About Judging the Azbees

Who our judges are

The Azbees experience doesn't stop after you submit your entries. Our Awards Committee invites experienced staff and freelance business publication editors, writers, designers, and journalism academics to join our judging team in reviewing each Editorial, Design, and Overall Excellence category. All categories are scored by industry professionals — with a minimum of three years of B2B media experience — who are doing hands-on B2B editorial and design work. Judges are vetted and selected by the Awards Committee based on their professional B2B media industry experience and are required to maintain complete objectivity and high evaluation standards.

Year after year, approximately 70% of our judges return to judge again. Our repeat judges renew the prestige of our competition, while fresh faces help keep us current.

Serving as an Azbee Awards judge has been one of the most rewarding ways I’ve stayed connected to the B2B media community. I enjoy seeing the creativity, innovation and new approaches other media organizations use to keep their brands relevant and serve their audiences in a changing media landscape. Just as valuable are the connections you make with fellow professionals who share a commitment to excellence in our industry. Every year, I learn something new, and that makes the experience so worthwhile."  - Melinda Taschetta-Millane, Market Content Director, Healthcare, EndeavorB2B

What judging entails

Each category is reviewed by a minimum of two judges. Our most prestigious category, Magazine of the Year, has been examined by as many as 20 judges in a given competition year. Our judge sign-up form allows judges to indicate the categories they are most interested in scoring; the Awards Committee makes final category assignments based on interest, the number of categories a judge is willing to cover, and to reduce possible conflicts of interest.

Judges are asked to review and accept the judging agreement, which clarifies our expectations, requirements and rewards for judges.

Key Tenets of the Judging Agreement:

• Professional Standards & Objectivity: Judges are asked to evaluate entries with their intended audience in mind and score based strictly on the rubric, focusing on audience impact while maintaining style neutrality.
• Conflicts of Interest Policy: Judges are prohibited from scoring categories they, their colleagues, their publications, 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. The Azbees have a clear disclosure, recusal and reassignment process to ensure unbiased scoring. The Awards Committee continues to accept judge sign-ups throughout the judging period to cover such recusals.
• Confidentiality & Non-Disclosure: All submitted entry materials, scoring details, and upcoming winner announcements must remain completely private. Judges may not share, use or distribute any portion of submitted entries without requesting permission from the entrant publication’s editorial leadership through the Awards Committee.
• Entrant Feedback: Judges provide constructive comments to help entrants gain valuable insights and professional ROI.
• Rewards & Guidelines (Azbee Bucks): Judges earn Azbee Bucks as a reward for completed scoring, which can be applied toward eligible ASBPE expenses, provided scoring deadlines are met.

Judges are allotted at least one month to evaluate entries. Our Awards Committee recommends dividing your entries across the number of days you have to judge them — in most cases, this is one to two entries per day. Judges review each entry's essay describing the publication's mission, the enterprising work that went into the entry and its significance to readers. Entries are scored on three to seven major criteria, with each criterion having "sub-criteria" questions to guide judges.

The Awards Committee is supplemented by four "Super Judges" who help facilitate the judging process, check-in with our judges, and who are available to answer our judges' questions. Each Super Judge is assigned responsibility for a group of categories. Judges will receive the contact information for their co-judges as well as the Super Judge for their Division.

We also look for judges willing to "screen" select categories, including Magazine of the Year and Feature Article. Screeners review entries to whittle down the number that go forward for full review and scoring. The screening round for these categories lasts two weeks.

The judging process is highly rewarding:

It's an invaluable experience to network with likeminded peers, having a front-row seat to the latest trends and to give back to the community that has nourished me intellectually and creatively."  - Karla Monterrosa-Yancey, CAMS, Editor-in-Chief, ACAMSToday

What comes next

After judging is complete, judges' ratings are automatically tabulated for an average score per entry. In most cases, the top three scores in each category per region receive regional gold, silver and bronze awards, and the top three scores in each category nationwide receive the national awards. Categories in the Overall Excellence division are awarded at the national level only. The Azbee Awards have a scoring threshold that must be met for each award level, maintaining the level of excellence required to receive an award. As such, we may not award all levels (gold, silver, bronze) for a given category if entries do not meet this threshold. Additionally, entrants receive detailed judge feedback and constructive comments for each submission, providing actionable insights to help improve future work. For more information, please read about our Judging & Scoring Process.

With our gratitude

To show our appreciation for their time and willingness to serve, judges earn $5 in Azbee Bucks per scored entry (e.g., 10 entries earn $50, 20 entries earn $100, and so on), and there is no cap on how much a judge can earn by completing their categories. Additional Azbee Bucks can be earned by stepping in to cover scoring assignments when other judges are unable to complete theirs. Azbee Bucks can be applied to membership dues; future Azbee Awards submissions; and conference, event or webinar registrations. When a judge accumulates $200 or more in Azbee Bucks, $100 of the balance will be earmarked for attending ASBPEvolve, our national conference.

Where to volunteer

All interested judges should fill out our judge sign-up form to provide their contact information and indicate the categories they are interested in scoring. A member of the Awards Committee will confirm each judge's acceptance and be in touch when categories have been assigned.

If current judges or potential volunteers have any questions, please reach out to the Awards Committee through our contact form.

Share