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Entry Fees & Deadlines
Please review our entry fees and deadlines in advance. There will be no deadline extensions.
Questions?
Contact the Azbee Awards coordinator at (520) 302-4439 or awards@asbpe.org
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Azbee Awards Entrant FAQs
If you are a judge with questions, please see our Judge FAQs instead. If you have a question about entering the Azbee Awards, please check these FAQs to see if your question is listed. You can use the Find command (Windows: Ctrl+F / Mac: Command⌘+F) to search for keywords in your question. If your question is not answered below, please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form.
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Q. Who is eligible to enter?
Please view our eligibility requirements.
Q. Who is eligible for ASBPE membership?
A. ASBPE is the professional society for B2B media professionals, along with students and journalism educators with interest in B2B media. Individuals can apply for membership, and companies can apply for corporate membership. In order to receive the $100 per entry member discount and the additional $20 per entry freelancer discount on Azbee Awards submissions, each entrant must be an ASBPE member and use their ASBPE.org username and password to log in to the awards system.
Q. I am a freelance writer/editor. How do I receive the freelancer discount?
A. ASBPE now offers an additional $20 per entry freelancer discount to our freelance members. You must have an active Freelance Editorial or Freelance Design/Multimedia membership and be current on dues payments in order to be eligible. Eligible members will see the freelancer discount automatically applied when they go to their cart.
Q. What forms of payment do you accept?
A. We accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover Card and American Express. All entries must be paid for online at the time of submission.
Q. I have created an online account, but I have not found an online payment form. Where is it?
A. You will see links to go to the cart or submit another entry after adding each entry to your cart. You can pay for all of your entries at once.
Q. When will my credit card be charged? Will I receive a receipt?
A. When you submit the checkout form, your credit card will be charged immediately. An invoice formatted as a PDF file will be available to download and print. You will also receive an email with a link to download your invoice. Please make sure we are added to your organization's safe sender email list.
Q: What is your payment and refund policy?
A: The Azbee Awards Payment & Refund Policy can be found here. The policy covers our early-bird, member and freelancer discounts, as well as payment, entry updates, entry review and refunds. If you have any questions about our policy, please reach out through our contact form.
Entry Preparation & Submission
Q. Who needs to create an Azbee Awards account?
A. Anyone using the Azbee Awards entry system — whether a member of ASBPE or a non-member — needs to create an online account. Once a competition account is created, the individual will be able to complete all entries without filling in his or her basic information each time. The process will also help publications keep their entries together and pay for groups of entries together. Publications may submit unlimited additional entries, prior to the deadline. You can also complete the checkout process multiple times, if you prefer.
ASBPE members must use their ASBPE.org login credentials (same username and password) to log into the contest website in order to receive the member discount on entry fees.
Q. If a person is no longer with a company but wrote an article worthy of submitting for an award, may that person still enter the article or section in the contest?
A. Yes, however it would be considerate for you to inform the editor of the publication that you are entering the material.
Q. What files should I prepare for my submission?
A. Please view our submission requirements to help you prepare your entries. Be sure to review the category description for any category-specific requirements. Please note, if you are entering the Magazine of the Year category, you'll be required to mail two sets of hard copies of your publication to ASBPE.
Q. What types of PDFs are required for online entry?
A. We require screen-optimized PDF files. High-resolution files may not render properly when viewed by judges online. Your publication's design team can assist with exporting these files. Note: ASBPE now makes it optional to include fractional or full-page ads within or on adjacent, facing pages of the article you are submitting if those ads are added by another department or printer. We do recommend formatting sections and full-magazine submission PDFs as spreads and turning off all printer marks.
Q. Can I submit material hosted on Google Drive, Dropbox or a similar site?
A. URLs must be hosted on the publication's own site. We cannot accept URLs to PDFs or other files hosted on Dropbox, Google Drive or similar sites due to the potential for cybersecurity risk for our awards committee, judges and site guests.
Q. Are digital files mandatory for any electronically submitted Azbee Award entry, or can we send in hard copies?
A. All entries submitted require digital entry files to be uploaded or URLs to be provided. However the Magazine of the Year category also requires you to print a copy of your invoice to submit along with two sets of physical copies of your chosen issues as part of your mail-in submission. All other categories do not allow mail-in submissions, only PDFs for print submissions and URLs for web submissions.
Q. Is it OK to submit a PDF for a print editorial entry from a tabloid? Will a printout of such a file be shrunk down and too hard to read?
A. It is acceptable to enter a PDF from either a tabloid-sized or regular-sized publication. It will be up to the individual judges whether they choose to print off the entries or look at them only on their computer screens. If the judges choose to print the PDFs, they do so knowing that some of the quality and/or size may be lost in desktop printing.
