The Society of American Business Editors and Writers has named the winners in its 12th annual Best in Business contest, which recognizes the best sections or publications, as well as the best breaking news, enterprise and projects reporting in business journalism during 2006.

The judges comments for each category are available below:

Student Contest
Student Competition Winners

Reuters
“Iraq, Afghanistan lure poor Latin American Guards” by Isabel Ordonez, University of Missouri
This was a story that judges agreed they just hadn’t read anywhere else. U.S. companies with operations in these countries are cutting costs by hiring Latin Americans with military know-how. In two months, one man said, he earned as much money guarding the U.S. Embassy in Kabul as he would earn in two years in Peru. The piece was insightful and complete. It was written during her internship for Reuters in Lima, Peru. She is a student at the Missouri School of Journalism.

Bloomberg
“Smith & Wesson, `Dirty Harry’ Gun Maker, Targets Army” by Amy Thomson, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
This offered a well-balanced report of one company’s efforts to expand its business. The company’s strategy is to sell more .45-caliber pistols over the next 10 years. The business story was solid, packed with details and written straight-down-the-middle. We have no idea how the reporter views handguns - as it should be. The piece was written during her summer internship at Bloomberg. She’s a student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

News Contest
Breaking News Winners
Giant Newspaper Category

The Boston Globe
“Boston Scientific’s acquisition of Guidant” by Stephen Heuser, Robert Gavin, Steven Syre, Jeffrey Krasner, Erica Noonan, Emily Shartin and Bennie DiNardo
The BSX/GDT merger was a long, drawn-out affair, yet when it closed, the hometown paper put together an exceptional package. It touched on what it meant to the industry, to the region and had a bonus for readers: a profile of the CEO, ready to go on Day 1. A sound lead brought the story home to Boston readers; so did sidebars that paid attention to details, such as what this deal means to suburban Boston, how Boston Scientific is viewed by its neighbors and even what the deal might mean to charity in the region.

The New York Times
“Google’s YouTube Deal” by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Matt Richtel, Miguel Helft and John Markoff
Great storytelling on a breaking-news piece put this story a cut above. It combined insider detail, depth and remarkable context, especially given the deadline pressures faced by staff writers. The Times saw this thoroughly modern deal for its cutting-edge significance, even if it wasn’t that big a deal in 2006 terms and if it had huge question marks over it. By paying attention to the details of language, the coverage captures the unique place Google and YouTube hold in today’s business news.

Chicago Tribune
“Board of Trade-Mercantile Exchange Merger” by Greg Burns, David Greising, Susan Chandler, Susan Diesenhouse and Julie Johnsson
The Tribune made this an international and local story, and kept the arcane world of futures accessible. This was breaking news two decades in the making - a veteran staff building institutional knowledge and unleashing it when the big news broke. Readers were the winners, enjoying a comprehensive package of stories that started online and carried into a print presentation that went from the obvious (how the deal was done) to the minute (how “regular” Chicagoans will feel the ripple effects). A succinct analysis of what it means to Chicago’s place in the trading world was a nice bow to the package.

Large Newspaper Category

San Jose Mercury News
“Inside the HP Privacy Drama” by Therese Poletti, Sarah Jane Tribble, Howard Mintz, Scott Duke Harris, Mike Langberg, Michelle Quinn, Donna Alvarado, Michele Chandler, Maria Shao and Kevin Wendt
Very strong coverage of a complicated story. Package detailed not only the events - with director profiles and a chronology to help the reader - but also explored the issue of pretexting, foreshadowing later news on the subject.

The Denver Post
“Raids at Swift Plants” by Bruce Finley, Tom McGhee, Christine Tatum, Kieran Nicholson, Greg Griffin, Kristi Arellano, David Migoya and Christopher Osher
This coverage successfully tackled two important issues - immigration and identity theft - simultaneously. An excellent example of a national story made local, with personal stories and business effects explored.

Detroit Free Press
“GM Alliance: Power Play Shakes Motor City” by Mike Ellis, John Gallagher, Ron Dzwonkowski, Jennifer Dixon, Susan Tompor and Margarita Bauza
Strong coverage from all angles, with great presentation. This is a visually impressive package: big layouts, outstanding graphics, nice photos, tons of stores.

Medium Newspaper Category

The Charlotte Observer
“Creditors, feds key to air takeover bid” by Steve Harrison, Rick Rothacker, Andrew Shain, Mike Drummond, Ames Alexander, Stella M. Hopkins, Christopher Kirkpatrick and Tony Mecia
This package was very strong, especially for taking a national story and saying what it means for people in Charlotte, without losing the sophistication of the national point of view. The quotes were strong, the impact was clear and the historical points of view were well done. The examples of past instances of this sort of change were well presented. The sidebars filled in with things such as the Mr. Watchdog column that answered some of the specific questions that come up for the community.

Detroit News
“Blue Friday” by Bill Vlasic, Daniel Howes, Bryce G. Hoffman, Christine Tierney, Sharon Terlep and Louis Aguilar
The trend for the year seemed to be the shrinking center of U.S. manufacturing. This package matched the gravity and history-making nature of the event. You could not ask for a more complete coverage. You can feel the shoe leather in these stories, with reporters getting deep into the community to feel what changes in one company will do for the people, economy and city of Detroit. The writing avoids the cliché and moves easily between the global implications and the family stresses.

