
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers announces the winners in its 14th annual Best in Business contest.
Each winning entry is now being considered for SABEW’s first-ever Best of the Best awards, honoring the very best of business journalism produced at newspapers, magazines and websites during 2008. Best of the Best winners will be announced at the Best in Business awards banquet, scheduled for Monday, April 27 during SABEW’s annual conference at the Westin Tabor Center in Denver. All Best in Business awards will be presented at the banquet as well.
The conference will run from April 26-28, and early-bird rates for registration and for the hotel are available through March 27. For more information about the conference, including how to register, please contact SABEW at 573-882-7862 or visit sabew.org.
The judges’ comments for all winners are posted at www.sabew.org. Additional information about the conference and SABEW is available on the site as well.
The winners listed by contest, category and in alphabetical order by publication or organization, are below. If a name is misspelled or names that should be on the entry are missing, please contact Best in Business contest co-chair Jill Jorden Spitz at jspitz@azstarnet.com.
Overall excellence
Giant newspapers |
(Average daily circulation above 325,000) |
The New York Times |
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) |
The Washington Post |
Large newspapers |
(circulation from 225,000 to 325,000) |
Detroit Free Press |
Rocky Mountain News |
Kansas City Star |
Mid-sized newspapers |
(circulation from 125,000 to 225,000) |
Miami Herald |
The Grand Rapids Press |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
Small newspapers |
(circulation under 125,000) |
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson.) |
Salt Lake Tribune |
The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA.) |
Weekly business newspapers |
Indianapolis Business Journal |
Cincinnati Business Courier |
Philadelphia Business Journal |
Small magazines |
(circulation under 500,000) |
Bloomberg Markets |
Large magazines |
(circulation 500,000 and over) |
Business Week |
Small websites |
(up to 500,000 average monthly unique visitors) |
Crain’s Chicago Business |
Mid-sized websites |
(500,000-2.5 million average monthly unique visitors) |
Bloomberg |
Large websites |
(more than 2.5 million average monthly unique visitors) |
Business Week |
BNET.com |
St. Petersburg Times |
Business News Reporting
Breaking News
Giant publications
Eric Dash, reporter; Edmund L. Andrews, reporter; Jenny Anderson, reporter; Vikas Bajaj, reporter; Andrew Ross Sorkin, reporter; Michael Barbaro, reporter; Michael J. de la Merced, reporter; Louise Story, reporter; Ben White, reporter; Floyd Norris, reporter; Gretchen Morgenson, reporter; Mary Williams Walsh, reporter; David M. Herszenhorn, reporter; Carl Hulse, reporter; Peter S. Goodman, reporter; Diana B. Henriques, reporter; and Hilda Wang, reporter, The New York Times: “Wall Street financial crisis”
Jonathan Weisman, Paul Kane, Lori Montgomery, Joel Achenbach, Ashley Surdin, Edward Cody, Mary Jordan, Steven Pearlstein, Neil Irwin, David Cho, Dan Eggen and Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post: “Wall Street’s crisis lands in Washington”
Carrick Mollenkamp, reporter; Susanne Craig, news editor; Serena Ng, reporter; Aaron Lucchetti, reporter; Matthew Karnitschnig, reporter; Dan Fitzpatrick, reporter; Deborah Solomon, reporter; Dennis K. Berman, deputy editor - Money & Investing; Liam Pleven, reporter; Peter Lattman, reporter, The Wall Street Journal: “Financial crisis”
Large publications
