2003 News: SABEW CONTEST READY TO ROLL Remember, deadline is Feb. 11! ENTER NOW!

By Randy Picht, SABEW Contest Chairman rpicht@ap.org

SABEW's Best in Business contest has enjoyed a great growth curve and that trend should continue this year as the contest committee unveils a new category.

The contest, in its ninth year, surpassed 500 entries for the first time last year. The new "Projects" portion of the News Contest is designed to acknowledge outstanding work that features investigative reporting or comprehensive and exhaustive work on an important issue.

With all of the attention on corporate hanky panky, the committee thoughts this would be an excellent year to introduce this category.

"Projects" should make it easier for business editors to enter stories or story packages that are not tied to a deadline. The two existing categories - breaking news and spot enterprise - are linked to time-sensitive reporting.

The SABEW Best in Business contest honors the best and the brightest business coverage in North America including overall excellence by a newspaper and outstanding news coverage by a business news journalist or team.

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A REMINDER

For BEST SECTION contest: You'll send sections or publications from at least six different days in 2002. You have the opportunity to submit a special section for the judges to review. Please be sure to consult rules about what to submit. These rules ensure that judges get the broadest possible view of your publication.

For NEWS CONTEST: It's important to specify whether you're entering the breaking news portion of the contest, the spot enterprise or the new projects category. Consult the rules to determine the best place for your entry. Remember, spot enterprise contest is limited to one story. Multi-story packages can, however, be submitted in the two other categories.