Detroit News
“New Ford CEO” by Bill Vlasic, Daniel Howes, Bryce G. Hoffman, Christine Tierney, Josee Valcourt and Sharon Terlep
This package showed off the paper’s deep sources and brought the reader into the board room. It did this without assuming any knowledge or going over the heads of more readers. The writing was strong and clear and told the story quickly and easily. The surprising nature of this move means the team had to hustle, and they did. The sidebars elaborated on points such as the differences between the auto industry and Boeing and the dangers of bringing an outsider into a club like the auto makers.

Small Newspaper Category

The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
“Agere Bought Out” by Kurt Blumenau and Sam Kennedy
Kurt Blumenau’s main story was comprehensive and authoritative, demonstrating knowledge about the chip industry, individual companies involved and the local economic implications of the deal. Blumenau questioned whether the merger would have the results espoused by the two companies and was rightly skeptical about whether this truly represented a “merger” vs. a takeover. Despite including commentary about Agere’s “brief, disappointing life”, the writer included views from all of the major constituents - Agere and LSI officials, Agere employees and Wall Streets sell - and buy sides - which were presented in a balanced fashion. Sam Kennedy’s sidebar “Similarities between Agere, LSI only go so far” backed up Blumenau’s questioning of the companies’ proposed $125 million cost-saving figure target and provided good historical information about both firms. The accompanying frontpage graphics “Comparing the Companies” and Agere “Through the Years” provided quick and handy reference for readers with less familiarity with the companies and Agere’s history.

The Wichita Eagle
“Beechcraft is Back” by Jerry Siebenmark
Judges were impressed by the depth of research and reporting that went into such a quick turnaround for the story of Beechcraft’s private equity deal. The overall package was impressive with just about every conceivable angle covered. The writing in the main piece was creative and clear and the accompanying graphics and pictures added to the comprehensive feel of the coverage. The Wichita Eagle’s coverage was particularly impressive given the regular beat reporter was on vacation when the story broke. The quality of the coverage in such a “scramble situation” is a testament to the professionalism and talent of all involved in putting together the package.

Press-Register (Mobile, Ala.)
“Prichard Wins” by Kathy Jumper, Andy Netzel and Mark Inabinett
Kathy Jumper’s main story Pritchard, Ala. being declared the site of a new motor sports complex was crisply written and, along with the accompanying graphic, provided the reader with all the relevant information in any easily digestible form. Jumper’s “just the facts ma’am” reporting was only enhanced by a strong sidebar by Andy Netzel. While also adhering to a straightforward style, Netzel’s story provided the “human angle” of the story, but did so in an evenhanded way. Rather than pandering to the potential “victims” of the race track, the story contained comments from several local constituencies - critics and supporters alike - while addressing the broader economic impact of the news. Mark Inabinett’s sports-section cover story took yet another angle to the story: the impact the planned new complex would have on existing area raceways. The surprising slant of the story was many of the “mom and pop” race track operators were upbeat about the news of a potential “big league” competitor.

Business Weekly Category

Advertising Age
“Unruly Julie and the Scandal that Rocked the Ad World” by Matthew Creamer
This was such an engaging subject. And the thing you took away from this package was that this was much deeper than the news event - it was about a clash of cultures and Wal-Mart wanting to break out of itself and not being able to. The writing was not only flashy, it was authoritative. The sidebars were well-conceived and comprehensive. And how do you miss with booze, bribery and sex?

Dallas Business Journal
“HUD Secretary’s Blunt Warning” by Christine Perez
It was gutsy that the Dallas Business Journal went with the story, and then it broke nationally. This has become part of a national conversation about cronyism in the Bush Administration. So we gave them credit for showing up and for seeing the outrageousness of what he was saying. And the story had good balance and was fairly written.

Real-Time Category

Bloomberg News
“Bill Ford Makes Way for Mulally” by Bill Koenig, Rachel Layne, John Lippert, James Gunsalus, Peter Robison and Gillian Wee
Our criteria for this category included whether an entry had strong detail and analytical prescience. This entry had both. There wasn’t much redundancy throughout the package, and the Herb Kelleher interview was a score. Most of all, the package offered a peak behind the curtain. Ford is a behemoth that guards itself pretty carefully. To have a look at its power struggle within was interesting.

News Contest
Enterprise Winners
Giant Newspaper Category

New York Times
“Very Rich Are Leaving the Merely Rich Behind” by Louis Uchitelle
Kudos to the New York Times and Louis Uchitelle for giving us an insightful and realistic look into what makes a growing number of professionals decide to leave their chosen professions for much more lucrative ones. Whether you agree or disagree with the reasoning, the author writes it in a way that stimulates further discussion. Mr. Uchitelle has a tremendous capacity to weave a story and get people to speak openly and frankly about such a delicate subject like personal financial compensation.

