Final judging of The 2013 (10th Annual) International Business Awards, the world's top business honors, is set to begin next week, and today the names of the chairs of the 10 final judging committees were revealed.

The IBAs recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace, and this year received a record-number of entries from organizations in more than 50 nations.  Final judging will begin on July 29 and conclude on August 7, and will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award winners who will then be announced on August 14.  The awards themselves will be presented on October 14 at the W Hotel in Barcelona, Spain.

Here are the chairs of this year's final judging committees:

Company / Organization Categories: Dr. Kim Ki-hak, CEO, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd, Seoul, Korea

Corporate Communications, Investor Relations & Public Relations: Kevin Read, Managing Director, Bell Pottinger Business & Brand, London, United Kingdom

Creative Media: Egemen Ozcan, Director, Boogy The Event Company, Istanbul, Turkey

Customer Service & Support : Angela Blevins, Vice President, Customer Care, Bluegreen Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Human Resources: Husam Mahmoud Abdallah, Senior Advisor, Organization Development, Dubai Airport Free Zone, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Information Technology, New Products & Product Management : Aslam Khan, CEO, Octaware Technologies Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, India

Management: Mark F. Burton, CEO & President, International Armoring Corporation, Centerville, Utah, USA

Marketing: Dr. Anwara Ali, Director of Public Relations. Lycamobile UK Ltd., London, United Kingdom

Korean Language Entries Judging Committee:Hung Ki Kim, President, Korea Business Communicators Association, Seoul, South Korea

Spanish Language Entries Judging Committee: Jorge Cachinero, Group Senior Director, Llorente y Cuenca, Madrid, Spain

For more information about The International Business Awards visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

American Express OPEN, the NFL, and P&G Among Winners of Gold Stevie® Awards;New Product and Tech-related Winners to Be Announced at Second Event
in San Francisco on September 16

CHICAGO, IL, June 18, 2013 – Shining a spotlight on the best and brightest executives, organizations and employees in America, The 11^th Annual American Business Awards^SM announced Stevie® Award Winners last night at the first of two gala award ceremonies taking place this year.

For the first time, The American Business Awards’ June banquet was held outside of New York City.  Last night’s ceremony took place at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park Hotel and honored winners in categories such as customer service, human resources, corporate communications, live events, publications, and selected categories for company/organization, management and marketing.  Winners in all new product and technology-related categories will be announced at an event in San Francisco on September 16. 

The American Business Awards honor an all-inclusive spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, corporate communicators, support staff and customer service teams.

Notable Gold Stevie Award Winners announced last night include:

­   Most Innovative Company of the Year: Procter & Gamble

­   Best New Company of the Year: Haystak Digital Marketing

­   Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Social Media: MSLGROUP

­   Company of the Year – Real Estate: Renters Warehouse

­   Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year: The National Football League

­   Customer Service Department of the Year: Hyatt Legal Plans

­   Executive of the Year – Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations: Michael W. Kempner, CEO of MWW

­   Human Resources Department of the Year: BDS Marketing, Inc.

­   Best Brand Experience Event: NASCAR

­   Viral Marketing Campaign of the Year: U.S. Green Building Council

­   Best Media/Entertainment Video: Sony Playstation

American Express OPEN and NASCAR both won three Gold Stevie Awards last night, more than any other organization.  Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards are Accenture, Aflac, agencyEA, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., AXA Equitable, BMO Capital Markets, Experian Consumer Services, EMKAY Inc., K’NEX, Makovsky, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Quality Systems, Inc., Resonate Pictures, Slack and Company, SquareTrade, SunGard Availability Services, The Keep A Breast Foundation, The Navicor Group, LLC, and VerticalResponse.

More than 3,200 entries were submitted to The 2013 American Business Awards and 320 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners. 

For a complete list of the Stevie Award winners announced last night visit  www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

Every new product or service nominated in The 2013 American Business Awards will automatically be included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products.  Voting will open to the general public on July 8, and the winners will be honored at The American Business Awards ceremony in San Francisco on September 16.

