COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Society of American Business Editors and Writers has named the winners in its 12th annual Best in Business contest, which recognizes the best overall publications, as well as best breaking news, enterprise and special projects reporting in business journalism during 2005.

The contest received 850 entries from daily newspapers, business weekly newspapers, magazines, wire services, and business news online sites “” up 32 percent over last year’s contest. Much of the growth was due to a new category for columnists, which proved to be an instant hit with 147 entries.

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 30, in Minneapolis during SABEW’s 43rd annual conference. Judges comments for all winners are posted here. Additional information about the conference is available at the 2006 Annual Conference Information Page.

Best in Business winners for overall excellence, by category and listed in alphabetical order are:

GIANT Newspapers (average daily circulation 375,001 and above) 
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The New York Times 
Philadelphia Inquirer 
San Francisco Chronicle 
USA Today 
Certificates of Merit: The Boston Globe, The Newark Star-Ledger

LARGE Newspapers (circulation between 250,001 and 375,000) 
The Kansas City Star 
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
The San Jose Mercury News 
The Seattle Times
Certificate of Merit: Cleveland Plain Dealer

MEDIUM Newspapers (circulation between 125,001 and 250,000) 
Boston Herald 
Des Moines Register 
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 
Virginian-Pilot
Certificate of Merit: The Florida Times-Union

SMALL Newspapers (circulation 125,000 and below) 
Daily Press (Newport News, VA) 
Mobile Register 
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)
Scranton Times Tribune 
The State (Columbia, SC)

WEEKLY Business Newspapers 
Atlanta Business Chronicle 
Crain’s Chicago Business 
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle, WA) 
Triangle Business Journal (Raleigh, NC)
Washington Business Journal
Certificate of Merit: Pacific Coast Business Times

Best in Business winners for Breaking News coverage, by category and listed in alphabetical order:

GIANT Newspapers

• Gary Rivlin, John Markoff, Ken Belson, Matt Richtel, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Barnaby Feder, Floyd Norris, Gretchen Morgenson, Eric Dash, and Laurie J. Flynn, The New York Times: “The Shake-Up at Hewlett-Packard”
• Ed Silverman, The Newark Star-Ledger: “The Vioxx Verdict”

LARGE Newspapers

• Bill Vlasic and Brett Clanton, Detroit News: “Delphi Bankruptcy – Staggering blow”
• Therese Poletti, Dean Takahashi, Nicole C. Wong, Michelle Quinn, John Boodreau, Mike Langberg, Mike Cassidy, Sam Diaz, Donna Alvarado, Todd Woody, and Vindu Goel, San Jose Mercury News: “Why Fiorina was ousted”
• Dominic Gates, Alicia Mundy, LukeTimmerman, Shirleen Holt, Drew DeSilver, Melissa Allison, Alwyn Scott and Rami Grunbaum, The Seattle Times: “Boeing faces CEO dilemma”

MEDIUM Newspapers

• Greg Gatlin, Jay Fitzgerald, Brett Arends and Laura Crimaldi, The Boston Herald: “Gillette Sold for $56 Billion”

SMALL Newspapers

• Tilde Herrera and Dana Sachez, The Herald (Bradenton, FL): “Brasota”
• George Talbot, Sean Reilly, Andrea James, Bill Barrow and Sallie Owen, Mobile Register: “EADS lands”
• Bart Jansen, Matt Wickenheiser, Dennis Hoey, Jen Fish, and Paul Carrier, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram: “A Bittersweet Outcome”

WEEKLY Newspapers

• Matthew Creamer, Advertising Age: “Shona Seifert Trial”
• Margaret Allen, Dallas Business Journal: “State will pay Vought $65M”
• David Dinell, Lainie Mazzullo, Jerry Siebenmark, and Ken Vandruff, Wichita Business Journal: “Onex buys in”

REAL-TIME News Organizations

• Otis Bilodeau, John Dooley, Peter Robison, Ann Saphir, Erik Schatzker, Malcolm Schearmur, Gavin Serkin, Walden Siew — Bloomberg News: “Refco’s ruin”.
• John Biers and Andrew Dowell, Dow Jones News Service: “Hurricane Katrina approaches”
• Neal Lipschutz and Kopin Tan, Dow Jones News Service: “Procter & Gamble acquires Gillette”

Best in Business winners for Enterprise, by category and listed in alphabetical order:

GIANT Newspapers 
Maria Saporta and Matt Kempner, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Home Depot Skimps on Philanthropy” 
Kurt Eichenwald, The New York Times: “A Sordid Online World” 
Mark Maremont, The Wall Street Journal: “Jet Green”

LARGE Newspapers 
Jeffrey Sheban, The Columbus Dispatch: “A life unraveled”Â 
Greg Griffin, The Denver Post: “A Denver power broker’s life or death drama”Â 
David Washburn and Bruce V. Bigelow, San Diego Union-Tribune: “In Harm’s Way: Titan in Iraq”

MEDIUM Newspapers 
Allison Connolly, The Virginian-Pilot: “Is it fair?”