The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Philadelphia Baggage Story” by Tom Belden and Craig R. McCoy
Tom Belden and Craig R. McCoy give you an excellent description of what happens to luggage going from Philadelphia’s airport. Added to that you have excellent photos and graphics that depict the customer frustrations as well as a timeline of how US Airways was doing in relationship with their airline counterparts. It also explains how an airline going through bad financial times can have a massive trickle down effect to its customers. It makes a reader want to inquire further to see if conditions have changed in a year’s time.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Insurance Injustice - When Credit Matters” by Carrie Teegardin and Ann Hardie
This entry not only told a story but should make every business editor in this country take notice and say - “Is this happening in my town?” These two reporters questioned something we take for granted and probably never question in life. It is modern day red lining at its best. This is truly a buyer beware story with excellent historical documentation and statistical material to back up their story. I would have liked to see more anecdotes. And being able to see the photos would have been a plus.

Large Newspaper Category

The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.)
“Millions for rural health miss mark” by Joe Rojas-Burke
This is terrific enterprise work. The Oregonian’s well-told tale shows how affluent doctors are getting millions in state funds that were meant to help small-town doctors pay their malpractice premiums. To make this tale even richer, the reporter’s search of real estate records showed how one plastic surgeon receiving the state subsidy lives in an 11,000-square-foot, 11-bedroom house.

The Denver Post
“The Gospel of Prosperity” by Eric Gorksi
This takes readers inside the empire of Heritage Christian Center, a church where welcoming sinners has created a lavish lifestyle for Bishop Dennis Leonard. The reporting is exhaustive, revealing conflicts such as sweetheart deals that diverted funds from low-income housing projects to the Bishop’s family. It’s a fascinating portrait of how mega-churches work as mega-businesses. And it’s written without hype, allowing the readers to draw their own conclusions.

Medium Newspaper Category

The Charlotte Observer
“Suspicious Timing” by Binyamin Appelbaum
Figuring out whether any local companies backdated stock options is a daunting task, requiring exhaustive research through hundreds of documents. The Observer was up to the challenge, and actually identified a company that was soon forced to admit it had a problem. It was enterprise work at its finest.

Austin American-Statesman
“Pension fund scheme” by Robert Elder
Tax schemes aren’t just for Wall Street high rollers. Sometimes a local pension plan gets into the act. Austin wasn’t afraid to wrestle with a complex topic and demonstrate that a local firefighter’s pension was ensnared in shady doings.

The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)
“Life after Ford” by Jeremiah McWilliams
Hazelwood, Missouri learned a few years ago that its Ford assembly plant would be shut down, and Norfolk got the same message in early 2006. So The Virginian-Pilot’s Jeremiah McWilliams went to Hazelwood to see how its experiences could instruct Norfolk. In a deeply-reported story, he laid out the anguish that comes with a closing. But he also found workers who had used the shutdown to favorably remake their lives.

Small Newspaper Category

The Gazette
“Money Enthusiast Group Has Troubles With - Money” by Debbie Kelley
Kelley’s story had irresistible irony: The American Numismatic Association, the main American coin-collecting body, was excelling at losing money. Kelley delved into turmoil at the ANA, one of only two federally chartered nonprofits in the U.S. She dug up tax documents and talked with former employees to tell a story of mismanagement, including the executive director’s campaign to secure loyalty oaths from employees, at the 115-year old group. Her piece was a colorful and enjoyable read.

Arizona Daily Star
“Squeezing Border Business” by Brady McCombs
The first in a sweeping series, McComb’s story dove into the searing national debate over illegal immigration. The story lucidly explained that the costs of attempting to seal the border would be vast, including billions for extra fencing, surveillance equipment and extra border guards. It explored cost overruns of past, more modest efforts. And the piece examined how vulnerable American businesses could be if the border were sealed. The story took on a difficult and emotional subject and brought it into the realm of dollars, cents, and sense.

Lexington Herald-Leader
“Inklings of Change” by Scott Sloan
As the newspaper industry faces declining readership, falling advertising and shareholder revolts, many local newspapers are in for hard times. Sloan’s story made sense of the larger trends and brought them home to local readers of his newspaper, the Lexington-Herald Leader, a jewel in the crown of the then-independent Knight-Ridder. The effects of years of pressure? The paper was smaller. It could no longer staff some bureaus. The travel budget had been tightened. Sloan’s piece boldly scrutinized a subject most newspapers avoid: Themselves.

Business Weekly Category

Indianapolis Business Journal
“The Ties that Blind?” by Matthew Kish
This was a fine piece of investigative financial journalism about how a local company called Marsh Supermarkets was running into difficulty because of conflicts of interests on the board level. While problems were being blamed on the great boogey man, Wal-Mart, in this case it just wasn’t so.

Crain’s Chicago Business
“Long hours at the nuke plants” by Steve Daniels
Crain’s senior reporter Steve Daniels dug deeply into the causes of a string of accidents at Illinois nuclear plants and came up with the behind the scenes story. One of the reasons for the mishaps: the operator had been cutting costs, including those for maintenance. Solid work for a worthy cause.

Financial Week
“Inside Google” by Matthew Quinn
We probably thought we had heard it all about the overly-successful Internet search engine. But this story sheds new light on the complications that financial success can bring. And while Google can probably handle the threat of being declared a mutual fund because of its $10 billiion in case this tale is still well worth telling.

Real-Time Category

Bloomberg News
“MBIA Debt Backed by Crack Houses Perpetuates Blight” by Christine Richard
This story got results. When the city of Pittsburgh found out through Christine Richard’s article that MBIA, the nation’s largest bond insurer, held tax liens on thousands of abandoned properties it moved to correct the problem.

