SmartMoney magazine is a double finalist in the 2010 Gerald Loeb Awards, an annual competition honoring outstanding business and financial journalism. Both nominated stories are in the Personal Finance Category.

The finalists were announced today by Judy D. Olian, chairman of the G. and R. Loeb Foundation Inc. and dean of UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Staff writer Angie C. Marek was nominated for Paging Dr. No, an investigation of medical doctors who work for the health insurance giant, Aetna, and who determine whether to pay for the care of severely ill health-plan members.

Marek s story depicts how the doctors, spared from the distractions of face-to-face interaction with patients, decide whether the care those patients are being given is effective enough to justify the cost.

Janet Paskin was nominated for The Accidental 401(k) Planner, a look at the standards of expertise and competence required of managers who run 401(k) plans. Her story uncovered not only how ill-prepared many managers are to advise employees, but also the consequences for the legions of retirees who count on their 401(k) savings to fund their later years.

Marek and Paskin are two of the four finalists in the category.

SmartMoney was joined in the Loeb nomination honors by its sister publication, The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by Dow Jones & Co. The Wall Street Journal received a total of six nominations. Alix Freedman, deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, will receive the 2010 Lawrence Minard Editor Award, which honors financial and economic editing and recognizes an editor whose work does not receive a byline.

In the Large Newspapers Category, The Wall Street Journal had two out of five finalists. Kate Kelly, Jon Hilsenrath, Dan Fitzpatrick, Suzanne Craig, Deborah Solomon, Damian Paletta and David Enrich were nominated for USA Inc.: The State of Capitalism. Mark Maremont was nominated for The Talented Mr. Pang, about Danny Pang, a Taiwanese immigrant who ran a massive Ponzi-like scheme from his home in Irvine, Calif., before being found dead at age 42.

In the Breaking News Category, The Wall Street Journal had one of five nominations. Jon Hilsenrath and Kate Kelly were nominated for New York Fed Chairman s Ties to Goldman Raises Questions, about the New York Fed s chairman, Stephen Friedman.

In the Feature Writing Category, The Wall Street Journal had one of four nominations. Robert A. Guth, Susan Pulliam and Justin Scheck were nominated for The Network, about Galleon Group founder, Raj Rajaratnam.

In the Business Book Category, The Wall Street Journal had one of three nominations. David Wessel was nominated for In Fed We Trust, published by Crown Business, about Federal Reserve Bank chairman Ben Bernanke.

The winners are to be announced at the 2010 Loeb Awards dinner on Tuesday, June 29, in New York City.