Winners Announced in 20th Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Jan 29, 2026 @ 09:00 AM

Winners in the 20th annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, recognized as the world's top customer service awards and sales awards, have been announced. A complete list of all 2026 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at https://Sales.StevieAwards.com.

Winners will be recognized during a gala banquet at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on Thursday, March 5. Tickets are on sale now.

SASCS26 Winners

More than 2,100 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry, in 41 nations and territories, were considered in this year’s competition.

Winners were determined by the average scores of 150 professionals worldwide on eight specialized judging committees.

Entries were considered in more than 100 categories for customer service and contact center achievements, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; more than 70 categories for sales and business development achievements, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Business Development Executive of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; more than 20 categories for AI in sales and customer service including Customer Service AI Trainer or Specialist of the Year, AI & Tech-Focused Customer Service Team of the Year, Best Use of AI Integration in Contact Centers, and Sales AI Trainer or Specialist of the Year; and categories to recognize new products, services, and solution providers.

The top winner of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards is IBM, worldwide, with 30 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award wins.

Other winners of three or more Gold Stevie Awards include:

DHL Express, worldwide (8), BELBİM, Istanbul, Türkiye (5), Tata Consultancy Services, Dallas, TX and Edison, NJ USA (5), UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA USA (5), HALKBANK, Istanbul, Türkiye (4), MEXC, Mahe, Seychelles (4), Percepta, Allen Park, MI USA (4), UnitedHealthcare Provider Service Operations, Minneapolis, MN USA (4), Voya Financial, Gilbert, AZ USA (4), WNS, Mumbai, India, and New York, NY USA (4), ACT, Berwyn, PA USA (3), Allianz Services Private Limited, Kerala, India (3), AT&T, Dallas, TX USA (3), Blackhawk Network, Pleasanton, CA USA (3), CarrefourSA, Istanbul, Türkiye (3), eMoney Advisor, Radnor, PA USA (3), Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Sugar Land, TX USA (3), RAIN Group, Boston, MA USA (3), Revenue Storm Corporation, Schaumburg, IL USA (3), and TTEC, Austin, TX USA and Krakow, Poland (3).

Winners in sponsored categories for SOCAP International will be announced in April. SOCAP International is the nation’s leading membership community for customer care and CX professionals.

Five winners of Grand Stevie Award trophies, for the five most-honored organizations in the competition, will be announced the week of February 9.

All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and may submit any number of nominations in a wide range of award categories for sales, customer service, solution providers, business development, solutions and implementations, and thought leadership.

Nominations for the 2027 edition of the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will be accepted starting this July. The entry kit may be requested at https://Sales.StevieAwards.com.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes nine of the world’s leading business award programs, including the prestigious International Business Awards® and American Business Awards®.

Topics: stevie awards for sales and customer service

Worthy: Advancing Sustainable Design Through Full-Circle Innovation

Posted by Amanda Del Signore on Wed, Jan 21, 2026 @ 10:05 AM

2025 Winner Spotlight - RESIZED IG-4-Jan-21-2026-03-00-53-4776-PMStevie winner Worthy is an Australian company founded by Angela Michel that is redefining sustainable product design by creating what they describe as the most sustainable drink bottle on the planet.

Built entirely from ethically sourced and sustainably produced sugarcane, Worthy’s bottles are carbon-negative and manufactured with zero waste—an approach that sets a new benchmark for environmentally responsible consumer products.

Central to Worthy’s model is its use of renewable resources and clean energy. The bottle is made from sugarcane stems, while the plant waste (bagasse) powers the factory, ensuring no material is discarded. The agricultural process for the raw materials relies solely on sunlight, rainwater, and natural sugarcane waste for fertilization, significantly reducing the overall environmental impact. Compared with traditional bottle materials, the process minimizes exposure to harmful chemicals, reduces industrial emissions, and supports a healthier manufacturing ecosystem.

A full-circle lifecycle is foundational to Worthy’s ethos. While the bottles are fully recyclable through standard household systems, customers are encouraged to return broken or unwanted components for repurposing into new sugarcane-based products. This closed-loop model ensures continual reuse of resources and helps keep plastic waste out of landfills and communities.

Worthy’s commitment to sustainability extends beyond environmental outcomes. The company partners with Vision Rescue, contributing 10% of each bottle’s proceeds to support education, nutrition, and clean water programs in Mumbai’s slum communities. Angela's firsthand visits to these neighborhoods reinforced the need for solutions that address both environmental and social challenges. Additional partnerships include RAMS, an Australian nonprofit that provides resilience programs for at-risk adolescents. Through workshops and student engagement, Worthy aims to inspire young people to pursue sustainability and social impact.

Ethical sourcing is equally central to Worthy’s operations. Its sugarcane resin supplier in Brazil is recognized for responsible environmental practices, fair wages, and safe working conditions. Worthy’s packaging further reflects these values, using FSC-certified recycled cardboard, compostable mailers, and solar-powered production facilities that recycle all manufacturing scraps.

In recent years, Worthy has earned recognition across multiple sustainability and consumer product awards, reflecting the strength and credibility of its mission. Since receiving a Stevie Award, founder Angela Michel has expanded the company’s reach, transitioning from her part-time radiography career to focus fully on growing Worthy globally. The brand secured a major partnership with an Australian supermarket, producing nearly 10,000 bottles for their centenary campaign. The company has also grown from a sole operation to a small team supporting its ongoing scale.

Worthy received a Silver Stevie® Award for Product of the Year - Sustainability and Climate Protection in the 2025 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering for 2026?