Dow Jones News Service
“IN THE MONEY: Wrigley Bulks Up Takeover Defenses” by Steven D. Jones
This piece explained the complicated story of special shares and special interests. The writer, Steven D. Jones, handled the in and outs of Wrigley’s special stock arrangements with ease.

Bankrate, Inc.
“Suspicious Activity Reports” by Laura Bruce
Journalists love catching the government being overly aggressive in monitoring its citizens. And that’s what Bankrate reporter Laura Bruce discovered in this piece about post-Sept. 11 activities.

News Contest
Project Winners
Giant Newspaper Category

Wall Street Journal
“Perfect Payday” by Charles Forelle, James Bandler, Mark Maremont, and Steve Stecklow
First-class watchdog journalism. This work shows why it takes more than a few bloggers to police the corporate world. In this case, reporters employed highly refined investigative skills to unravel a complex story, one that is important to anyone who owns a share of stock.

New York Times
“Leaky Oil Royalties” by Edmund L. Andrews
Kudos for taking a big story of the day and slicing off a piece others didn’t think to explore. In the end, readers were able to learn in very clear fashion that mismanagement of oil and gas royalty programs has been costing their government millions. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Chicago Tribune
“Throwaway Workers” by Stephen Franklin and Darnell Little
You have to love how this story is told so directly and firmly. It clearly hammers home a story about illegal immigrant workers that people need to read. Many newspapers have written about these workers, but few have told the story of how they are often used up and thrown away, with none of the protections U.S. workers normally receive.

Large Newspaper Category

The Denver Post
“Foreclosing on the American Dream” by David Olinger, Greg Griffin, Aldo Svaldi and Jeffrey Roberts
The Denver Post, for its prescient and well-written series describing the disruptive rise of mortgage failures in Colorado, compromising the dream of home ownership.

The Sacramento Bee
“The Price of Access” by Sam Stanton and Marjie Lundstrom
The Sacramento Bee, for its careful and disturbing look at a small number of lawyers in California who specialize in bringing questionable or completely meritless lawsuits under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Kansas City Star
“It’s hot fuel for you, cold cash for big oil” by Steve Everly
The Kansas City Star, for a surprising expose on how the oil industry has reaped many millions in undeserved profits while shortchanging American motorists at the gas pump with the widespread use of “hot gas.”

Medium Newspaper Category

Tampa Tribune
“A Rapid Rise” by Shannon Behnken
This series was an original, well-researched take on the housing boom, about a great central character who was just too good at selling houses for very high prices. It captured the broader impact that this agent’s sales - in particular, the high market values - had on the neighborhoods where they occurred. It also brought to light some of the problems investors could have in trying to cash in on Florida’s hot housing market. The topic prompted reaction and action, with agency investigations and suspicious property sales being discovered across the state of Florida.

The Seattle Times
“China: Customer and Competitor” by Kristi Heim and Alwyn Scott
This project offered a beautifully written, compelling look at this complex country halfway around the world. The cataloguing of rampant piracy - its drawbacks, benefits and universal, intractable presence - was presented in a way that illustrated the complexity of the issues. And the portrait of Susie Cheng’s life was an excellent humanization of the booming Chinese economy. Traveling to her rural village and explaining how she worked her way up to her managerial position showed readers what life is like in red-hot China.

The Charlotte Observer
“Hiding in Plain Sight” by Stella M. Hopkins, Mitch Weiss, Binyamin Appelbaum, Rick Rothacker, Franco Ordonez, Liz Chandler, Tim Funk and Peter St. Onge
This project offered fresh angles on a story that has gotten a large amount of publicity in the past year. The reporters came up with stories of real relevance, such as payment of illegal immigrants using tax dollars and eligibility for workers-compensation, and paid tribute to the national scope of the issue. In particular, the article about the Washington farmer and the Oaxaca immigrant who used his Social Security number humanized the issue of how to absorb immigrants into U.S. society.

Small Newspaper Category

Sun Journal
“Seeing Green” by Carol Ann Coultas
Ambitious, relevant and tough assessment of the critical local paper industry, relating how South America stole the competitive momentum, and what Maine has to do to recover - if it’s not too late. Demonstrated a major investment in resources and staff time, ingenuity in securing a grant to help with financing, substantial research and dedication, spiced by lively personal impressions of the journalists’ trip to South America. A lot of bigs: idea, research, effort and service to the community.

The Herald
“Our Fading Fleet” by Michael J. Benbow
Effectively, at times emotionally, weaves historical vignettes describing how an industry built a community and helped, as the writers put it, “feed the world with the bounty of the Puget Sound.” Very difficult to put down the dramatic stories of the fishermen, their families and their hard lives - and deaths - at sea. Where a day’s catch once paid for a house, today’s sad reality is exemplified by five fishermen splitting a “bounty” of only $79 for a long day of backbreaking work. Facts, perspective, people, clearly presented through well-chosen words, old photos and fresh graphics.

The Herald
“Worldwide Assembly Line” by Bryan Corliss
Globalization is dramatically presented through the cockpit of a major new Boeing aircraft. What at first looks like a triumph for U.S. industry really isn’t totally so, which the writers prove by stripping back the skin of this new plane; rather, it is a hybrid triumph, with a number of nations getting some of the economic action. Very good detail, in words and graphics, on an economic shift of critical importance to the U.S. economy - and the economy of the paper’s area. Penetrates well beneath the issue’s veneer.