Hanah Cho, reporter; Andrea Walker, reporter; Dan Thanh Dang, reporter; Jay Hancock, reporter/columnist; Jamie Smith Hopkins, reporter; Robert Little, reporter; Sumathi Reddy, reporter; Annie Linsky, reporter; Scott Calvert, reporter; Trif Alatzas, editor; Bernie Kohn, editor; Howard Libit, editor; David Nitkin, editor, The Baltimore Sun: “Buffett’s Rescue - Constellation Energy sale”
Katherine Yung, staff writer; Ellen Creager, travel writer; Tim Higgins, staff writer; Brent Snavely, staff writer; Jewel Gopwani, staff writer; and Mark Phelan, columnist, Detroit Free Press: Two breaking stories in one day
Jeremiah McWilliams, business reporter; Jeffrey Tomich, business reporter; Angela Tablac, business reporter; David Nicklaus, business columnist; Tim Logan, business reporter; Matthew Hathaway, metro reporter; Jake Wagman, metro reporter; Robert Kelly, metro reporter; Greg Jonsson, metro reporter; David Hunn, metro reporter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Farewell to the King”
Mid-sized publications
Rick Rothacker, Christina Rexrode, Jen Aronoff, Kerry Hall, Bill Pitzer, Elizabeth Leland, Eric Frazier, Lisa Zagaroli, Jefferson George, Doug Smith, Patrick Scott, Tony Mecia, The Charlotte Observer: “Whiplash" (Wells Fargo bid for Wachovia)
David Shepardson, Washington bureau chief; Christine Tierney, global auto reporter; Gordon Trowbridge, Washington bureau; Alisa Priddle, Chrysler reporter; Bryce G. Hoffman, Ford reporter; Robert Snell, GM reporter; Daniel Howes, Business columnist and associate business editor, Detroit News: "Survival roadmap" (Automakers' bailout plans)
Chris O'Brien, staff writer; Pete Carey, staff writer; Vindu Goel, business columnist; Pai, graphic artist; Dean Takahashi, business columnist; Troy Wolverton, staff writer; Mark Boslet, staff writer; and Jack Davis, data analyst, San Jose Mercury News: "Will it work?" (Microsoft/Yahoo merger proposal)
Small publications
Tyrone Richardson, Darryl Isherwood, Daniel Patrick Sheehan, Scott Kraus, Patrick Lester, Greg Karp, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA.): “Bulldog bolts”
Ilene Aleshire, business editor; Sherri Buri McDonald, reporter; Diane Dietz, reporter; Edward Russo, reporter; Anne Williams, reporter, Register-Guard (Eugene, OR.): “Hynix plant to shut”
Weekly publications
Adam Linker, reporter; Lee Weisbecker, reporter; Amanda Jones Hoyle, reporter; and Dale Gibson, editor, Triangle Business Journal: “A troubled town”
Stephen Nellis, staff writer; Barbara Pearson, staff writer; Henry Dubroff, editor; Emily Rancer, assistant managing editor; and Ray Estrada, managing editor, Pacific Coast Business Times: “Gap Fire coverage”
Reporters Beth Braverman, Mark Bruno, Tim Catts, Marine Cole, Hilary Johnson, Matthew Monks, Neil Roland, Nicholas Rummell and Matthew Scott, Financial Week: “From crunch to crisis”
Real-time news organizations
David Baily, correspondent; Kevin Krolickie, Detroit bureau chief; Jui Chakravorty, correspondent; Poornima Gupta, correspondent; Kim Soyoung, correspondent; and Nick Carey, correspondent, Thomson Reuters America: “GM/Chrysler deal hopes rise, then shattered"
Anupreeta Das and Michele Gershberg, correspondents, Thomson Reuters America: “Microhoo: how the Blockbuster deal blew up”
Enterprise
Giant publications
Susanne Craig, news editor; Jeffrey McCracken, reporter; Aaron Lucchetti, reporter; Kate Kelly, reporter, The Wall Street Journal: “The weekend that Wall Street died”
Thomas Farragher, editor; Scott Allen, reporter; Marcella Bombardieri, reporter; Michael Rezendes, reporter; Liz Kowalczyk, reporter; Jeffrey Krasner, reporter, The Boston Globe: “A healthcare system badly out of balance”
Binyamin Appelbaum and Ellen Nakashima, staff writers, The Washington Post: “Banking regulator played advocate over enforcer”
Large publications
Tim Higgins, Detroit Free Press: “Pattern of harassment”
Andrew McIntosh, Sacramento Bee: “Nail gun safety under fire”
