- ENR.com
- FarmIndustryNews.com
- networkworld.com
- SCMagazine.com
- SHRMonline.com
- spectrum.ieee.org
- WardsAuto.com
Judges were especially effusive in their comments about submissions from Web Site of the Year finalists. Typical of their remarks were these:
“The content was useful. The linking was excellent. The registration wall placement was perfect. I felt that browsing your site was a good use of my time.”
“You sucked me in and then asked me to register. Excellent content, excellent user experience. BRAVO!”
“Great reporting. Excellent navigation. It was easy to follow a topic on this site. The content had depth and could be understood by a business person as well as an IT person. Kudos!”
Other Major Awards
In addition to selecting the Magazine of the Year finalists, ASBPE will also name this year’s winner of the Stephen Barr Award for special excellence in feature writing.
ASBPE has also released the names of all the finalists in the print, design, and digital award categories. For example, those publications vying for the prestigious Multi-Platform award are Physicians Practice, IEEE Spectrum, and Pensions and Investments. ASBPE also announced the finalists in the competitive Feature Article category. The 2014 finalists in the under $3M category are California Lawyer magazine, Civil Engineering, National Underwriter Life & Health. In the Over $3M category the finalists are: Automotive News, Builder and Inc. Magazine.