Business Weekly Category

Puget Sound Business Journal
“Bold Flight: Creating the Boeing 787” by Steve Wilhem
Superior storytelling enabled by excellent sourcing. Wilhelm has obviously built trust with multiple sources inside the company. The result is one delicious anecdote after another, telling details that put readers in the room as decisions are being made and a narrative that keeps moving. This is a story you can’t put down until the very end. Should be required reading for anyone who covers a company.

Crain’s Chicago Business
“Doing Business in China: Enter the Dragon” by Thomas Mucha, Mark Scheffler, Erik Unger and Melissa Phee
Compelling. Well-written. Witty. This package from Crain’s had it all. This was a substantial commitment by a weekly and it paid off for readers. The team brought skepticism to its reporting; explored the relationship between U.S. business and the Chinese government and offered anecdotes that brought the business dealings to life (now we know why Hyatt is branded Yue). Stunning visuals.

The South Florida Biz Journal
“Water Woes” by Susan Stabley
The implications of South Florida’s water problems are huge and this entry does a superb job of: explaining how things got this way, what it will take to make things better and the price that the area will pay if it doesn’t get fixed. The writing is on target, mixing data, history and anecdote to good effect. The ledes in particular are smart and compelling. Good use of documentation - as in finding the SEC filing that showed a developer’s financial incentive to get a buffer zone modified to allow a project to go forward.

Real-Time Media Category

Bloomberg News
“Slaves in Amazon Forced to Make Materials Used in GM, Toyota Cars” by Michael Smith and David Voreacos
This entry is in a class by itself. The reporters combined extensive reporting and documentation to show how the products of slave labor in South America are bought and turned into cars, appliances and windows in the U.S. The story telling is as exquisite as the scenes are atrocious. If anyone says business journalism is boring, show them these stories. If anyone says journalism can’t make a difference, show these stories.

Bloomberg News
“Duping Main Street” by Martin Z. Braun, David Dietz, William Selway, Christine Richard and Darrell Preston
These reporters uncover a national scandal that is as local as it gets - the municipal bond. These stories build on Bloomberg’s earlier work on how banks profit through municipal bond deals. The reporting is thorough, the territory covered wide. These are business stories that any taxpayer will find compelling.

Dow Jones News Service
“Mortgage Finance” by Lingling Wei
Most papers are writing this story now. Dow Jones got ahead of it. This is an important story that papers will follow for years to come. The reporter’s knowledge of the industry shines through while her writing makes the report accessible to all. She simply and succinctly explains the subprime meltdown, and then goes beyond the officials and consumer advocates to find the people hurt by the numbers game being played by the subprime industry. Multiple angles are explored that take this entry beyond explanatory journalism.

News Contest
Column Winners
Giant Newspaper Category

The Boston Globe
Steve Bailey
Possessing the brain of a business columnist and the heart of a metro columnist, Steve Bailey is a double threat. He cares for his town and can write about outsized characters and perform columnist theater with the best. But he also gets the numbers, which often reveal truths beyond the ken of metro scribes. Bailey shamed Gov. Mitt Romney’s passiveness on job growth by traveling to Fairhaven, Mass., where the governor had ignored 185 at-risk AT&T jobs. Great piece on concessionaire Aramark’s decision to start fingerprinting its low-paid, overworked Fenway workers. And he surprised the Middlesex Retirement System fat cats by showing up at their own Florida junket, scaring them into paying their own way.

The New York Times
Gretchen Morgenson
Morgenson writes with confidence, wit and indignation, a combination that is particularly potent when she backs up her allegations with the solid facts. She manages to present a numbers-driven analysis in a thoughtful and readable way. Nowhere is that more evident than when she takes on the issue of corporate pay. In one column, she detailed the myriad of ways that United Airlines executives were lining their pockets as they emerged from bankruptcy. In another, she took the Business Roundtable to task for a glowing report portraying executive pay as reasonable while ignoring add-ons such as dividends paid on restricted stock.

Wall Street Journal
Alan Murray
Alan Murray can make national news with his chronicles of intrigue in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom, or softly engage with his analysis of how two CEOs are “the Cain and Able of the corporate world.” You can’t beat a combination of hard-news impact and style.

Large Newspaper Category

The Denver Post
Al Lewis
These were compelling columns, well-written and conceived. Each provided either an unusual take on an on-going news story (his “tour” of Kozlowski’s billionaire log cabin) or truly compelling news break of his own making (Qwest employees’ decision to end their lives ahead of the expiration of their retiree life insurance). By the end, I was eagerly anticipating the next column to see what else awaited me.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Mitchell Schnurman

These are exceptionally well-reported columns, rich with sources, detail and analysis. They’re also well-written, relevant and significant.

Plain Dealer
Sheryl Harris
These columns stood out as being particularly original and useful, from her Hispanics issues column to her shocking take on telephone bad debt abusers. These columns took some well-plowed ground and seeded it effectively and, at times, dramatically.

Medium Newspaper Category

The Seattle Times
Brier Dudley
In technology savvy Seattle, tech columnist Brier Dudley likely could find an audience merely by pitching his copy at the geek-erati. Instead, his pieces hit home with the average reader, but without condescending, i.e. likening what the internet could do to the newspaper business to “watching the Incas greet the Spanish conquistadors in 1528.” Solid work.