Q. How do I copy an entry in order to submit it to another category?
A. Once saved as a draft or added to the cart, you'll be able to view your entries by selecting My Entries in the left-hand menu. Within the chart displaying your entries, you'll see an option to copy each entry. Keep in mind our rules about duplicate entries:
- Entrants may submit the same material in up to three categories, but not more than once in a given category.
- Components of submissions to the Overall Excellence division categories may also be submitted to another category.
- Many categories allow only one submission per publication brand, author, product or department.
Q: What if my entry was submitted into the wrong category?
A: Please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form. We will review, make the final determination and move the entry to a new category if warranted.
Q. Is there any way to edit entries after they are submitted online — for instance, if I have made mistakes on names or categories?
A. You may save in-progress drafts and edit entries only if you have not completed the payment/checkout process. Once you finish the checkout process, you may submit new entries but not edit previously submitted entries. If you notice any glaring issues with your submission, please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form. Please note: once judging is completed and awards preparation is underway, we can no longer make edits to the information that will be presented on your awards.
Q. Will ASBPE confirm that it has received my shipment for Magazine of the Year?
A: Due to a high volume of entries, ASBPE is not able to confirm each shipment received. We require entrants to ship their submissions using a service that provides a tracking number. An ASBPE representative will reach out only if we have not received your Magazine of the Year mail-in submission by the entry deadline.
Q: What if I change jobs or move after I enter the Azbees?
A. If you win an award but are not able to attend a regional or national awards presentation and your address has changed, please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form. Please make sure to include your name, the title(s) of the entry or entries, and the publication the award is associated with. We will only honor address changes submitted by the original entrant.
Q. For Best Body of Work, can I include work products from multiple publications in one entry? What if I'm a staff journalist who also does freelance work on the side? Can I include pieces from my staff job and freelance work in the same submission for Best Body of Work?
A. Designers, staff journalists and freelance journalists may include work products from multiple publications in the same entry. We allow this because freelancers usually work with multiple publications, and many publishing companies now have staff journalists who work across several publications for the parent company.
However, staff journalists and designers who also freelance must separate their staff and freelance work to be fair to other entrants in their category. You may submit two entries, one to "By a Staff Journalist" and one to "By a Freelance Journalist." Likewise designers submitting both staff and freelance work should submit separate entries.
Q. What is the difference between a Regular Column, Thought Leadership and Editor’s Letter or Note?
A. There is a major difference between an thought leadership article, an editor's letter or note and a column. A thought leadership article can be written by any editor, writer or freelancer, and are usually persuasive — making a case with supporting facts and addressing opposing arguments — and sometimes include a call to action. Editor's Letters or Notes provide an engaging entry point to the publication, often with personal observations or anecdotes, and offer insight and context on a topic the publication is covering. The Regular Column category, however, allows a column on any subject matter, written by editorial staff members, freelance contributors or industry expert contributors to be rewarded.
Q. Regarding the Original Research Article category, we do an annual study that has grown so large that we now publish it in two parts. Should both those parts be submitted as one, or would that be considered two separate articles for the purpose of these awards?
A. Per the category description, this category does not accept the research report or annual study itself. Please enter only one article that covers the annual study (or other research piece) in a meaningful way and expands upon the research itself. You can note in your essay that the study is published in two segments if this is not already mentioned in the article.
Q. We have three print feature stories packaged under a single theme in one issue (10 pages total). The Feature Article category refers to submitting one story, but the Feature Series category refers to being in multiple issues. How should we submit this?
A. A single-theme package of features from a single issue should be submitted in the Special Section or Single Topic Coverage categories. The Feature Series category is specifically for a series that appeared across multiple issues.
Q. Regarding the Profile categories: If the story is a legitimate profile piece but profiles three individuals, all of whom share oversight of a single company, may it be entered in the Group or Company Profile category?
A. The Group and Company Profile categories were combined in 2024. The category now accepts articles profiling a single company, organization, or group of people with alighned purposes and goals. The only articles profiling groups that should not be submitted to the new category are articles profiling individuals as part of a group recognition program (such as "30 under 30" or "Top 20"-style articles). These should instead be submitted in the Group Recognition Program category.
Q: For the Publication Redesign category, does the redesigned issue/edition submitted have to be the very first issue/edition of the redesign?
A: Yes. It must be the first issue/edition of the redesign. ASBPE acknowledges that designs may be adjusted slightly in subsequent issues/editions. However, if everyone enters the first redesigned issue/edition judges will have a fairer comparison. The exception would be if the first redesigned issue was a special issue or directory (see next question).
