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Azbee Award Regions

Azbee Award regions map
The Azbee Awards of Excellence honor both national- and regional-level winners in the individual All Content, Print, Design and Online divisions.

The eight regions are as follows:

  • New England: MA, ME, NH, RI, VT
  • Northeast: CT, DE, NY, NJ
  • Mid Atlantic: DC, MD, PA, VA
  • Heartland: IN, KY, MI, OH, WV
  • Southeast: AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN
  • Upper Midwest: IA, IL, MN, WI
  • Central: AZ, CO, ID, KS, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY
  • Pacific: AK, CA, HI, NV, OR, WA

Categories in the Overall Excellence division honor national winners only: Magazine of the Year, Digital Magazine of the Year, Website of the Year, Social Media Account of the Year, and Multi-Platform Package of the Year.

Rules for Selecting a Region

    Entrants must identify their publication's region based on the U.S. state of the publication's primary office location. All entries for a single publication must be entered into the same region. Freelancers and remote home workers should NOT select their home state of residence when entering the awards program; instead, they must select the region of the publication's primary office location.

    National and Regional Winner Selection

    Ever wondered how the national and regional winners are determined? It's actually quite simple:

    1. Judges score each entry on a number of judging criteria specific to the category.
    2. The scores for each individual criteria calculate the entry's overall score.
    3. In each of the eight regions, the three top scoring entries per category become regional finalists. The regional finalists are awarded that region's Gold, Silver and Bronze awards at the regional awards banquets. 
    4. The three top scoring entries nationwide become national finalists. The national finalists are awarded the national Gold, Silver and Bronze awards at the national awards banquet.
    5. Both national and regional finalists are announced at the same time, usually one month before the first regional banquet.

    A few things to note: The three national finalists per category will also be regional finalists, but not necessarily the regional Gold Award winners. ASBPE also reserves the right not to award specific levels of winners if the overall scores aren't high enough to merit the award or if there aren't sufficient entries.

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