Des Moines Register
David Elbert
It’s hard to find a buried lede or a hedged opinion in an Elbert column. Last rites for Iowa’s quixotic rain forest project were said and done by Elbert’s second line, and you were delighted to read on to get details. His contrarian piece on the failure of big state incentives to save jobs at a Maytag plant began this way: “Government can’t do everything, and there are times when it should do nothing. This week we saw a bad example of government trying to do too much. Fortunately, it failed.” Elbert’s columns are also well reported, as demonstrated by his Kafkaesque tale of Pella flack who lost her job when a lying co-worker told stories to superiors.

San Antonio Express-News
David Hendricks
One true measure of a columnist is picking topics keen to one’s local economy. Hendrick’s was driven and focused on that benchmark in San Antonio. His columns tuned into such issues as corporate reticence over the immigration hot-button and the troubled North American Development Bank in San Antonio. He was particularly aggressive urging federal help for the development bank, delineating border projects that could be lost if the bank was forced to close. In a third column, Hendricks weighed in on the Shakespearean-like Enron debacle with some harsh criticism of an unrepentant Ken lay who died in Aspen’s “playground of the rich, as a ruined, bitter and disillusioned man.”

Small Newspaper Category

Tacoma News Tribune
Dan Voelpel
A unique and original perspective on companies and issues that are important to his local community. These are quite unique stores, each told in a compelling fashion and attention to detail and color, but each with an important business point as well.

The Patriot Ledger
Jon Chesto
Interesting takes on important local issues. From cell service the Big Dig to the revival of HoJos (originally a Quincy invention), to a successor to Tower Records, he has chosen quirky issues that have an interesting perspective.

Ledger-Enquirer
Susan Miller
These quirkily, personal columns each tell small businesses (and executives of larger companies as well) some interesting lessons about how to succeed at all levels.

Business Weekly Category

Crain’s New York Business
Alair Townsend
Alair Townsend skewers the excesses of state and city government, and drills into complex subjects like city budgeting and mandatory health insurance. As a publisher and former city official, she also brings a rare perspective. She criticized a Hewlett-Packard director for “dribbling out his gripes to the press. All the furor that followed was because of this fact. It was the original sin.” Agree or disagree, her crisp, tart tone reminds us of the late Molly Ivins - if Ivins were reborn as a conservative, pro-business New Yorker.

Indianapolis Business Journal
“There Ought to Be a Law” by Ron Gifford
Ron Gifford isn’t a journalist, and he doesn’t pretend to be one. “My name is Ron G.,” he wrote in the Indianapolis Business Journal. “And I’m a registered lobbyist.” With insight and flair, Gifford used his column to bring readers inside Indiana politics, from jury selection to the class-action business. Most trenchantly, he warned readers to take concerns about electronic voting seriously. What’s the acronym for the new Help America Vote Act? “HAVA - as in ‘HAVA lot of fun trying to figure out how to spend billions of dollars on voting machines that don’t work and raise suspicions about stolen elections.”

Real-Time Media Category

Bloomberg News
“What the Money Culture Breeds” by Michael Lewis
Michael Lewis’ work makes you laugh out loud, and it makes you think. In one column, he took readers inside the financial markets and inside one of the biggest stories of the early 21st century: the enormous fortunes being made by people who were already doing very well. “One of the miracles of Wall Street,” he wrote, “is its ability to create a class system without class resentment.” At Barnes & Noble these days, Lewis may pass for an extremely successful sportswriter, but his column betrays his roots, and business readers are thankful for it.

Dow Jones Newswires
“In the Money” by Michael Rapoport
Michael Rapoport has a rare talent for finding the financial details that make a big difference. With Blockbusters and Netflix, it was the separate ways they accounted for DVDs. With Google, it was the tax bite that was less taxing than advertised. In the Alcatel-Lucent merger, he showed how Alcatel was worth twice as much. One fact that elevated Michael’s work in the eyes of the judges: They covered some of the same stories themselves, and they still learned a lot from him.

MarketWatch
David Callaway
David Callaway brings an urgency to real-time column-writing that sets his work apart. Hours after Ken Lay’s unexpected death, he wrote about the scorned businessman with insight, perspective and compassion. David’s ambition alone vaults him to the top of the class. He also gets bonus points for sticking to the right length for a column. And when he defended the leakers in the Hewlett-Packard spy scandal, his passion was contagious. “I could work for this guy,” said one judge.

Overall Excellence
Section Contest Winners
Giant Newspaper Category

The New York Times
For an exceptionally well reported and smartly written section with an unparalleled variety of stories, analysis, and commentary on finance, economics, and business. The Times effectively uses its vast resources to give readers in-depth coverage of Wall Street and corporate deal making as well as a true global perspective on business.

The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
For a sharply written and edited section with a highly appealing balance of local and national news and personal finance information. A potential business-school case study on what one can do with limited resources, this section consistently produced top-rate enterprise reporting, reader service and infographics.

USA Today
For a consistently interesting and informative business section that used straight-forward no-nonsense writing, innovative graphics and a smart-looking presentation to provide a quality experience for the reader.

Certificates of Merit

Houston Chronicle
For blanket spot, sidebar and column coverage of the trials of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling, a hometale tale that was also one of the country’s most important business stories in 2006.