Last night’s presentations were taped and will be broadcast by the Business TalkRadio Network (www.businesstalkradio.net) on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

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.  A fifth program, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, will debut later this year.  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 2013 American Business Awards include the Business TalkRadio Network, Callidus Software, Citrix Online, Dynamic Research Corporation, Experian Consumer Services, John Hancock Funds, LifeLock, PetRays, and SoftPro.

The first of two awards banquets for The 2013 American Business Awards will take place on Monday, June 17 at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park Hotel. Tickets are still available.  This is the first time the ABAs will be held in Chicago, after 10 years in New York.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners for management, overall organizational achievement, PR, marketing, customer service, HR, publications, video, and live events will be presented on Monday. 

See the lists of Finalists by category for this year's ABAs, and download the program for next Monday's awards banquet.

The second banquet, to announce Stevie winners in categories for new products and services and technology-related industries, will be held in San Francisco on September 16.

We're expecting around 450 Finalists and their guests at next Monday's banquet.  Who's coming so far?  Here are the organizations who have already confirmed their attendance.

ABS Associates  Inc. Rolling Meadows  IL
Accenture  Chicago  IL
Actiontec Electronics Sunnyvale CA
Adconion Direct  San Diego  CA
AECOM  New York  NY
Aflac  Columbus  GA
agencyEA  Chicago IL
Alex and Ani Cranston RI
American Bar Association  Chicago  IL
American Medical Response Colorado Springs CO
Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) Chicago IL
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals  Inc. Cambridge  MA
Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Redondo Beach CA
AT&T Inc. Dallas TX
Avion Pharmaceuticals Alpharetta GA
AXA Equitable  New York NY
Bandwidth  Raleigh  NC
BCI/Bath Planet  Palatine  IL
BDS Marketing Inc. Irvine CA
BenefitMall Dallas TX
Best Doctors Inc. Boston MA
Bhava Communications  Berkeley CA
Blackboard Inc. Washington DC
Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Durham NC
BMO Capital Markets New York NY
Booz Allen Hamilton McLean VA
borro New York NY
Bulldog Solutions  Austin TX
Cabell Huntington Hospital  Huntington  WV
CAIS  New York NY
CallidusCloud  Pleasanton CA
Capital Access Network  Inc.  New York  NY
Capstrat Raleigh NC
CareerBuilder.com Chicago IL
Cellairis  Alpharetta  GA
CFS2 Tulsa OK
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Annapolis MD
Cisco Systems  San Jose CA
College Works Painting  Irvine  CA
Constant Contact Waltham MA
Continental Stock Transfer & Trust New York NY
Creative Lodging Solutions  Lexington  KY
Creative Media Productions LaGrangeville NY
Crocs Inc.  Niwot  CO
Cross Country Home Services Sunrise FL
CyraCom International Inc. Tucson AZ
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas TX
DHL Express Tempe AZ
Diligent Board Member Services New York NY
Direct Edge Jersey City NJ
Direct Energy Pittsburgh PA
Domino's Pizza  Ann Arbor MI
DRC Reston VA
Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp.  Malibu CA
Durée & Company  Inc.  Ft. Lauderdale  FL
Edmodo  Inc. San Mateo  CA
Electric Insurance Company Beverly MA
EMKAY Inc. Itasca IL
Empire Today Northlake IL
Enterprise Community Investment Columbia MD
Enterprise Fleet Management St. Louis MO
Everblue Huntersville NC
ExactTarget  Indianapolis  IN
Expedia Media Solutions  Bellevue WA
