CONTRIBUTORS

ANTHONY SUAU and P.F. BENTLEY are just two of the gifted TIME photojournalists honored by their colleagues in recent weeks. In all, TIME gathered an extraordinary 30 national and international photo awards this year. Suau won both the Canon Photo Essayist award in its Pictures of the Year competition and the Overseas Press Club's Robert Capa Gold Medal for his gripping images of Grozny under assault by Russian troops. A second opc prize, the Olivier Rebbot Award, went to David Turnley for his photographs of Bosnian refugees. Capa, himself a great war photographer, once said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." He would have appreciated not only Suau and Turnley's you-are-there photos but also the very up-close shots of Newt Gingrich that won Bentley a POY first place in the news-picture-story category. For months Bentley, who these days gives TIME readers close proximity to Bob Dole, had unparalleled access to the House Speaker. "We're honored to be working with the best magazine photojournalists in the business," says TIME picture editor Michele Stephenson. Award-winning picture editor, we might add. A POY Award of Excellence went to Stephenson and deputy picture editor Richard L. Boeth.

JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM, a TIME senior correspondent who specializes in reporting on politics from the inside, knew something was up when Clinton adviser Gene Sperling began tidying up his notoriously messy White House office. Sperling is a key player on the Administration's "rapid-response" team. He's also one of six top aides profiled in Birnbaum's book Madhouse: The Private Turmoil of Working for the President, published this week by Times Books. As Birnbaum reports in this issue of TIME, Sperling and Bruce Reed (also profiled in his book), have been tying Bob Dole's campaign in knots by instantly counterpunching his every initiative. Birnbaum was one of the first to realize how high campaign counterattack was on the Clinton agenda. "The White House is always a madhouse," he says. "But when Sperling cleans up his act, that's a story."

LEE AITKEN, senior editor of TIME's Society section, doubled recently as editor of Mad Genius: The Odyssey, Pursuit, and Capture of the Unabomber Suspect (Warner Books; $5.99), an in-depth look at the terror-bomb saga prepared at lightning speed by TIME staff members and shipped to stores this week. Others raced to put out "quickie" books on the case; ours not only combined fresh reporting and thoughtful writing, but it also got there first. The 11-day effort left Aitken newly impressed by what first-rate team journalism can achieve. "I hesitate to say this, because I treasure my weekends," says Aitken, "but TIME's staff is uniquely qualified to do something like this. We know how to work very fast without sacrificing quality--or killing one another."