In a sign Obama-mania is still going strong, the American Society of Magazine Editors' (ASME) has added a new category in its search for the year's top US magazine covers: the best one featuring Barack Obama.

The covers of US magazines which appeared between July 2008 -- when the US president was still an Illinois senator -- and June 2009 are eligible to enter the contest.

There are nine other categories ranging from the sexiest to the best news and business cover, ASME said Monday as it posted a call for entries.

A panel of judges drawn from the magazine publishing world will select six finalists in each category, and the short-listed covers will be posted on www.amazon.com.

There, the general public will vote in each category. The eventual winners in each class will be eligible to vie for the title of cover of the year -- which means Obama will definitely be elected once, and could be elected twice.

If Obama wins the cover of the year title, he will find himself in the company of disgraced New York ex-governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned last year after it was revealed he frequented call girls.

New York magazine won the overall title last year with its cover featuring a smiling Spitzer and the word "brain" in a red box with an arrow pointing to what ASME called "the area of Spitzer’s anatomy that seemed to have been thinking for him."

Obama won a category last year -- "best leisure interest" -- for the "summer issue" cover of New York magazine which he shared with his presidential rival, John McCain.

The montage cover shows the two then White House rivals in swimming trunks, lounging on deck chairs on the beach, giving each other a fist-jab.

美国期刊编辑学会（ASME）在年度最佳封面杂志评选中增加了一项新分类：最佳巴拉克•奥巴马杂志封面，由此可见，“奥巴马热”依旧持续不减。

去年七月（当时现任美国总统还只是一位伊利诺斯州参议员）至今年六月间拍摄的所有美国杂志封面都有资格参选。

ASME于本周一公开征集参选作品，并表示除最佳奥巴马封面外，另有九大封面评选分类，包括最性感封面、最佳新闻封面以及最佳经济封面等。

杂志出版界组成的评委会将挑选出每类参选封面的前六名，被遴选出的封面将登在www.amazon.com网站上。

公众将在该网站上对每类入围封面进行投票，最终胜出的各类封面都将有资格参选年度最佳封面，这意味着奥巴马无疑会有一次机会参选，也可能被重复推选。

如果奥巴马所摄封面荣膺“年度最佳封面”，他将发现自己和声名狼藉的前纽约州州长艾略特•斯皮策“为伍”，斯皮策于去年被揭露经常召妓后引咎辞职。

《纽约杂志》获选去年最佳封面奖，在获奖封面上，斯皮策灿烂地微笑着，有一个写着“brain”字样的红方格，方格旁边的一个箭头指向斯皮策的下身，ASME称之为“替斯皮策思考的部位”。

奥巴马去年与总统竞选对手约翰•麦凯恩一同为《纽约杂志》夏季刊拍摄的封面获得了“最佳闲情雅致”奖。

这张封面照片是合成的，两位前白宫竞争对手穿着泳裤在沙滩的折叠躺椅上仰卧休息，并击拳致意。