Experian Consumer Services  Costa Mesa CA
EZCOM Software  Englewood  NJ
Fazoli's Italian Restaurants Lexington KY
FBMC Benefits Management Tallahassee FL
Fitness Consulting Group Elizabethtown KY
Grand Canyon University Phoenix AZ
Haystak Digital Marketing  Ft. Myers  FL
Heineken USA  White Plains  NY
Home Instead Senior Care  Omaha  NE
Hyatt Legal Plans  Cleveland  OH
IDEXX Laboratories Westbrook ME
Information Builders New York NY
INSZOOM.COM INC.  San Ramon  CA
Interactions Corporation  Franklin  MA
Intermec Technologies Corp. Everett WA
International Financial Data Services Toronto Canada
inVNT  New York  NY
Isagenix International LLC Chandler AZ
Jacobs Agency  Chicago  IL
JDNA & Subsidiaries Chino CA
John Hancock  Boston MA
Junction Networks  New York  NY
K'NEX  Hatfield PA
Kno Santa Clara CA
Learning@Cisco San Jose CA
LifeLock Tempe AZ
Makovsky New York NY
MarketBridge Bethesda MD
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Corporation  Orlando  FL
Marsh Urbandale IA
McKinsey Development Warrenton VA
Melissa Sones Consulting  New York NY
Motive Interactive Inc San Diego CA
MSA  The Safety Company  Pittsburgh  PA
MSLGROUP  Chicago  IL
NASCAR  New York  NY
National Football League New York NY
National Retail Federation Washington DC
Newlight Technologies LLC Irvine CA
Nongshim America Rancho Cuamonga CA
North American Power  Norwalk  CT
Northwestern Mutual  Milwaukee  WI
Omintracs  Inc.  San Diego  CA
Orbis Technologies Inc. Annapolis MD
Oshkosh Corporation  Oshkosh WI
Panasonic   Wesley Chapel FL
Piedmont Healthcare  Atlanta  GA
PrintingForLess.com Livingston MT
Procter & Gamble  Cincinnati  OH
ProposalHelper Reston VA
Quality Systems Inc. Irvine CA
R.S. Owens  Chicago IL
Randstad US Boston MA
ReachForce Austin TX
Renters Warehouse Minnetonka MN
Response Mine Interactive Atlanta GA
RiseSmart Inc. San Jose CA
Rising Medical Solutions  Chicago  IL
Rodan + Fields San Francisco CA
Rosewood Services  Inc.  Great Bend KS
Roth Staffing Companies L.P. Orange CA
SAP  New York  NY
SBA Communications Corporation Boca Raton FL
SchoolMessenger Los Gatos CA
SCRA  Charleston  SC
ShareBuilder by Capital One  Seattle WA
Siemens Building Technologies Buffalo Grove IL
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. Malvern PA
Siteworx LLC Reston VA
Slack and Company  Chicago IL
SMITH  Seattle  WA
SoftPro  Raleigh NC
Sony PlayStation  Foster City  CA
Sparks Grove Atlanta GA
Squarespace New York NY
SquareTrade  San Francisco  CA
Sun Life Financial  Wellesley Hills  MA
SunGard Availability Services  Wayne  PA
Tanis Communications  Inc.  San Jose  CA
The Ken Blanchard Companies Escondido CA
The Navicor Group LLC Westerville OH
The Remi Group Charlotte NC
The Visionary Group LA  Los Angeles  CA
thebigword  New York City  NY
Theresa Bradley-Banta Real Estate Consultancy Denver CO
Thomson Reuters Elite Culver City CA
Travelzoo  New York  NY
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)  Washington DC
USHEALTH Advisors Grapevine TX
Vantage Communications San Francisco CA
Verivo Software  Waltham  MA
VerticalResponse  San Francisco CA
Virtusa Corporation Westborough MA
Visionista Falls Church VA
Wells Fargo Bank San Francisco CA
WePay Inc. Palo Alto CA
Westjet Calgary AB Canada
William Grant & Sons USA  New York  NY
Zipcar Cambridge MA

A new addition to the Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service's repertory of awards in 2013 are the 10 Top Awards, ten best-of-competition prizes that are awarded to the organizations that submit the best body of work to the competition, in their own name or in the names of one or more clients.  

These awards cannot be applied for directly.  Winners are determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, with a Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5. 