The Arizona Republic
For consistently strong coverage of local business and the local economy.

Large Newspaper Category

Fort Worth Star-Telegram
For its excellent enterprise reporting, as shown by the paper’s investigation into Radio Shack’s CEO and a series of stories about a complicated regulatory issue, the Wright Amendment. These are just two examples of the paper’s smart, explanatory news coverage as well as engaging, narrative storytelling. This is a business section that understands how to make local company stories come alive for average readers, and distill complex issues down to news consumers can use. These sections also make clear that the paper’s reporters reflexively ask hard questions of the companies they cover (e.g. the Alcon story) and that they have a deep reserve of inside sources/contacts.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
For its ability to tell compelling, local business stories that have broader, national implications (wine and spirits coverage) as well as its general coverage that hits on all levels of the business community. A profile of Tower Automotive does a nice job of mirroring larger factory layoff trends, while the Superior refinery piece paints a vivid picture of the tough tradeoffs businesses face today. The Black Gold feature is a powerful example of how a regional paper can find, and skillfully tell, a local story as it relates to a much bigger international theme. Well-researched art and story summaries further elevate the section.

San Jose Mercury News
For outstanding business coverage that looks both ahead and back (Apple), giving readers deep insights into the tech-heavy market in which they live. Sophisticated writing, graphics and packages make the paper sing verbally and visually. The coverage, notably, is far from limited in its tone. The paper proves how cultural trends, consumer behavior - as well as changing job markets and human folly (HP leaks) - are all topics that can shine brilliantly through a business prism. The number of entries with starts on A1 is impressive, and demonstrates all of the above.

Medium Newspaper Category

Des Moines Register
We chose this paper because of its clear dedication to serving its audience: Farm Belt readers, with most stories targeted to such topics as agriculture, crop prices and energy. The writing was solid, the layout generally clean, and the reporting focused and highly localized. Such columns as the “Washington Farm Report” showed that this business section knows its audience and its needs. The business staff also regularly produced solid A-1 offerings, including an attention-grabbing A-1 feature on a “virtual businessman,” operating from Iowa.

Detroit News
This paper had a great deal of breaking news and analysis on last year’s developments in the auto industry, which led to very strong local section fronts and A-1 packages, both on mandatory dates as well as those their editors selected. While the paper had a built-in advantage because of auto industry turmoil, they made very good use of the opportunity with smart reporting, photography and graphics. The writing had an authoritative voice on developments, and they went beyond these to offer useful Personal Finance advice for those considering whether to take buyout packages, for instance, and on the overall economic effects that the auto industry changes would likely produce. The business fronts also used headlines boldly and weren’t afraid to “grade” the importance of news for readers.

Hartford Courant
We chose this paper in part because of their smart, comprehensive coverage of the insurance, aerospace and defense industries in their region, both in the Business section and on A-1. The paper “owned” the Allstate story, a story breaking in their backyard. The Business section layouts were clean, graphics often compelling, solid writing and we saw good evidence of project reporting. And the section kept a business-trained eye on the statehouse and Congress, as evidenced by a smart Business front story written just after the November election by the paper’s Washington bureau chief on the interesting role Connecticut’s Chris Dodd will play as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee as he tries to still win backing from the state’s insurance and banking interests as he considers a run for the White House.

The Seattle Times
This paper did it all: Covered the region’s technology, aerospace and other industries comprehensively and with creativity in the Business section and on A-1, made good use of graphics, photo and layout, provided useful Personal Finance and Personal Technology coverage and had some A-1 enterprise work as well. The layouts were clean and crisp and the writing was clear and decisive. The Business staff also did a good job of covering the potential implications of geopolitical and global economic events - particularly in China and the Far East - on Seattle’s businesses and economy. One judge put it well: “The paper used graphics to augment its reporting, lift-out quotes and other devices that really gave the readers a lot of information in a way that wasn’t overwhelming.”

South Florida SunSentinel
This paper impressed the judges by its coverage of two national issues in a highly localized way that brought home the importance of the story to readers. The first issue was the housing bust. Through stories on the section front, the paper’s Monday business section and on A-1, the paper covered the effects of the slump through real stories and by the numbers, but also were ahead of the curve on discussing the potential implications for the overall economy. The second national story the paper effectively localized was white-collar crime, which it covered from a consumer perspective in its Monday section, and then through a twice-monthly column on the subject. The paper’s section fronts were generally attractively designed, made good use of photos and graphics, and were highly local.

Certificates of Merit

Salt Lake Tribune
For its Feb. 16 A-1 story on Questar subpoenas going out to customers and shareholders who criticized the company over high heating bills. The lede said it all: “If you’re a concerned Questar Gas customer or shareholder, don’t be surprised if late one night a sheriff shows up on your porch, hammering on the door with one fist and gripping a subpoena from the company in the other.”

St. Paul Pioneer Press
For its April 14 revealing and forward-thinking centerpiece story (and continuing coverage of) of what will likely happen to 1,900 workers and the local economy when the Ford assembly plant in St. Paul closes in two years.

