The Stevie® Awards have announced the schedules for the 2013 editions of The American Business Awards, the USA’s premier business awards program, and The International Business Awards, the world's top business awards competition.

The 11th Annual American Business Awards will open to all organizations and individuals in the U.S.A. on October 10, 2012. The first early bird entry deadline will be November 14, and the second early-bird deadline will be December 12. The final deadline will be March 27, 2013. See the full 2013 ABA calendar here.

The 10th Annual International Business Awards will open to all organizations and individuals worldwide in January. The early-bird deadline will be April 10, and the final deadline will be May 15. See the full 2013 IBA calendar here.  

Want to be the first to receive the 2013 entry kits? Join the ABA mailing list and the IBA mailing list and we'll send you the entry kits as soon as they become available.

Entry Deadline Is August 29, 2012; All Female Entrepreneurs, Executives and Employees Worldwide Are Eligible to Be Nominated 

The Stevie® Awards for Women in Business today issued the Call for Entries for its ninth annual competition.  Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business feature over 80 categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Employee of the Year, Best Overall Company of the Year, PR Campaign of the Year, Website of the Year, and New Product or Service of the Year, among others.  The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards. 

All female entrepreneurs, executives, and the organizations they run, worldwide, are eligible to be nominated.   The 2012 awards will recognize achievements since the beginning of July 2011.

The entry deadline is August 29.  Late entries will be accepted through September 28 with payment of a late fee.  Winners of the ninth annual competition will be announced at a gala awards dinner in New York on November 9.  

New this year, Stevie Awards will be conferred in three levels of distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  To date, only overall category winners have been recognized as Stevie winners.

Winners of the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business included, among others: Charly Leetham of Ask Charly Leetham, Canberra, Australia (Entrepreneur of the Year), Sarah Yansura of Euro RSCG Worldwide PR (Employee of the Year), Melissa Burton of FTF Sweets Ltd, Heysham, United Kingdom (Entrepreneur of the Year in EMEA), Ann Kaplan of iFinance Canada (Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year), Lynn Agnello of the Phoenix Suns NBA team (Executive of the Year), The University of Southern Mississippi (Community Relations Campaign of the Year), and Wipro Limited, Bangalore, India (Women Helping Women Award).  A complete list of 2011 honorees is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are judged by many leading women entrepreneurs, executives and luminaries in business.  More than 200 professionals worldwide will participate in the judging process this year.

“2012 marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the Stevie Awards movement, and we’re looking forward to finishing the year with our honors for women of achievement worldwide,” said Michael Gallagher, Stevie Awards founder and president.

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.stevieawards.com/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.   

Kimberly Webb is the founder of Rockin' Green in San Antonio, Texas, and winner of a Stevie® Award for Best Entrepreneur of the Year in a Non-Services Business with up to 100 Employees in the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. (The entry deadline for the 2012 Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's premier business awards for women executives, entrepreneurs, and the organizations they run, is August 29. Request your entry kit today.) Here we get Kimberly's advice on running a business and a family simultaneously.

What are your top tips on combining running a business and being a working mother of a young family?

1. Be efficient. With little ones around, you have to make the most of each and every nap and use any free moment to work!
2. Streamline your processes as much as possible.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask! Seek out help when you need it. 

What was the most helpful piece of advice you received on starting your own company?
Just do it!

What other areas of the environment would you like to see cleaned up?
Our food chain is in dire straits right now, and I worry about what my grandchildren will be eating in the future.

Do you have a favorite app?
I love Instagram and Facebook.

What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
I really respect entrepreneurs who start from very humble beginnings and have grown their own businesses through hard work and dedication.

About Kimberly Webb:
Kimberly Webb started her career in marketing, but she had always had a dream of becoming an entrepreneur. When her first son was born, she began cloth-diapering him, and instantly became a cloth-diapering fanatic. However, when Kimberly initially used cloth diapers, she had trouble keeping them stink- and residue-free because the hard water in her area caused mineral buildup, rendering the diapers useless. As a creative and determined person, Kimberly developed eco-friendly detergent formulas of her own, and in 2009 she officially started Rockin’ Green. In 2010, Kimberly helped found The Great Cloth Diaper Change, a worldwide initiative dedicated to promoting the environmental benefits of cloth diapering. Kim works for Rockin’ Green full-time. She lives in San Antonio, Texas, and has two sons.