The top ten overall point winners are awarded the exclusive right to use a unique 2013 Top 10 logo designed especially for them.

Stevie Award winners in the 2013 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service were announced on February 25, and the Top 10 Award winners for 2013 are:

10. DHL (13)

9. L-Com, Inc. (13.5)

8. VIZIO (14)

7. Sundance Vacations (14)

6. Delta Air Lines (15)

5. Richardson (17.5)

4. OppenheimerFunds (19.5)

3. Marriott (23)

2. EE (24.5)

1. John Hancock (34.5)

LAS VEGAS, NV – February 26, 2013 – Winners in the Seventh Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are vital to business success, were unveiled last night at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Delta Air Lines and CubeSmart won three Gold Stevie Awards each, more than any other organization in the competition. Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards are AllClear ID, Capital One Bank, the United Kingdom’s EE, John Hancock Signature Services, Kohl’s Department Stores, Marsh U.S. Consumer, OppenheimerFunds, PetRays, Richardson, VIZIO, and VMware. 

A complete list of all Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Winners in the fourth annual People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 211,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Constant Contact, Portugal Telecom, India’s TATA Motors Ltd., and Germany’s Zalando.

The presentations were recorded and will be broadcast by the Business TalkRadio Network (http://www.businesstalkradio.net) at 8:00 pm ET on Wednesday, February 27.

The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business award shows including the prestigious International Business Awards.   More than 360 professionals from around the world attended the event. 

More than 1,100 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of 10% over 2012. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 120 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 30 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 41 categories for sales and business development professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

More than 140 members of eight specialized judging committees determined the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging.

About The Stevie Awards
The 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 Twitter @TheStevieAwards.   

Sponsors and supporters of the 7^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include the Business TalkRadio Network, PrintingforLess.com, and ValueSelling Associates.

###

Next Monday evening we'll announce the results of the 7th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in the Versailles Ballroom of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino.  If you're not familiar with them, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are the world's top contact center awards, customer service awards, business development awards, and sales awards program.

More than 300 executives from around the world will gather to learn the Gold, Silver and Bronze placements in this year's competition.

Here are the organizations that have already booked their place for the banquet.  Interested in joining them?  Get your tickets now.

