2001 News: SABEW Best in Business Winners Announced

March 28, 2001
Contact:
Randy Picht, contest chairman, (212) 621-1685
Carolyn Guniss, SABEW executive director, (573) 882-8985

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Society of American Business Editors and Writers has named the winners in its seventh annual Best in Business contest, which recognizes the best overall publications and best breaking news and spot enterprise reporting in business journalism during 2000.

A record 492 entries from daily newspapers, business weeklies, wire services and business news online sites were received, including 395 stories or story packages in the news portion of the contest.

Last year, the contest received 246 total entries.

-- Twenty daily or weekly publications were named Best in Business for overall excellence, and four were recognized with certificates of merit.

-- Fifteen news organizations were named Best in Business for breaking news coverage. This category recognizes news organizations that produced superior work under tight deadlines.

-- Fifteen were named Best in Business for Spot Enterprise, a new category this year that honors work that is timely but provides a broader, more analytical look at an issue.

The SABEW Best in Business contest was started in 1995 to help set standards and recognize role models for outstanding business journalism.

Awards will be presented Sunday, April 29, at the Marriott World Trade Center in New York, during SABEW’s 38th annual convention. Winning sections will be on display at the hotel. Judges’ comments for all winners will be available at the SABEW web site. Additional information about the conference and SABEW is available at that site as well.

Best in Business winners for overall excellence, by category and listed in alphabetical order are:
(Judges could name up to five winners in each category)

GIANT (Newspapers with average daily circulation 375,001 and above):

– Los Angeles Times
– The Boston Globe
– USA Today

Certificate of Merit: Chicago Tribune

Judges: Robert Barker, senior writer, BusinessWeek
John Bersia, editorial writer/editorial board member, The Orlando Sentinel, Jodi Schneider, assistant managing editor, U.S. News & World Report

LARGE (Newspapers with circulation 250,001 -375,000):

– Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
– San Jose Mercury News
– South Florida SunSentinel
– The Orange County Register
– The Oregonian (Portland)

Judges: David J. Morrow, articles editor, SmartMoney, Debbie Van Tassel, business editor, The Plain Dealer, Julie Vorman, commodities & energy editor, Reuters

MID-SIZED (Newspapers with circulation 125,001-250,000):

– Austin American-Statesman
– Richmond Times-Dispatch
– St. Paul Pioneer Press
– The Hartford Courant

Certificates of Merit:
Providence Journal
The Virginian-Pilot

Judges: Professor Charles Davis, executive director, Freedom of Information Center and assistant professor, Missouri School of Journalism, Jeff Herman, business section editor, St. Louis Post-Dispatch,Chris Lester, assistant managing editor – business, The Kansas City Star

SMALL (Newspapers with circulation up to 125,000):

– Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.)
– Las Vegas Sun
– The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.)

Certificates of Merit: The Oakland (Calif.) Tribune, The Patriot-Ledger (Quincy, Mass.), The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Judges: Charles B. Camp, senior editor/Business News, The Dallas Morning News, Stephen H. Dunphy, business columnist, The Seattle Times, Don Nelson, editor, Puget Sound Business Journal

BUSINESS WEEKLIES:

– Atlanta Business Chronicle
– Boston Business Journal
– Cincinnati Business Courier
– Crain’s Detroit Business
– San Francisco Business Times

Certificates of Merit: Dallas Business Journal, Pacific Coast Business Times

Judges: Ed Bean, managing editor, Daily Report
Dean Foust, Atlanta bureau chief for BusinessWeek magazine, Professor Hugh J. Martin, journalism instructor, Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Georgia

NEWS CONTEST

Best in Business Breaking News winners, by category and in alphabetical order are: (Judges could name up to three winners in each category)

GIANT (Newspapers with circulation over 375,001):

– The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), “LTV begs for life” by Thomas Gerdel, Jennifer Cimperman, Sandra Livingston, T.C. Brown, Mary Vanac, Michael O’Malley, Peter Krouse and Sabrina Eaton
– The Wall Street Journal, “AOL-Time Warner merger” by The Wall Street Journal staff

LARGE (Newspapers with circulation 250,001-375,000):

