SABEW Best in Business Winners Announced


COLUMBIA, MO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- April 3, 2007 -- 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 contest received 761 entries from daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, wire services, and Web sites.

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

Awards will be presented Sunday, May 20, in Anaheim during SABEW's 44th annual conference. The judges' comments about the winners will be posted soon on www.sabew.org. Additional information about the conference and SABEW is available at that site as well.

                    The Best in Business winners
(in alphabetical order, by publication, for each contest and size category)


           Overall excellence, sections or publications
           --------------------------------------------

Giant newspapers (average daily circulation 375,001 and above)
   The New York Times
   The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.)
   USA Today
   Certificates of merit: The Arizona Republic, Houston Chronicle


Large newspapers (circulation from 250,001 to 375,000)
   Fort Worth Star-Telegram
   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
   San Jose Mercury News


Medium newspapers (circulation from 125,001 to 250,000)
   Des Moines Register
   Detroit News
   The Hartford Courant
   The Seattle Times
   South Florida Sun-Sentinel
   Certificates of merit: Salt Lake Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press
   and The Tennessean (Nashville)


Small newspapers (circulation 125,000 and below)
   Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.)
   The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.)
   The Roanoke Times (Roanoke, Va.)
   Certificate of merit: The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)


Weekly Business newspapers
   Advertising Age
   Baltimore Business Journal
   Business First of Louisville
   Crain's Chicago Business
   Certificates of merit: Boston Business Journal, Puget Sound Business
   Journal, Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal


                       Breaking News coverage
                       ----------------------

Giant newspapers
   Stephen Heuser, Robert Gavin, Steven Syre, Jeffrey Krasner, Erica
   Noonan, Emily Shartin and Bennie DiNardo of The Boston Globe: "Boston
   Scientific's acquisition of Guidant"

   Greg Burns, David Greising, Susan Chandler, Susan Diesenhouse and
   Julie Johnsson of the Chicago Tribune: "Board of Trade-Mercantile
   Exchange merger"

   Andrew Ross Sorkin, Matt Richtel, Miguel Helft and John Markoff of
   The New York Times: "Google's YouTube deal"


Large newspapers
   Bruce Finley, Tom McGhee, Christine Tatum, Kieran Nicholson, Greg
   Griffin,  Kristi Arellano, David Migoya and Christopher Osher of
   The Denver Post for "Raids at Swift plants"

   Mike Ellis, John Gallagher, Ron Dzwonkowski, Jennifer Dixon, Susan
   Tompor and Margarita Bauza of the Detroit Free Press: "GM Alliance:
   "Power play shakes Motor City"

   Therese Poletti, Sarah Jane Tribble, Howard Mintz, Mike Langberg,
   Michelle Quinn, Donna Alvarado and Michele Chandler of the San Jose
   Mercury News: "Inside the HP privacy drama"


Medium newspapers
   Steve Harrison, Rick Rothacker, Andrew Shain, Mike Drummond, Ames
   Alexander, Stella M. Hopkins, Christopher Kirkpatrick and Tony Mecia
   of The Charlotte Observer: "Creditors, feds key to air takeover bid"

   Francis X. Donnelly, Christine Tierney and Bryce G. Hoffman of the
   Detroit News: "Blue Friday"

   Francis X. Donnelly, Christine Tierney and Bryce G. Hoffman of the
   Detroit News: "New Ford CEO"


Small newspapers
  Kathy Jumper, Andy Netzel and Mark Inabinett of the Mobile
  Press-Register: "Prichard wins"

  Kurt Blumenau and Sam Kennedy of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.):
  "Agere bought out"

  Jerry Siebenmark and Bill Wilson of The Wichita Eagle:
  "Beechcraft is back"


Weekly newspapers
   Claire Atkinson, Brooke Capps, Matthew Creamer, Alice Z. Cuneo, Mya
   Frazier, Bob Garfield, Jeremy Mullman, Jack Neff and Lisa Sanders of
   Advertising Age: "Julie and the scandal that rocked the ad world"

   Christine Perez of the Dallas Business Journal: "HUD secretary's
   blunt warning"


Real-time news organizations
   Bill Koenig, Rachel Layne, John Lippert, James Gunsalus, Peter Robison
   and Gillian Wee of Bloomberg News: "Bill Ford makes way for Mulally"


                              Enterprise
                              ----------

Giant newspapers
   Carrie Teegardin and Ann Hardie of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
   "Insurance injustice -- when credit matters"

   Louis Uchitelle of The New York Times: "Very rich are leaving the
   merely rich behind"

   Tom Belden and Craig R.McCoy of The Philadelphia Inquirer:
   "Baggage bungling"


Large newspapers
   Eric Gorksi of The Denver Post: "The Gospel of prosperity"