The Tennessean
For its comprehensive and spirited coverage (taking up the top half of A-1 and four pages inside) on July 25 of HCA going private. The paper looked at the key players, including the family of then Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist; the effects on shareholders, workers and patients, and the larger implications for the industry and the local economy.
Small Newspaper Category

Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.)
The depth and breadth of business coverage published throughout the newspaper demonstrated a clear commitment to financial journalism that exceeded all other entries. The story selection showed a clear understanding of their audience and an effort to tailor the news to their readership. The public service quality of many reports stood out, in particular the report on 9-11 loans that ended up going to many companies with no clear impact from the terrorist attacks and the series on hurricane insurance costs. The diverse and abundant coverage was enhanced with presentation that was newsy yet appealing. The design of pages and story packages offered a good balance of graphics and photos that helped create a lively and inviting reader experience. From comprehensive analysis pieces to daily fare on the housing market, development and consumer issues, the Florida Today team somehow managed to deliver more local news than you’d expect from a paper their size.

Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.)
The reporters and editors of the Roanoke Times take an ambitious approach to reporting and writing that goes well beyond the press releases and takes a deeper look at the issues and news from their business community. Writing is clearly their strength. The compelling details stood out in their coverage of the use of restraints in nursing homes and the storytelling in the Burned Alive package captured the suffering behind a work-related accident without sensationalizing the case. The Roanoke Times business team clearly makes a consistent effort to humanize business news and make it relevant to everyday readers.

The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
This business section delivers an intelligent mix of national and local stories, so that readers don’t need to go anywhere else to know what’s happening in the business world. Yet they are clearly in tune with the interests of their local readership. Their section covers and overall design complement their solid news judgment by offering a clean and attractive presentation. The details and supporting information is readily available and accessible and the packages have an appropriate balance of images and stories. And they demonstrated an instinct for originality that gives readers a reason to turn to their pages for national news - such as the archive photo presentation of Bill Gates to remind readers of the “kid” behind the empire.

Certificate of Merit

Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
The Post and Courier team delivered two standout entries that deserve recognition. Their coverage of the expansion of the Panama Canal did an outstanding job of explaining the local relevance of an international issue. And the storytelling that went into the train tragedy transition piece delivers a powerful narrative that is on par with some of the best writers in the country.

Business Weekly Category

Advertising Age
This splashy weekly is fun to read, full of color, graphics and crisp writing. Advertising age offers an entertaining blend of must-read insider stories with topical industry news about advertising winners and losers and what it will cost to advertise on NBC during the 2008 Summer Olympics. “Unruly Julie and the scandal that rocked the ad world” dissected in detail the rise and fall of Julie Roehm, Wal-Mart’s unlikely marketing chief whose firing was first disclosed in Ad Age.

Baltimore Business Journal
This journal appealed not only to CEOs but also to average Joes. Its series, “Higher wages, higher risks,” astutely looked at the risks and rewards that illegal immigrants face as they work in manual labor jobs in the United States at an increasing rate. Another piece, “Riding the rails,” wove together personal stories of commuters who have eschewed cars for public transportation. The journal has a bright and breezy page 2 (Girl Scout cookie sales down; video rentals up with the onset of winter) and useful standing features. Crisp headlines and a clean design make it visually appealing, too.

Crain’s Chicago Business
This journal was very polished and readable. It had a solid grasp on key industries and companies in Chicago and paid particular attention to those in flux, like United Airlines and Tribune Co. Particularly noteworthy was its focus on corporate giving, “Too many mouths to feed?” which looked at recent drops in charitable giving in Illinois. Other good work included its in-depth examination of doing business in China, a piece about Target’s expansion in Chicago, and a story on the battle between Crate & Barrel and a company created by the son of its founder. Its design was clever with strong graphics and good headlines.

Louisville Business First
It’s tough to keep a business weekly in a small market fresh and interesting, but Louisville Business First rises to the challenge. Its ambitious, three-part series on the inner workings of UPS, Louisville’s largest employer, is one example of enterprising, well-written and edited stories that consistently appear in Business First. The journal’s design is clean, centerpieces are strong, and inside features, such as “What’s in Store” and “BizTrends” are entertaining and colorful. A story on minority entrepreneurs and a special section on business women in Louisville show a commitment to reporting on diversity in the local business community.

Certificates of Merit

Boston Business Journal
This weekly offers a good mix of news and features highlighting the key economic drivers of Boston: higher education, health care, high-tech and real estate. The writing is a cut above many other business journals, but what distinguishes the Boston Business Journal most is an intentional focus on women, minority and young businesspeople. One front page featured two stories about women - one an up-and-coming Hispanic banker, the other a failed dot.com CEO.

Puget Sound Business Journal
This weekly consistently published enterprising stories. Its “Bold Flight” series took a thoughtful look at the creation of Boeing’s 787 jetliner. Its technology startups special section used clever “Light bulb moments” to spotlight interesting innovations in easy-to-read nuggets. The journal also did a good job covering real estate and the University of Washington as a business.

Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal
This journal dissects the sports business, examining the far-flung and competing commitments of NASCAR drivers and whether NFL games could resuscitate NBC’s ratings. This glitzy publication has an elegant cover with an appealing index, but it was sometimes a little busy inside. And it had a good plan for reader interaction, even devoting an issue to reader favorites (game analyst, sport-themed movie) and least favorites (Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniforms, for example). It was perhaps more fun than insightful, but it let the readers know they mattered.

Posted April 4, 2007