The BIB Online Contest selects outstanding business news published on the Internet. The BIB 2007 Contest closed Feb. 1, 2008, but please come back next December to enter the Best In Business 2008 contest.
At least one person who worked on an entry must be a SABEW member in order to qualify for the BIB Online Contest. Before filling out the entry form for this contest, please check that you, or someone else on the staff who is entering with you, are currently and will continue to be an active SABEW member through Feb. 1, 2008. (Check your SABEW Membership Information.) You will need to enter your member name and member organization as they appear in the SABEW Membership Directory on the entry form.
All entries should have been published between Jan. 1, 2007 and Dec. 31, 2007. The blog category below has specific date requirements.
Entries must be submitted on the editable PDF Best In Business Online Contest Entry Form (Online Contest only). You must submit your completed entry form through e-mail by the contest entry deadline is Feb. 1, 2008.
You may enter more than one Online category or other BIB contest, but each entry must be submitted on a separate entry form. (Web entry forms for BIB contest divisions other than the Online Contest are available on the SABEW Web site.) If your stories are published in both print and Web formats, you may enter the same news stories for both the Online Contest and the appropriate print BIB contest.
If you submit more than one Online Contest division entry, please complete the
Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form for BIB Online Division. The information on this form enables SABEW to check that all of your entries were received and to combine your fees into one charge per credit card.
- Before sending your contest entry e-mail, add the statement Multiple entries submitted to the message area of the e-mail. SABEW will send you an e-mail message with your Entry ID number, in addition to the automatic submission acknowledgement e-mail you receive. The Entry ID number is required to complete the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form.
- See Payment of Fees below for instructions on mailing the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form to SABEW.
Honors outstanding business news Web sites. Both stand-alone business news sites and business Web pages affiliated with general news organizations are eligible to enter.
A General Excellence entry should include the title and URL for the entry's main page and the URLs of up to three additional elements within the site that are to be entered in this category. Entry may also include a letter of up to one page explaining why the site should be considered.
The General Excellence category will be judged based on how well sites make use of online elements. Judges will give extra weight to sites that take best advantage of the online medium in their presentation of elements such as breaking news, special projects, slide shows, audio/video reports and blogs, and interactive features such as forums and polls. They also will give special consideration to elements that are exclusive to the Web and stories that are broken on the Web. Judges will give less weight to sites that simply post online versions of a print product.
Honors outstanding business magazine Web sites. Both stand-alone business news sites and business Web pages affiliated with general-interest publications are eligible to enter.
Include the site's main URL and up to three additional URLs within the site. Entry also may include a letter of up to one page explaining why your site should be considered.
Sites will be judged based on how well they make use of online elements. Judges will give extra weight to sites that take best advantage of the online medium in their presentation of elements such as breaking news, special projects, slide shows, audio/video reports, blogs and interactive features such as forums and polls. They also will give special consideration to elements that are exclusive to the Web and stories that are broken on the Web. Judges will give less weight to sites that simply post online versions of a print product.
Honors outstanding coverage of breaking business news.
An entry is considered to be a package of stories reported and written in a midnight-to-midnight period under deadline pressure. Entry may include only elements published online before they appeared in any other medium. Entry form should include element titles and URLs for all elements of the breaking news package. An optional one-page nomination letter may also be included.
Judges will give greater weight to coverage of unanticipated events than to coverage of events that are expected.
Honors cutting-edge ways of creating and delivering online business news. Examples include e-mail newsletters, breaking news blasts, features delivered to users of mobile devices and user-generated content.
Include a URL that will take judges to the element being entered. Entry also may include a one-page nomination letter explaining the feature and how it came to be.
Judges will look for creativity, originality and functionality of the elements entered in this category.
Honors in-depth, well-rounded packages that appear either online only or feature online-only elements that advance and enhance a project that appeared in another medium.
Entries must be clearly marked as a series or project;
this is not a beat reporting or sustained reporting category.
All elements entered must have been published in 2007. The package
should be investigative in nature or extensively researched. The
stories should be reported over time and do not have to be time-
sensitive. The stories should raise fresh issues, provide insight and/
or offer clear explanation.
Entry should include a main project URL and up to three additional URLs from the same project. An optional one-page nomination letter may also be included.
Judges will consider the overall package, and how online elements such as interactive graphics, slide shows, audio/video reports and interactive features contribute to it. They will also take into account the impact of the stories or reaction to them, so editors may include a one-page
cover letter. No other supplemental material is allowed.
Honors outstanding business-related blogs produced by SABEW members.
Entry can be produced as part of a business news site or produced and posted independently.