John Gittelsohn, The Orange County Register: “Washington Mutual funded home flippers”
Mid-sized publications
Rick Rothacker, The Charlotte Observer: “The good deal that wasn’t”
Bryce G. Hoffman, Detroit News: “Ford inside story”
Jennifer Hiller, San Antonio Express-News: “On the hot seat”
Small publications
Dawn House, reporter, Salt Lake Tribune: “Liquor”
Gary Pakulski, business writer, Toledo (Ohio) Blade: “Down but not out”
Kevin McCallum, staff writer, Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat: “For Exchange Bank, wrong time, wrong place”
Weekly publications
Richard Clough, Los Angeles Business Journal: “IndyMac’s last gasps”
David Sterrett, Crain's Chicago Business: “McD’s eye-opener”
Bill King, Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal: “Finding growth in green”
Real-time news organizations
John Helyar, Editor-at-Large; Alison Fitzgerald, Mark Pittman and Serena Saitto, Reporters, Bloomberg News: “Ten days changed Wall Street”
Mitch Weiss, The Associated Press: “Weak rules cripple appraiser oversight”
Jordan Robertson, Bloomberg News: “China lets child workers die”
Large magazines
Richard Behar, Fast Company: “China storms Africa”
Robert Berner, Business Week: “The watchdogs who warned us”
Small magazines
William Selway and Martin Z. Braun, Bloomberg Markets: “Schools flunk finance”
Columns
Giant publications
Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times
Steven Pearlstein, The
Washington Post
Gretchen Morgenson, The New York Times
Large publications
David Nicklaus, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Al Lewis, Denver
Post
Tom Walsh, Detroit Free Press
Mid-sized publications
Dan Haar, Hartford Courant
Mitchell Schnurman, Fort Worth
Star-Telegram
Harriet Brackey-Johnson, Sun-Sentinel (Fort
Lauderdale.)
Small publications
Jon Chesto, The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, MA.)
Greg Karp, Morning
Call (Allentown, PA.)
Weekly publications
Greg Hinz, Crain's Chicago Business
Steve Symanovich, San
Francisco Business Times
Simon Dumenco, Advertising Age
Real-time news organizations
Al Lewis, Dow Jones
Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money
Jonathan
Weil, Bloomberg
Projects
Giant publications
Michael Hiltzik, staff writer; Lisa Girion, staff writer; Daniel Costello, former staff writer, Los Angeles Times: “Shedding risk”
Gretchen Morgenson, reporter; Peter S. Goodman, reporter; Eric Dash, reporter; Julie Creswell, reporter; Charles Duhigg, reporter; Carter Dougherty, reporter; Jo Becker, reporter; Sheryl Gay Stolberg, reporter; Stephen Labaton, reporter; Kitty Bennett, reporter, The New York Times: "The reckoning"
Thomas Farragher, editor; Scott Allen, reporter; Marcella Bombardieri, reporter; Michael Rezendes, reporter; Liz Kowalczyk, reporter; Jeffrey Krasner, reporter, The Boston Globe: "Partners HealthCare"
Large publications
Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong, The Seattle Times: “Culture of resistance”
Cary Spivak, investigative business reporter; Dan Bice, columnist; and Ben Poston, reporter, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Easy money”
Fred Schulte, reporter; James Drew, reporter; and Bernie Kohn, editor, Baltimore Sun: “Hospital debt”
Mid-sized publications
Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordonez, John Simmons, Peter St. Onge, Ted Mellnik, Reid Creager, Rogelio Aranda, Holly Farrant, Bill Pitzer, Dave Puckett, Dave Enna, Tony Lone Fight, Marion Paynter, Maria David, Jim Walser, Gary Schwab, Mitch Weiss, Glenn Burkins and Patrick Scott, The Charlotte Observer: “The cruelest cuts”
Matthew Haggman, Rob Barry and Jack Dolan, The Miami Herald: “Borrowers betrayed”
Christine Tierney, Detroit News, “Russian revolution”
Small publications
