By Paul J. Heney

We’ve been hearing about the global economy for years now, and it’s true that for many of our publications, international growth is a reality.

The other side of this is that we have to realize that we’re not the only players in the game. B2B publications have existed for years in far-flung markets, from Singapore to Sweden. And many of them are doing great things for the industries they serve.

That’s really the thrust behind the Tabbie Awards, now entering into its seventh year. As a partner to ASBPE’s venerable Azbee Awards, the Tabbies are somewhat akin to the Golden Globes — the place where all the world’s English-language publications come together and are judged on the same journalistic and design qualities.

Any English-language B2B publications — anywhere in the world — are eligible for the Tabbies. If your publication is in Chicago, but you just cover regional or national events in your industry, that’s fine — just as it is for a publication in Western Canada or on the North Island of New Zealand that’s just a regional b2b.

I think that people are looking back at 2009 as a tough year, but also as a measuring stick of sorts. I hope that someday, when I look back at my own career, I’ll be happy with how hard I worked through those tough months, and proud of the work I did then. I know other publications that also did some exceptional things last year, and I’m excited to see what stories are told in this year’s Tabbie Awards.

I invite you to visit TABPI and download our Call for Entries, which includes all the categories, instructions and the entry form. The deadline for submissions is March 3, which will be here before you know it.

While you’re there, I encourage you to take a look at the awards page, which has links to previous contests. We have PDFs of many of the winning stories and departments (as well as images of the design winners), and I think it’s really quite instructive to look at these brilliant examples of what b2b can be, whether it’s done in Atlanta or Auckland.

Paul is the president of TABPI and past president of the ASBPE.