SMALL Newspapers 
Joseph Barrios, Arizona Daily Star: “High home prices mean jail, dump make OK neighbors”
Kevin Harlin, Times Union (Albany, NY): “Tiny town a roost to big bamboozles”Â 
Gretchen Macchiarella, Ventura County Star: “Leaving Ventura County”

WEEKLY Newspapers 
Sandra Jones, Crain’s Chicago Business: “Image Trumps Reality in Urban Retail Rivalry”Â 
Eric Engleman, Puget Sound Business Journal: “Shifting Sands”Â 
Bill King and John Lombardo, Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal: “A Deal Undone: The Unraveling of Atlanta’s Ownership Group”

REAL TIME News Organizations 
Paul Elias, Associated Press: “Human-animal mixing”Â 
Adam Geller, Associated Press: “Rowing against offshore”Â 
Martin Z. Braun, Darrell Preston and Liz Willen, Bloomberg News: “JP Morgan Swaps Roil Alabama on Secret Finance Deals”

Best in Business winners for Special Projects, by category and listed in alphabetical order:

GIANT Newspapers

• Ann Hardie, Alan Judd and Carrie Teegardin, The Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Borrower beware: Why Georgia is a bad place to borrow money”
• Barry Meier, The New York Times: “Flawed design: patients at risk”
• Alec Klein, Washington Post: “Medical device reprocessors”

LARGE Newspapers

• Jeffrey Sheban and Jeff Hinkley, The Columbus Dispatch: “White pearls”
• David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News: “The PERA puzzle”
• Luke Timmerman and David Heath, The Seattle Times: “Drug researchers leak secrets to Wall Street”

MEDIUM Newspapers

• Binyamin Appelbaum, Ted Mellnik, and Rick Rothacker, Charlotte Observer: “The hard truth in lending”
• Philip Brasher, Jennifer Dukes Lee, Anne Fitzgerald, and Lee Rood, Des Moines Register: “On new ground”

SMALL Newspapers

• Janet Patton, Lexington Herald-Leader: “Wrong side of the track”
• John Stamper, Bill Estep, and Linda Blackford, Lexington Herald-Leader: “Win, lose or draw: Gambling for jobs”

WEEKLY Newspapers

• M.C. Moewe, Jacksonville Business Journal: “Disappearances leave mystery”
• Susan Lundine, Orlando Business Journal: “”™Outrageous”™ insurance claims”
• Heidi Dietrich, Puget Sound Business Journal: “The road from Cuautla”

REAL-TIME News Organizations

• David Evans, Michael Smith and Liz Willen, Bloomberg News: “Big Pharma’s shameful secret”

Best in Business winners for Columns, by category and listed in alphabetical order:

GIANT Newspapers 
Steve Bailey, Boston Globe 
Gretchen Morgenson, The New York Times 
Steven Pearlstein, The Washington Post
Certificate of Merit: David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal

LARGE Newspapers 
Mitch Schnurman, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News 
Mike Langberg, San Jose Mercury News 
Certificates of Merit: Tannette Johnson-Elie, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and Robert Trigaux, St. Petersburg Times

MEDIUM Newspapers 
Amy Baldwin, Charlotte Observer 
David Elbert, The Des Moines 
Gregory Karp, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)

SMALL Newspapers 
Susan Miller, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer 
Eric Blom, Portland Press Herald
Marlene Kennedy, Times Union (Albany, NY)

WEEKLY Newspapers 
Greg Hinz, Crain’s Chicago Business 
Huntley Patton, Dallas Business Journal 
Mark Lacter, LA Business Journal- Mark Lachter
Certificate of Merit: Amy Higgs, Louisville Business First

REAL TIME News Organizations 
David Callaway, MarketWatch
Martin Wolk, MSNBC.com
Colin Barr, TheStreet.com
Certificates of Merit: Liz Pulliam Weston, MSN Money; and MP Dunleavey, MSN Money 

STUDENT CONTEST

Emily Steel, St. Petersburg Times: “He’s the highest-paid charity executive around”
University of North Carolina
Advisor: Chris Roush.

Certificate of Merit: Katrina Altersitz and Mary Ellen Slayter, Capital News Service: “Bleeding industry turns back to Legislature for a cure”
Philip Merrill College of Journalism, Univ. of Maryland
Advisor: Steve Crane

Contact: Greg McCune, contest co-chair, (312) 408-8701, Jill Jorden Spitz, contest co-chair (520) 573-4177, or Carrie Paden, SABEW executive director, (573) 882-8985