David Giffels, David Knox, Betty Lin-Fisher, Mark J. Price, Tracy Wheeler, Cheryl Powell, Lisa Abraham, Kim Hone-McMahan, Mary Beth Breckenridge, Bill Lilley, Katie Byard and Dennis Willard, Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal: “The American dream”
The Press Democrat, Kevin McCallum, staff writer, The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA): “Life savings lost to fraud/The money trail”
Steven Oberbeck, The Salt Lake Tribune: “Hidden dangers”
Weekly publications
Editor Bernard Dagenais; Managing Editor Dell Poncet; Design Editor John Spencer; Associate Editors Frank Devlin and Sonja Sherwood; Staff Writers Athena D. Merritt, Natalie Kostelni, Jeff Blumenthal, John George, Peter Key and Peter Van Allen, Philadelphia Business Journal: “Price of crime”
Lucy May, senior reporter, and Dan Monk, senior reporter, Cincinnati Business Courier: “Empty promise”
Bill Orben, associate managing editor; Denise Hicks, research director; Anjali Fluker, staff writer; Dan Ping, former staff writer; Chris Kauffmann, staff writer; and Tiffany Beck, former staff writer, Orlando Business Journal: “Water woes”
Real-time news organizations
William Selway and Martin Z. Braun, Bloomberg News: “Broken promises”
Staff, Bloomberg News: “Recipe for famine”
Eric Carvin, Associated Press Top Stories Desk editor, and AP Business Reporters Chris Rugaber, Alan Zibel, Rachel Beck, Madlen Read, Ellen Simon, David Pitt, Marcy Gordon, Mark Jewell, Marty Crutsinger, Jeannine Aversa, Janna Elphinstone, Dirk Lammers, Shaila Dani, Candice Choi, Andrew Miga, Tom Murphy, Dennis Conrad, Dave Carpenter, John Porretto, Kimberly Johnson, Vinnee Tong, Chris Bain, Deborah Yao and Joe Bel Bruno, The Associated Press: “Meltdown 101”
Online Excellence
Breaking News
Large websites
Staff of The New York Times/nytimes.com, The New York Times: “Sunday, Sept. 14”
Small/mid-sized websites
Rick Rothacker, Christina Rexrode, Jefferson George, Kirsten Valle, Jen Aronoff, Stella M. Hopkins, Fred Clasen-Kelly, Kerry Hall, Doug Smith, Deirdre McGruder, Trevor Freeze, Tony Lone Fight, The Charlotte Observer: “Wells Fargo wins Wachovia”
Kirsten Grind, Eric Engleman and staff, Puget Sound Business Journal: “Wamu seized by regulators and sold off”
Reporter Andy Giegerich, Reporter Erik Siemers, Managing editor Matthew Kish, Portland Business Journal: “Freightliner closing Swan Island plant”
Projects
Large websites
Kris Hundley, Kathleen Flynn and Kainaz Amaria, St. Petersburg Times: “Testing grounds”
Reporter Louise Story; Reporter Tara Siegel Bernard; Reporter Jenny Anderson; Reporter Mark Landler; Video Journalist Matt Orr; Reporter Brad Stone; Senior Producer, Video David Rummel; Reporter Jonathan Glater; Video Journalist Emily Hager; Producer, Video Rob Harris; Producer, Video Todd Heisler; Multimedia Producer Tom Jackson; Multimedia Producer Amy O'Leary; Graphics Editor Amy Schoenfeld; Graphics Editor Amanda Cox; and Graphics Editor Matthew Bloch, The New York Times: “The debt trap”
Assignment Editor Doug Carroll; Multimedia Producer Julia Schmalz; Senior Designer Juan Thomassie; Enterprise Editor Mindy Fetterman; Designer William Couch; Reporter Barbara De Lollis; Reporter Marilyn Adams; and Researcher Anne Carey, USA Today: “Flight cutbacks”
Mid-sized websites
John Simmons, Bill Pitzer, Tony Lone Fight, Peter Weinberger, Ames Alexander, Peter St. Onge, Franco Ordonez, Kerry Hall, The Charlotte Observer: “The cruelest cuts”
Ronald Campbell, The Orange County Register: “Lenders did booming business”
Roberta Rampton, Thomson Reuters: “Agflation”
Small websites
Matt Carmichael, research director; Michelle Evans, associate research director; and Jeff Hartvigsen, multimedia producer, Crain’s Chicago Business: “Market facts”
Ian Lamont, David Cotriss and Mark Henricks, The Industry Standard: “Where are they now?”