Two blog dates selected by the entrant and two mandatory dates, Thursday, April 19, 2007, and Monday, Aug. 6, 2007, will be judged. (If there were no blog postings on a mandatory date, enter all postings from the first day after the mandatory date in which there were postings.)
Entry may include reader comments posted on each of the four days judged. Entrants should submit a URL for each of the four days, or create a single URL that holds postings from all four of the contest days. For each date you submit, please put the date at the beginning of the Page/Element Title field on the entry form, before the title. An optional one-page nomination letter may also be included.
Judges will consider four days' worth of postings: two of the writer’s choice and the two mandatory dates. All entries posted on each day will be judged.
Honors outstanding audio/video reporting.
Entries must focus on business news, must be produced for the Web and must air there before they appear on any other medium. Entrants should submit a URL for the audio/video report. Entry may also include a one-page nomination letter.
Judges will analyze the quality of the report and how well it used audio and/or video to communicate its message.
BIB Online Contest competition fees are based on the contest category selected and the average number of unique visitors per month to the site (not the total number of visits to the site). Sizes are:
- Small: Fewer than 500,000 unique visitors per month
- Medium: 500,000 - 2.5 million unique visitors per month
- Large: More than 2.5 million unique visitors per month
Note: Entrants must describe the method or tool they used to determine unique user visits to the site (e.g. internal site log, Neilsen, etc.). Please provide this information in the box provided on the entry form.
Fees for the BIB Online Contest must be paid by credit card at the time the entry is submitted. Fees are based on contest category selected and average number of unique visitors to the site per month. Contest and Unique Visitors category combinations with their corresponding fees are:
- General Excellence, Small - $105
- General Excellence, Medium- $140
- General Excellence, Large - $210
- All other online categories, Small - $40
- All other online categories, Medium - $40
- All other online categories, Large - $40
(On the entry form, fees display next to their corresponding categories on the Unique Visitors drop-down selection list.)
Payment of entry fees must be made by credit card before the entry can be accepted for the contest. You may enter your credit card information on the Best In Business Online Contest Entry Form and it will be sent to SABEW through e-mail with your other entry information.
If you do not want to send your credit card information through e-mail:
- Before sending your contest entry e-mail, add the statement Payment will follow to the message area of the e-mail. SABEW will send you an e-mail message with your Entry ID number (different message from the automatic submission acknowledgement e-mail you receive when you submit your entry). The Entry ID number is required to complete the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form you will mail to SABEW.
- When you receive your Entry ID, complete the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form for BIB Online Division and mail to SABEW. (A Reconciliation Form is required if you submit more than one Online Contest entry,
but may also be used for submitting credit card information for a single entry.)
Please:
- Be sure to include the Entry ID number(s) from your SABEW e-mail message(s) when completing the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form.
- Add Attention: BIB Online Contest to the SABEW mailing address.
Note: Your entry cannot be processed until payment information is received. If you send your payment separately from your Online Contest Entry Form, SABEW recommends submitting your Entry Form on or before January 25, 2008, to allow time for receipt of the Entry ID number and mailing your payment information to SABEW before the contest deadline. Payment must be postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2008.
- At least one person who worked on an entry must be a SABEW member. (Check your SABEW Membership Information.)
- Your SABEW member name and organization name on the contest entry form must match those in your membership profile.
- Review and comply with requirements specific to the category you plan to enter.
- URLs submitted should take the judges to the story/package being entered. For each URL, please provide the title of the entry, the URL and the entry’s location on the page, if it is not visible on the initial view of the page. If the judge can’t easily find your entry, it will be disqualified.
- Submit only materials published during 2007.
- Complete the Best In Business Online Contest Entry Form and submit it on or before the entry deadline, Feb. 1, 2008. (Click the Print Form button to print a copy of your entry for your records before you click the Submit by E-mail button.)
- Payment must be made by credit card before the entry deadline.
- If you enter more than one BIB Online Contest category, complete the Multiple Entries Reconciliation Form for BIB Online Division.
- Do not make any changes to a submitted entry or its URL until after the competition has been judged.
Note: If you are a competition winner, please leave your entry URL active so other SABEW members can view it.
Note: Failure to meet entry requirements or comply with contest rules will result in disqualification of the entry without notification or refund.
Contacts:
- General Excellence, News, Online questions: Jill Jorden Spitz, contest co-chair, at jspitz@azstarnet.com or (520) 573-4177
- Magazine contest questions: Lisa Gibbs at lgibbs@miamiherald.com or (305) 376-3578
- General Questions: Carrie Paden, SABEW executive director, at padenc@missouri.edu or (573) 882-8985
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