   Joe Rojas-Burke of The Oregonian: "Millions for rural health miss mark"


Medium newspapers
   Robert Edler of the Austin American-Statesman: "Pension fund scheme"

   Binyamin Appelbaum of The Charlotte Observer: "Suspicious timing"

   Jeremiah McWilliams of The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.):
   "Life after Ford"


Small newspapers
   Brady McCombs of the Arizona Daily Star (Tucson): "Squeezing
   border business"

   Debbie Kelley of The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.): "Money
   Enthusiast group has troubles with money"

   Scott Sloan of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "Inklings of change"


Weekly newspapers
   Matthew Kish of the Indianapolis Business Journal: "The ties
   that blind?"

   Matthew Quinn of Financial Week: "Inside Google's $10 billion stash"


Real-time news organizations
   Laura Bruce of Bankrate [, Inc.]: "Suspicious activity reports"

   Steven D. Jones of Dow Jones News Service: "In the money: Wrigley
   bulks up takeover defenses"

   Christine Richard of Bloomberg News: "MBIA debt backed by crack
   houses Perpetuates Blight"


                               Projects
                               --------

Giant newspapers
   Stephen Franklin and Darnell Little of the Chicago Tribune:
   "Throwaway workers"

   Edmund L. Andrews of The New York Times: "Leaky oil royalties"

   Charles Forelle, James Bandler, Mark Maremont, and Steve Stecklow
   of The Wall Street Journal: "Perfect payday"


Large newspapers
   David Olinger, Greg Griffin, Aldo Svaldi and Jeffrey Roberts of The
   Denver Post: "Foreclosing on the American dream"

   Steve Everly of The Kansas City Star: "It's hot fuel for you, cold
   cash for big oil"

   Sam Stanton and Marjie Lundstrom of The Sacramento Bee: "The price
   of access"


Medium newspapers
   Stella M. Hopkins, Mitch Weiss, Binyamin Appelbaum, Rick Rothacker,
   Franco Ordonez, Liz Chandler, Tim Funk and Peter St. Onge of The
   Charlotte Observer: "Hiding in plain sight"

   Kristi Heim, Alwyn Scott, and Alan Berner of The Seattle Times:
   "Customer and competitor"

   Shannon Behnken of The Tampa Tribune: "A rapid rise"


Small newspapers
   Michael J. Benbow of The Herald (Everett, Wash.): "Our fading fleet"

   Bryan Corliss of The Herald (Everett, Wash.): "Worldwide assembly line"

   Carol Ann Coultas of the Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine): "Seeing green"


Weekly newspapers
   Thomas Mucha, Mark Scheffler, Erik Unger and Melissa Phee of Crain's
   Chicago Business: "Doing business in China: Enter the dragon"

   Steve Wilhelm of Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle): "Bold flight:
   Creating the Boeing 787"

   Susan Stabley of the South Florida Business Journal: "Water woes"


Real-time news organizations
   Martin Z. Braun, David Dietz, William Selway, Christine Richard and
   Darrell Preston of Bloomberg News: "Duping Main Street"

   Michael Smith and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News: "Slaves in Amazon
   forced to make materials used in GM, Toyota Cars"

   Lingling Wei of Dow Jones News Service, "Mortgage finance"


                               Columns
                               -------

Giant newspapers
   Steve Bailey of The Boston Globe
   Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times
   Alan Murray of The Wall Street Journal


Large newspapers
   Sheryl Harris of the Cleveland Plain Dealer
   Al Lewis of The Denver Post
   Mitchell Schnurman of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram


Medium newspapers
   Dave Elbert of the Des Moines Register
   David Hendricks of the San Antonio Express-News
   Brier Dudley of The Seattle Times


Small newspapers
   Susan Miller of the Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Ga.)
   Dan Voelpel of The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
   Jon Chesto of The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Mass.)


Weekly newspapers
   Alair Townsend of Crain's New York Business
   Ron Gifford of the Indianapolis Business Journal


Real-time news organizations
   Michael Lewis of Bloomberg News
   Michael Rapoport of Dow Jones Newswires
   David Callaway of MarketWatch


                           Student Contest
                           ---------------

   Isabel Ordonez, University of Missouri School of Journalism, for
   Reuters: "Iraq,  Afghanistan lure poor Latin American guards"

   Certificate of merit: Amy Thomson, University of North Carolina-Chapel
   Hill, for  Bloomberg: "Smith & Wesson, 'Dirty Harry' gun maker,
   targets Army"

Contact Information: Contact: Jill Jorden Spitz contest co-chair (520) 573-4177 Cathie Anderson contest co-chair (916) 321-1957 Carrie Paden SABEW executive director (573) 882-8985