(mt) Media Temple Culver City CA
60K Ltd. Sofia Bulgaria
Acronis Moscow Russia
AllClear ID  Austin  TX
Allscripts Chicago IL
Ally Bank Midvale UT
ANCILE Solutions Elkridge MD
Arkadin Global Conferencing Paris France
Assurant Solutions Atlanta GA
Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Best Western International Phoenix AZ
Billhighway Troy MI
Black Box Network Services Lawrence PA
Blinds.com Houston TX
Campaign Group Pty Ltd Sunshine Coast QLD Australia
Capital One Bank McLean VA
Carahsoft Technology Corp.  Reston  VA
CareerBuilder Chicago IL
Cisco Systems Inc San Jose CA
Comcast  Philadelphia  PA
Competence Call Center AG Headquarters Vienna Austria
Constant Contact Waltham MA
ConsumerInfo.com Inc. Costa Mesa CA
Cortera  Inc.  Boca Raton  FL
Crucial.com Meridian ID
CubeSmart  Wayne  PA
CustomInk McLean VA
Cvent  McLean  VA
Datapipe Jersey City NJ
Delta Air Lines  Inc. Atlanta  GA
DHL Express Mexico City Mexico
DHL Global Forwarding Miami FL
Edmentum Dallas TX
EE  Hatfield  Hertfordshire  United Kingdom
EMKAY Itasca IL
EnergyCAP Inc. State College PA
Enterasys Networks Salem NH
FedEx TechConnect Memphis TN
ForeSee Ann Arbor MI
FreshBooks Toronto ON Canada
GetResponse Wilmington DE
GoDaddy.com  Scottsdale  AZ
GOT INFLUENCE?  Barrington  IL
Heartland Payment Systems Princeton NJ
HomeAway Austin TX
HomeServe USA  Stamford CT
Informatica Corporation Redwood City CA
Interactions Corporation Franklin MA
John Hancock  Boston MA
kCura Chicago IL
Kohl's Department Stores - Credit Division Menomonee Falls WI
Lattice Engines San Mateo CA
L-com Inc. North Andover MA
LexisNexis New York NY
MaintenanceNet Carlsbad CA
MarketBridge Bethesda MD
Marriott Intl Inc. Bethesda MD
Marriott Vacation Club International Orlando FL
Marsh U.S. Consumer Urbandale IA
MasterCard WorldWide O'Fallon MO
Monitronics International Dallas TX
Navantis Inc.  Toronto  ON  Canada
Navicure Duluth GA
Network Alliance Reston Virginia
NEW Customer Service Companies  Sterling  VA
nFocus Solutions  Austin  TX
Norton by Symantec Mountain View CA
Nuance Communications Burlington MA
Office Depot Inc. Boca Raton FL
OppenheimerFunds Inc. Englewood CO
Outsell  LLC  Minneapolis  MN
Paycor Cincinnati OH
Philadelphia Insurance Companies  Bala Cynwyd  PA
Phonak LLC Warrenville IL
Photodex Austin TX
PrintingForLess.com Livingston MT
Property Insight Santa Ana CA
Replicon San Mateo CA
Revima  Caudebec en Caux France
Richardson Philadelphia PA
Road America Motor Club  Miami FL
Safelite AutoGlass Columbus OH
Sales Partnerships Inc. Westminster CO
Salt Lake County Government  Salt Lake City  UT
Salt Lake County Salt Lake City UT
ShopKeep POS New York NY
SquareTrade  San Francisco  CA
StubHub  San Francisco  CA
Stylesight New York NY
Sundance Vacations  Wilkes-Barre  PA
SurePayroll Inc. Glenview IL
TeamSupport Dallas TX
Telogis Aliso Viejo CA
Texas.gov Austin Texas
The Brooks Group  Greensboro  NC
The Remi Group Charlotte NC
Time Warner Cable New York NY
Treeline Inc. Wakefield MA
Turk Telekom Istanbul Turkey
U.S. Green Building Council  Washington DC
USANA Health Sciences Salt Lake City UT
ValueSelling Associates Rancho Santa Fe CA
Veracity Payment Solutions Atlanta GA
Vestmark Wakefield MA
Vivint  Provo  UT
Visualize, Inc.  Birmingham MI
VIZIO Inc. Irvine CA
VMWare  Palo Alto CA
Wheels Inc. Des Plaines IL
Wolper Information Services  Easton  PA
Zalando Berlin Germany
Ziehm Imaging Inc. Orlando FL
Zions First National Bank Salt Lake City UT
ZocDoc  New York  NY

Chris Robinson, Managing Director of Boost Marketing, outlines some of the ways that this UK-based international award-entry consultancy helps its clients to select what to enter into an awards competition.

In a meeting with your CEO it’s agreed that your company will enter one of the Stevie® Awards competitions. Decision made. Your CEO then walks out of the meeting, so now all you have to do is make it happen.

A Bigger Decision

Although the initial decision to enter has been made, now you have to make an even more important decision, perhaps the most important one of all when it comes to any awards strategy: You have to decide what your award-worthy story—or as we call it at Boost Marketing, your “awards candy”—is going to be.

For small businesses, the history of the whole business is often the story, so this is not such a hard decision; but for larger, well-established organisations the decision can be a much trickier. Larger organizations will have many individuals, teams, departments, strategies, projects, products, and campaigns, each with their own story to choose from.

Picking the Right Story

Any one of these stories could make a suitable entry, but they may not all be equally likely to win a prestigious award such as a Stevie.  Plus, pick the wrong story and you will not just be wasteful of the company’s time, money, and energy, you will also disappoint your CEO when it is not short-listed.   And if you are entering on behalf of a client, and the submission goes nowhere after all the hassle of getting that client’s approval, it can actually harm your business relationship.