About Rockin’ Green:
Rockin’ Green manufactures award-winning, clean-rinsing laundry detergents formulated for use on all fabrics. Rockin’ Green detergents come in several natural scents and are designed for hard, soft, and normal water conditions—the products are known as Hard, Soft and Classic Rock.  Rockin’ Green products are available at more than 1,000 retailers worldwide, and are used by hundreds of thousands of customers around the globe. To learn more about Rockin’ Green, visit http://rockingreensoap.com.

The following professionals have been named committee chairs for the final judging of The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition.

Final judging is now underway and 2012 winners will be announced on August 15. The 9th Annual International Business Awards will be celebrated in Seoul, South Korea at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Monday, 15 October.

In total, more than 100 judges will participate in this year's final judging for the IBAs. Thank you to all of our judges for their participation.

• Company / Organization Awards Categories: Dr. Adel Hamad, CEO, Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Company (GARMCO), Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
• Corporate Communications, Investor Relations & Public Relations Awards Categories: Beata Rozek, Head of CSR, Tesco Poland, Krakow, Poland
• Creative Media Awards Categories: Akihito Tsukioka, President, Digitized Information Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
• Customer Service Awards Categories: Alain Meric, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience Management, Etisalat, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Human Resources Awards Categories: Dr. Richard Ong, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Smart Reader® Worldwide Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Information Technology Awards Categories: Leslie Stretch, President & CEO, CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, CA, USA
• Management Awards Categories: Shaun Battleman, CEO, African Access Holdings (PTY) Ltd, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Marketing Awards Categories: Vikram Krishna, Head of Group Marketing, Emirates NBD, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• New Products & Product Management Awards Categories: Jin Mu Cho, Vice President, Korea Business Communicators Association, Seoul, South Korea
• Support Awards Categories: Ian Semple, Head of Customer Experience, Everything Everywhere, London, United Kingdom

We will publish the names of our committee members shortly.

 Results of Public Poll to Be Announced on September 17 in San Francisco

Fairfax, VA – July 12, 2012 – Voting is now open for the fourth annual edition of the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, a feature of The American Business Awards.  Anyone may vote for their favorite new products and services in any of 30 categories at PeoplesChoice.StevieAwards.com.

Among the categories are Favorite New Smartphone, Favorite New Tablet, Favorite Consumer Product, and Favorite Media or Entertainment Product.  Voting will close on August 29.

All new products and services that were nominated in the new product awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards are automatically included in people’s choice voting. Organizations will have the opportunity to win two awards: a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award, as determined by professionals in the ABAs’ peer-review judging, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as determined by the public vote.

Winners of the crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards will be announced at The American Business Awards' new product and tech awards banquet at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco on September 17.

Past winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products include Apple, Boost Mobile, Dow Jones, and Samsung.

The American Business Awards are the U.S.A.’s top business awards program, honoring achievement in every facet of the American workplace.  For information about the ABAs visit www.StevieAwards.com/ABA. 

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.  Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. 

Sponsors and partners of The 2012 American Business Awards include American Support, Business TalkRadio Network, CallidusCloud, Citrix Online, Dynamic Research Corporation, iolo technologies, John Hancock Funds, LifeLock, PetRays, Primus Telecommunications Group, SoftPro, and VerticalResponse.

Voting for the 4th edition of the People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, as part of The American Business Awards, the nation’s premier business awards program, opened today will go through August 29.

Vote now at http://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com.

This is a nationwide vote in which the general public will get to choose one favorite product in 30 categories including:

• Favorite New Smartphone
• Favorite New Tablet
• Favorite Consumer Product
• Favorite Media or Entertainment Product

All new products and services that are nominated in the new product awards categories of The 2012 American Business Awards are automatically included in the public voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. Organizations will have the opportunity to win two awards: a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Stevie Award, as determined by professionals in the ABAs’ peer-review judging, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as determined by the public vote.

Winners of the crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards will be announced at the American Business Awards' new product and tech awards banquet at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco on September 17.

