By Paul Heney

You have one last chance to get out your 2013 issues and decide on your best work over the past year. The Tabbies, the international B2B publication awards competition, is accepting nominations through Tuesday, April 1st.

I’ve always enjoyed the process of deciding on what to enter in competitions — be it the Azbees, Tabbies, Neals or something else. Sitting down with the edit and design staff and reviewing the prior year’s worth of publications is a great exercise in seeing where you are. What did you excel at? Where do you need to step up your game? Which team members produced some really compelling content for your readers?

Beyond all that, award competitions give you a great way to acknowledge hard work from your co-workers. And, should you bring home some honors in the competition, that’s great PR that your publication should encourage the sales team to spread to prospective advertisers.

So, if you’re pumped up on submitting something, here’s how. The Call for Entries is available at the TABPI website; download it and fill out the entry forms as described. The Tabbies encompasses 18 categories, and is open to English-language business-to-business publications around the world that are published at least quarterly, as well as B2B online-only publications. And publications are not required to maintain membership in any particular organization in order to be considered for the Tabbies — although ASBPE is a supporting member of the Tabbies.

Categories in the editorial division include: Best Single Issue, Department, Editor’s Column, Feature Article, Focus/Profile Article, How-To Article, Regular Column, Special Section, and Technical Article. Categories in the design division include: Feature Design, Front Cover, Digital Imagery; Front Cover, Illustration; Front Cover, Photograph; Front Cover, Special Issue; and Opening Page or Spread. The online division recognizes the most interactive, informative B2B websites, e-newsletters and the best use of social media.

Again, the deadline for entries to be postmarked is April 1st, 2014. A late fee applies after that date. Winners will be announced on or about July 15th, 2014.

 

 

Paul Heney is TABPI’s president and editorial director at WTWH Media LLC.