Sense, decide, and act are the three cornerstones of the control and automation field and its many related industries and applications. Similarly, the three cornerstones of the Control Engineering2003 Editors' Choice Awards are service to the industry, technological advancement, and market impact.

Seven editors—Frank Bartos, David Greenfield, Dave Harrold, Mark Hoske, Jeanine Katzel, Jim Montague and Vance VanDoren—use these three criteria to compare and judge the thousands of product and solutions covered each year in Control Engineering's print, Web, and e-mail publications. The editors then nominate, argue, and vote to determine winners for that year. "It's always challenging to select winners from among all the areas we cover—automation, control, instrumentation, software, and networks," says Mark Hoske, Control Engineering's editor-in-chief. "It seemed a particularly difficult selection process this year. I believe vendors have ramped up product innovation in anticipation of better business in 2004."

To celebrate Control Engineering's 50^th anniversary in 2004, the editors and publisher have added a second component to the award selection process for 2003. For the first time, the magazine's subscribers are being enlisted to vote for Control Engineering's new Engineers' Choice Award by selecting the top winner in each of this year's eight product categories. The eight winners will be revealed during the traditional Editors' Choice awards ceremony, held during National Manufacturing Week, Feb. 23-26, in Chicago.

"I'm looking forward to seeing what products our subscribers consider most worthy," says David Greenfield, Control Engineering's editorial director. "Winners of our new Engineers' Choice Awards will be announced as part of our daily news coverage following the ceremony and in the magazine's March 2004 print edition."

Control Engineering's editorial categories posting awards this year include: Embedded Control; Human-Machine Interface; Instrumentation and Process Sensors; Machine Control and Discrete Sensors; Motors, Drives, and Motion Control; Networks and Communications; Process and Advanced Control; and Software and Information Integration.

Frank J. Bartos, David Greenfield, Dave Harrold, Mark T. Hoske, Jeanine Katzel, Vance J. VanDoren, and Michael Babb also contributed to this article.