Winners in the 3rd edition of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products were celebrated in New York on Monday, June 20, 2011. Past winners include Apple, Boost Mobile, Dow Jones, and Samsung, among others. 2011 results are summarized, at http://blog.stevieawards.com/new-product-awards/bid/55322/People-s-Choice-Stevie-Awards-for-New-Products-Award-Winners.

18 July is the final extended entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition.

If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here. The entry kit contains all of the information you'll need to be able to prepare and submit entries to this year's IBAs.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Types of award categories include:

• Company/Organization Awards 
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Support Awards
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

We are also pleased to announce that the second annual People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies will coincide with this year's International Business Awards. All organizations that are honored with Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie® Award trophies in the IBAs' 34 Company of the Year categories will automatically be included in People's Choice voting, which will open to the general public worldwide in late July and run through mid-September. People's Choice winners will receive a special People's Choice Stevie Award trophy allowing for honorees in the Company of the Year categories to have the opportunity to receive a second award, as voted by the general public.

The 8^th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  2011 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_21081.cfm. 

Final results of this year's IBAs will now be announced in mid-August, with the awards presented at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, 15 October.

Need last minute help? Contact us at help@stevieawards.com and we'll direct you to categories that are right for your organization.

The final extended entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition is 18 July. All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – may submit nominations to the IBAs. If you haven't yet done so, you can request your entry kit here.

The International Business Awards honors all facets of the workplace, our award categories include: annual report awards, app awards, company/organization awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, information technology awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, public relations awards, support awards, and website awards, among others. See all corporate awards categories.

Final results of this year's IBAs will now be announced in mid-August, with the awards presented at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea on Monday, 15 October.

The 2012 International Business Awards will include the Second Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, in which the general public worldwide will vote for their favorite companies. Each company honored with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award in The International Business Awards’ company of the year categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting, which will open in late July.

The 8^th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  2011 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_21081.cfm. 

Not sure where to start? All IBA entries are submitted directly online through your account. You can begin by registering here.

We are pleased to announce that video clips from the first of two award galas celebrating The 2012 (10th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards program in the U.S.A. are now available to view on YouTube. (The second gala honoring the tech awards categories will be held on Monday, September 17 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. Click here to order tickets.)

Watch the June 18th American Business Awards presentations here.

More than 525 entrepreneurs, executives, and their guests from around the country attended the first of two 2012 American Business Awards Banquets on Monday, June 18th at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Categories celebrated at the June 18th ceremony included PR awards, live event awards, annual report awards, video awards, customer service awards, HR awards, support awards, and selected categories for company/organization awards, management awards and marketing awards.

Our American Business Awards video clips from June 18th showcase business award acceptance speeches made by individuals and organizations from around the country, including:

Kenny Rosenblatt of Arkadium, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year - Media
Kenny's speech started the night off by recognizing the team effort behind all individual awards.

MWW Group, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Marketing Campaign of the Year - Transportation
MWW Group's Account Supervisor for Corporate Communications graciously accepts the award and thanks his colleagues and partners.

Russell Sarder of NetCom, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Executive of the Year - Diversified Services
Russell's speech reminded the audience that the American Dream is still possible through hard work and determination.

Fazoli's Italian Restaurants, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Human Resource Department of the Year
Dave Craig, VP of Human Resources at Fazoli's Italian Restaurants, reminds the audience that small departments can achieve great outcomes.

Lisa Tener, Winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Marketer of the Year
Lisa's humble speech brought to light the importance of her clients and team members.

Want to see more from the June 18th celebration? Watch all acceptance speeches and view photos from the event.

We've just published a new video entitled How to Enter The 2012 International Business Awards.  Watch it here:

The brief video offers a comprehensive overview of the IBAs, including:

• The history of The International Business Awards,
• The 2012 IBA schedule,
• How to review and select categories,
• How to prepare and submit entries,
• How the judging process works, and
• Best practices.

If you're not familiar with The International Business Awards, they are one of the four Stevie® Awards competitions, and they honor achievements in the workplace at organizations worldwide.  They offer many categories for management awards, overall company awards, marketing awards, public relations awards, human resources awards, new product awards, website awards, video awards, live event awards, and more.

The final entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards is 18 July.

Learn more and get your IBA entry kit at http://www.stevieawards.com/iba.