– Financial Times, “UBS close to $12bn agreed purchase of PaineWebber” by Gary Silverman and team
– Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “The Justin deal” by Mitchell Schnurman, Lila LaHood, Dan Piller, and Jim Fuquay
– The Orange County Register, “Power Grid Lock” by Kate Berry, Daniel C. Weintraub, Tony Saavedra and Anne C. Mulkern

MID-SIZED (Newspapers with circulation 125,001-250,000):

– Dayton Daily News, “Roberds quits; struggle ends” by the business staff
– Providence Journal, “The Final Measure” by the Business Staff; Lead Writer, Bob Wyss
– Sarasota Herald-Tribune, “Developer's actions counter to court orders’’ by Kelly Cramer

SMALL (Newspapers with circulation up to 125,000):

-- The Arizona Daily Star, “Yaquis kill plans for high-tech plant” by Paola Banchero
-- Durham Herald-Sun “Midway raising capital” by Jeff Zimmer
-- The Modesto Bee, “Tri Valley Growers files bankruptcy” by Richard T. Estrada

WEEKLIES:

– Providence Business News, “Investors take over Tradesafe.com” by Frank Prosnitz
– St. Louis Business Journal, “Audit: Lazaroff misstated $380,000” by Rick Desloge

REAL-TIME:

– Bloomberg News, “Soros Fund Revamps; Druckenmiller, Roditi Resign” by Katherine Burton
-- Dow Jones Newswires, “AOL-Time Warner merger” by the staff of Dow Jones Newswires
-- Reuters, “Napster decision” by Susan Zeidler

Breaking News Judges: Dan Blake, managing editor, U.S. Equities - Bridge News (stepped aside for real-time category) Ron Insana, co-anchor, CNBC's "Business Center" Leah Beth Ward, technology writer, Dallas Morning News

Best in Business Spot Enterprise winners, by category and in alphabetical order are: (Judges could name up to three winners in each category)

GIANT (Newspapers with circulation over 375,001):

– Chicago Tribune, “Problems at Tire Plant Alleged”by Melita Garza, Lauren Comander, Patrick Cole
– Rocky Mountain News (Denver), “Suicide pact ends Bernstein brothers’ scheming ways” by John Accola and Peggy Lowe
– The Wall Street Journal, “Indictment says Lab Fudged Thousands of Tests” by Peter Waldman and Jim Carlton

LARGE (Newspapers with circulation 250,001-375,000):

– Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “Outside the Box” by Bill Hornaday
– The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), "Job Deaths At Avondale Scrutinized" by Keith Darcé and Tara Young
– The Times-Picayune (New Orleans), “One Hull of a Problem" by Keith Darcé and John Biers

MID-SIZED (Newspapers with circulation 125,001-250,000):

– The Gazette (Montreal), “No chips, please” by Jay Bryan
– The News Journal, (Delaware) “The Great Food Fight is on” by Seth Agulnick
– St. Paul Pioneer Press, “When Insiders Sell” by Kevin Maler

SMALL (Newspapers with circulation up to 125,000):

– York (Pa.) Daily Record, “What is that smell?” by Sharon Smith

WEEKLIES:

– Atlanta Business Chronicle, “State's economy showing cracks” by Rajiv Vyas
– Crain’s Detroit Business, “St. John resignations now at 6” by Dave Barkholz
– The Business Journal (Phoenix), “Cactus Clouds: Storm front moves in from Las Vegas” by Stephanie Balzer

REAL-TIME:

– Bankrate.com, “Paying online: Beware the scammer” by Holden Lewis
– Bloomberg News, “`Tokyo Joe’ Park Says SEC Charges Ignore His Blunt Warnings” by Neil Roland
– WSJ.com, “Defending right to post message: `CEO is a Dodo’” by Aaron Elstein

Spot Enterprise Judges:

(Large, Small and real-time categories)
Stuart Elliott, advertising columnist, New York Times,Geanne Rosenberg, assistant professor, graduate program in business journalism, Baruch College, Larry Rout, senior editor, Wall Street Journal (stepped aside for real-time judging)

(Giant, Mid-sized and weeklies)
Terry Badger, assistant business editor - enterprise, Associated Press
Gail Roche, senior editor, Bloomberg, Robert Thomson, U.S. managing editor, Financial Times

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers, Inc., headquartered at the Missouri School of Journalism, is an association of more than 3,000 business journalists in North America. Formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events and issues, it is the only educational business journalism association for editors and writers.