The editorial and design award categories focus on the best new, ongoing, and improved publications, while the strategy categories look at how well the publications complement the sponsoring organization’s integrated marketing campaigns, how well they achieve the organization’s goals, how well they prove a return on investment, and how innovative and effective a distribution strategy they employ. This year the digital category expanded, with two new subcategories—Best Use of Community/Social Networking and Best Use of Mobile Technology.

“As custom publishing has evolved, our awards program has evolved to recognize every facet of the dynamic custom content industry across multiple platforms,” said Lori Rosen, Executive Director, Custom Publishing Council. She continued, “Marketers continue to devote more and more resources to their custom publications both in print and online, and the Pearl Awards recognize the best of the best in a variety of categories.”

For the second year in a row, the CPC has teamed up with American Business Media (ABM) to increase attention paid to B2B custom publishing. All ABM members will receive the CPC member rate when entering.

Entries are due to the CPC by September 14. Judging will take place in October in New York, San Francisco and Chicago, with entries being evaluated by a panel of industry experts. The awards will be presented at an awards dinner on Thursday, November 12, 2009 in New York.

All custom publishing companies, including independent custom publishers, divisions of larger publishing houses, advertising agencies, and other media conglomerates—whether or not they are currently members of the CPC—are invited to enter the competition. Judges are key marketing executives, academics, journalists, designers, corporate strategists, and publishers.

The Custom Publishing Council is the leading professional organization representing custom publishers in North America and is focused on promoting the growth and vitality of this dynamic marketing discipline. Marketers across the country, the media and other interested constituencies rely on the Custom Publishing Council as the authoritative source of industry news, data and trends, information on the effectiveness of custom publishing, and referrals to the top custom publishers in North America.

For more information, and for entry forms, visit www.custompublishingcouncil.com or email Ariele Gonzalez at ariele@custompublishingcouncil.com.