The Tabbies is again partnering with the US's American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE), New Zealand's Magazine Publishers Association (MPA), South Africa's SAFREA, Australia's Society of Editors NSW and the Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA).
Paul J Heney, TABPI president, says that interest is high this year. "We've had a lot of B2B publishers calling early this year, asking for the details on the competition. I believe that we'll continue on our impressive run -- and have another year of active participation from all of the B2B publishing hotspots around the world.”
Heney also points out that each year, more publications fully realise the benefits of participating in competitions like the Tabbies. "Forward-thinking publication staffs leverage their awards by using them to show both readers and advertisers that they exceed internationally recognised editorial and design standards. That can be a really powerful marketing tool, and it can be critical in challenging economic times like we're experiencing now.”
The Tabbies competition encompasses 20 categories, and is open to English language B2B publications around the world that are published at least quarterly, as well as B2B online-only publications. Publications are not required to maintain membership in any particular organisation in order to be considered.
Categories in the Tabbies' editorial division are: Best Single Issue, Department, Editor's Column, Feature Article, Focus/Profile Article, How-To Article, News Coverage, Regular Column, Single News Article, Special Section, and Technical Article. Categories in the design division are: Feature Design, Front Cover, Digital Imagery; Front Cover, Illustration; Front Cover, Photograph; Front Cover, Special Issue; Opening Page or Spread; and Table of Contents. The online division recognises the most interactive, informative B2B websites as well as online-only features.
The deadline for entries to be postmarked is 17 March 2009. An electronic version of the Call for Entries (including editable entry form) is now available at www.tabpi.org. Judges for the competition will be culled from suggestions of regional editorial groups across the globe. Winners will be announced on or about 1 July.
Gold Sponsors for the 2009 Tabbies are Texterity Foster Printing Service and Proximity Marketing. Silver Sponsors are Business Strategies Group Asia and Trade Press Services.
• In early 2008, TABPI funded the creation of a new B2B editorial group based in Johannesburg, called TABPI South Africa.