Matthew Carmichael, Michelle Evans, Allison Riggio, Melissa Phee, Jeff Hartvigsen, Jennifer Fletcher and Stephen J. Serio, Crain’s Chicago Business: “Best places to work in Chicago”
Audio/Visual Reports
Large websites
Gretchen Morgenson, reporter, video journalist; Matt Orr, senior producer; David Rummel, video journalist; Emily Hager, producer; Rob Harris, producer; Todd Heisler, The New York Times, “The debt trap”
Small/Mid-sized websites
Thomas Mucha, assistant managing editor; Brandon Copple, managing editor; and Mark Scheffler, freelancer, Crain’s Chicago Business: “Entrepreneurs in action”
Blogs
Large websites
Jason Gertzen and David Hayes, The Kansas City Star
Economics Columnist David Leonhardt; Online Editor, Economics Catherine Rampell; and Web Producer R.M. Schneiderman, The New York Times
Jeffrey Davis, Executive Editor, BNET.com
Mid-sized websites
Jonathan Lansner (assisted by reporters Mary Ann Milbourn and Jeff Collins), Orange County Register
Small websites
Greg Hinz, Crain's Chicago Business
Ian Lamont, TheStandard,com
Jonathan
Blum, blumsday.com
Creative Use of Online
Large websites
Reporter Gretchen Morgenson; multimedia producer Amy O'Leary; multimedia producer Tom Jackson; senior producer, video David Rummel; graphics editor Amy Schoenfeld; graphics editor Amanda Cox; graphics editor Matthew Bloch; video journalist Emily Hager; video journalist Matt Orr; producer, video Rob Harris; producer, video Todd Heisler, The New York Times: “The debt trap”
Glenn Hall, Editor; and Bill McCandless, executive editor, thestreet.com: “TheStreet.com mobile”
David Pogue, technology columnist; Danielle Belopotosky, Web producer; Raymond McCrea Jones, photo producer; Sam Grobart, personal technology editor; Tom Jackson, multimedia producer; John Niedermeyer, designer and Zach Wise, lead multimedia producer, The New York Times: “Pogue-o-matic”
Mid-sized websites
Tony Lone Fight, John Simmons, Bill Pitzer, Peter Weinberger, Ames Alexander, Franco Ordonez, Kerry Hall, Peter St. Onge, Ted Mellnik, Reid Creager, Rogelio Aranda, Holly Farrant, Dave Puckett, Dave Enna, Marion Paynter, Maria David, Jim Walser, Gary Schwab, Mitch Weiss, Glenn Burkins and Patrick Scott, The Charlotte Observer: “The cruelest cuts”
Assistant Managing Editor Ken Wheaton; Jr., Web Producer/Editor Charlie Moran and Web Products Manager Rahmin Pavlovic, Advertising Age: “Ad Age Power 150”
Consumer Affairs reporter Sheryl Harris; online graphic artist Felesia McDonald, (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: “Scamfinders”
Small websites
Ian Lamont, director of product and design; Eric Hill, contributing writer; Kristen Nicole, contributing writer; and Bill Snyder, The Industry Standard: “10 'Net services that will succeed (and 10 that will probably fail)”
Student Contest
For stories written for professional publications
Catarina Saralva, Triangle Business Journal: “The adult-care gap” (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill)
For stories written for student publications
Laura Marcinek, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill: "Private giving could slide"
Contacts:
Arizona Daily Star
Jill Jorden Spitz, 520-573-4177
PO Box 26807
Tucson,
AZ 85726
jspitz@azstarnet.com