Q. Regarding the Publication Redesign category, the rules say to enter the first issue/edition of the redesign and the issue/edition immediately prior to the redesign. It also states that the first regular issue (not a special issue) prior to the redesign should be submitted. If the first issue of the redesign was a special issue in which certain departments and other content don’t match what is in the issue immediately prior to the redesign, should I enter the last issue before the redesign and the second issue of the redesign (the first issue after the special issue)? Or should I just enter the first issue of the redesign, even though it was a special issue?
A. The purpose of this category is to be able to judge regular, not special, issues. In this case, you should enter the first regular issue showing the redesign and the last regular issue of the old design. Be sure to say what you are doing in your essay so the judges are aware.
Q. Would a themed issue that is tied to various department sections in the publication qualify in the Special Section category? For example, we have feature stories running throughout the book in various department sections on a single theme. The issue also features a cover story on the topic. These stories are clearly tied together with a logo. However, they are not packaged together as one whole special section.
A. If this is a special issue devoted to a single topic or theme, it is now eligible in the Special Issue or Supplement category. If your themed issue reflects additional topics or themes, we'd recommend submitting up to five articles from your issue to the Single Topic Coverage category in the All Content division, as your multi-theme or multi-topic issue may not be compared fairly to issues with a single topic or theme.
Q. I won a regional award. Does that mean I am moving on to the national competition?
A. All entries for a given category are automatically entered into the regional and national competitions for that category. The top scoring entries in each region will receive the regional awards. The top scoring entries overall will receive the National Gold, Silver and Bronze awards.
Q. What categories are eligible only for national awards?
A. The Magazine of the Year, Digital Magazine of the Year, Website of the Year, Project of the Year, Social Media Account of the Year and Email Newsletter of the Year categories honor only national winners. The Best Body of Work category honors three individuals on the national level only - one staff journalist, one freelance journalist, and one designer. All other categories receive both national- and regional-level awards. At the discretion of the judges and the awards committee, sometimes a few other categories might only have national winners.
Q. How are the entries judged?
A. Each category is reviewed by at least two judges depending on the number of entries in a given category and the prestige of the category. For example, for Magazine of the Year, we've had as many as 20 judges. Our judges are business publication editors, writers, designers, consultants and academics who are on the front lines doing hands-on business publication editorial and design work — truly your peers.
All judges have approximately one month to evaluate the entries. Each category is judged on two to seven major criteria; each of these has important "sub-criteria." Their scores are averaged to yield a final score for each entry. The judges' decisions are final.
Interested in judging? Read more about the judging process.
Q. How does the Azbee Awards committee ensure unbiased judging, when the trade editorial community is so close-knit?
A. ASBPE acknowledges the possibility of unintended bias in a competition judged by professional peers and has set rules around conflict-of-interest to reduce the likelihood of bias influencing the scoring of the Azbee Awards. While professional networking or casual professional relationships are not considered a conflict of interest, we do not allow judges to work on a category they, their publications, their colleagues, or their parent companies have entered; a category with submissions from a direct competitor; or a category with submissions from a former employer they are biased against. Azbee judges have a great track record of disclosing their own conflicts of interest and recusing themselves.
Q. Do the judges change each year?
A. Year after year, approximately 70% of our judges return to judge again. We try to balance continuity with fresh perspectives, but in all cases the judges are thoroughly qualified. We are always looking for new, experienced B2B professionals. If you are interested in judging, please submit the judge sign-up form.
Q: Why did my entry receive a Silver or Bronze award, but no Gold award was given in that category?
A: Every winning entry receives an award based on scores assigned by our judges after a holistic review. ASBPE judges carefully evaluate all entries in a given category using strict, highly competitive criteria for each category. As part of this process, some categories may not see Gold, Silver and Bronze winners every year.
Q. How will I know if I won?
A. Finalists will be notified individually via email to the entrant once the judging is completed. Regional finalists will be announced on or around March 10, and national finalists will be announced after the last regional awards presentation.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners are announced at ASBPE's regional and national awards events. Regional events are held in April each year, and the national event is held as a virtual celebration in May each year. Please visit the Events page for the dates of each event as they become available.
Finalist and winner lists will also be posted on ASBPE.org.
Q. Do you have digital award badges that can be used in our publication mastheads and other promotional materials?
A. Yes. After awards are announced, we email winning entrants a link to access our digital award badges. We recommend that entrants forward this email to their design and/or marketing departments.
Don’t see your question answered here?
Please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form.
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