By Paul Heney

It’s not too late to get involved in the 2009 Tabbies, and show the whole world that fantastic work that you and your team did in 2008. The international competition, supported by groups as varied as ASBPE and the Magazine Publishers Association of New Zealand, had more than 700 entries last year, and is open to all English language b2b publications, whether in the U.S. or abroad. Magazines are not required to belong to any specific association or group to be eligible.

I’ve learned so much in the five previous Tabbie competitions, and have been amazed at the talent in the b2b world, both in the U.S. and around the globe. We’ve had smaller magazines from smaller countries win huge awards, and have been able to start some dialogues between regions of the world. Please take a look at some of our past winners on the http://www.tabpi.org/ website, I think you’ll be impressed. For the vast majority of them, you can click on the entry and see a larger jpeg image or a PDF of the winner. So, when you’re thinking of what might be a potential winner in your arsenal of work, you can see how it stacks up to other entrants. This year’s deadline is March 17th.

If you have any questions about the Tabbies, please drop me an email, I’ll be happy to assist.

Paul J. Heney is editorial director for Questex Media’s Hotel Group, which includes Hotel & Motel Management, Hotel Design, and Luxury Hotelier. A member of the ASBPE Cleveland Chapter board, Heney served as national president of ASPBE from 1999-2003. He is also president of TABPI, an international b2b think tank that promotes b2b journalism and professionalism. He can be emailed at pheney@questex.com.