Request the entry kit

Topics: Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Final Entry Deadline in 2026 Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards Extended to 30 January

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Fri, Jan 16, 2026 @ 09:54 AM

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, announced that they have revised the schedule for the 2026 (13th annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.

By popular demand, the final entry deadline has been extended to 30 January. The judging process will extend through 6 February. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced on 12 February. Winners will be celebrated during an awards ceremony on 17 April at the Venetian Hotel in Macau.

Request the entry kit

Asia-Pacific Stevies 2026 Deadline Extended

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards is the only business awards program to recognize innovation throughout the entire Asia-Pacific region. The competition is open to all organizations across 29 markets of the Asia-Pacific region: large and small, for-profit and non-profit, public and private.

The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries will be accepted in 30+ languages in the following award category groups:

All organizations in the Company/Organization categories will automatically be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Companies. People’s Choice winners will receive a special People’s Choice Stevie Award trophy, giving honorees in the Company/Organization categories the opportunity to receive a second award, as voted by the general public worldwide. Voting for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies will open on 16 February and go through 13 March.

Scores of professionals from throughout the region will participate in the judging process to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Some of the Asia-Pacific region’s most innovative organizations won Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in 2025, including AstraZeneca Philippines (Philippines), Ayala Land, Inc. – Makati Development Corporation (Philippines), Cathay Financial Holdings Co., Ltd. (Taiwan), City of Sydney (Australia), CK Hutchison Holdings Limited (Hong Kong), Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings Inc. (Japan), DigiPlus Interactive Corp. (Philippines), Dong-A Pharmaceutical Co. (Korea), Eastern Communications (Philippines), Extendmax Vietnam Company Limited (Vietnam), Generali Hong Kong (Hong Kong), HP (Greater Asia) (Singapore), IBM Singapore (Singapore), IntouchCX (India), Kacific Broadband Satellites Group (Singapore), Link Asset Management Limited (Hong Kong), Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (Philippines), Ooredoo Maldives (Maldives), PJ Lhuillier Inc. (Philippines), PLDT and Smart (Philippines), PT Pertamina (Persero) (Indonesia), SM Supermalls (China), and Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting Asia Pacific (Australia).

Request the entry kit

Topics: Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

Teacher PA: An Emerging Companion Technology Designed to Support Educators

Posted by Amanda Del Signore on Tue, Jan 13, 2026 @ 02:38 PM

The global education sector is facing significant challenges related to teacher retention, burnout, and staffing shortages, a trend reflected in multiple international surveys such as the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2023. Educators increasingly report high levels of stress and job dissatisfaction, and many school systems are experiencing difficulties filling classroom positions and maintaining stable staffing.

Teacher PA logo
Stevie-winner Jannic Education Solutions was founded on a clear, deceptively simple question: How can we give teachers the support they actually need without adding to their workload? The company grew from the combined expertise of its founders Janet Moeller and Nick Spragg. Janet brings decades of experience in education across three continents, and Nick offers a long career designing conversational technologies and leading application development teams.

Early conversations revealed a shared interest in leveraging advanced AI for real-world, classroom-level impact, though the technology at the time was accessible only to large corporations with highly specialised systems. As generative AI matured, the opportunity finally emerged to build a tool tailored to the needs and working styles of teachers.

This led to the creation of Teacher PA, an AI-powered companion designed not to replace teachers or add another complex system, but to support educators in the moments they need it most—seamlessly, intuitively, and without increasing administrative burden. Teacher PA integrates Large Language Models (LLMs), Large Action Models (LAMs), and machine learning into a unified assistant that adapts to individual teaching styles and classroom realities. Instead of juggling multiple tools for lesson planning, communication, and documentation, teachers can rely on a single platform designed to reflect the relational and contextual nature of teaching.

Teacher PA centres on three virtual agents engineered to address the primary causes of teacher burnout: excessive workload, work intensification, and insufficient support. Hanna, the curriculum expert, drafts standards-aligned lessons, differentiates materials for diverse learners, and assists with marking. Ravi, the learning support specialist, guides teachers through identifying student challenges and provides immediate strategies for intervention—particularly valuable when working with students who have undiagnosed needs. Marlene, the professional coach, supports reflective practice and emotional resilience, helping teachers navigate stressful interactions and reduce feelings of isolation.

To assess its early impact, Jannic Education Solutions conducted a six-week pilot in which nine educators engaged with the MVP version of Teacher PA more than 400 times. Participants reported increased student engagement, more effective handling of emotionally sensitive communications, improved accessibility for students with learning disabilities, and streamlined administrative work such as incident reporting. Some educators saved up to three hours per week, while many noted a reduction in emotional strain due to the ongoing support provided by the agents.

Looking ahead, Teacher PA is evolving into a single, fully orchestrated virtual assistant capable of tracking student progress, generating report-card comments, drafting incident reports, and integrating LLM and LAM capabilities for more advanced task management. To ensure long-term reliability and trust, the system is being built to meet ISO 27001 and SOC 2 standards, and is supported by relational and vector databases to deliver personalised, continuity-based responses over time.

Rooted in the founders’ combined expertise and driven by a mission to support teachers in meaningful, practical ways, Jannic Education Solutions continues to refine a tool designed to work the way teachers do. When educators have the right support, they can focus on what truly matters—their students.

Jannic Education Solutions won a Gold Stevie Award for Innovation in Education or Training Apps, a Gold Stevie Award for Innovation in Education Technology (EdTech) – Other Service Industries, and one Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) – Other Service Industries in the 2025 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering for 2026?

Request the entry kit

 

Topics: Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards