The American Biographical Institute (ABI) was a paid-inclusion vanity biographical reference directory publisher based in Raleigh, North Carolina which had been publishing biographies since 1967. It generated revenue from sales of fraudulent certificates and books. Each year the company awarded hundreds of "Man of the Year" or "Woman of the Year" awards at between $195 and $295 each. The company's owner, Arlene Calhoun, also ran another purveyor of for-profit awards called the United Cultural Convention and another vanity press called the Pentland Press or Ivy House Publishing Group.