Make the Extra Effort

Going by gut instinct or by who shouts the loudest are not ideal ways to decide which stories to enter for an award.  You’ll need to take a little more care in choosing your best stories. The extra effort will pay big dividends in the long term.

To decide which stories are worth entering into awards and which are not requires a fair and systematic approach that cannot be contested.  Such a system should be able to demonstrate clearly that while one person’s pet project may be a no hoper, another lower profile but ingenious story may be a strong contender for awards recognition.

Brainstorming

When we run brainstorming sessions with our clients on what to enter for an award, something that happens time and again is that a story is tabled which, when rated, gets very high marks and goes on to win.  Yet at the time of the session, people will say:  “I would never have thought of entering that.”

How to Filter Your Choices

There is no one-size-fits-all format for a brainstorming session. You can use anything from post-it notes scattered on a whiteboard to a flip chart.  Just remember that Ii doesn’t really matter about the format so long as the session has the following ingredients:

1.  Get everyone around the table who might know about the best stories.

2.  Before starting the brainstorming process, make sure all the stories are tabled—good and bad—without filtering out anything.

3.  Agree on a scoring system that everyone buys into, and then rate each story using this scoring system.

4.  Double-check the highest-scoring stories with the group to ensure there is consensus on which stories are chosen.

At this point the most important decision will have been made. Better still, everyone will leave the room happy with this decision.

Two examples of unexpected awards Candy have been a small initiative to help the long-term unemployed get call-centre jobs at a multinational organisation; and a partnership between the regional office of a British company with the local Citizen’s Advice Bureau, both of which were chosen over multi-million dollar corporate projects.  Yet neither of these stories had been considered for awards glory beforehand.

Remember: the obvious choices are not always the right choices.

The Final Decision

Having completed the step of deciding what stories to enter into an awards competition, you need to match your best stories against the categories and awards available. The Stevie Awards, for example, offer many categories to choose from across all of their awards competitions.  (See the schedule of Stevie Awards competitions in 2013.)

With the Stevie Awards there are a wide variety of categories to choose from, including many new and revised categories for 2013. The Stevie Awards staff are always happy to help with your category selection.  You can contact them at help@stevieawards.com.

There are hundreds of other awards and competitions out there for businesses, and you can find a list of most of them on various Boost web pages, but we strongly recommend you start by picking the most suitable categories within the Stevie Awards.

About Chris Robinson

Chris Robinson is Managing Director of Boost Marketing, the world’s first award-entry consultancy, which now has a team of 15 awards-entry consultants based around the world. The Boost website lists awards for the U.S., United Kingdom, Ireland, and New Zealand. Since the company was founded in 2006, Boost Marketing consultants have helped over 200 businesses win over 400 awards.

The 9th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the world's top honors for female entrepreneurs, executives and the organizations they run, will conclude this Friday evening, November 9 with an awards dinner in New York City.  The Astor Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square will be the setting where this year's Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced.

A sellout crowd of 350 Finalists and their guests will attend. 

So who's coming?  Here is the list of organizations that will be represented, as of the morning of November 6.

Actiontec Electronics Sunnyvale CA
Advocacy and Consulting for Education Inc. Wayne PA USA
Agile Therapeutics Princeton NJ
AHAVA North America New York NY USA
Alcoa New York NY USA
AlphaBambi GmbH Berlin Germany
Association of Educational Publishers Wilmington DE USA
Assurant Employee Benefits Kansas City MO USA
BeeVisual LLC Southborough MA
BGT Partners Miami FL USA
Birds Nest Foundation New York NY U.S.A
BlackLine Systems Los Angeles CA USA
BrightLine New York NY USA
Bryan Insurance Agency LLC New Windsor NY
BT United Kingdom
CBIZ Inc. Cleveland OH U.S.A
CCA and B LLC Marietta GA U.S.A.
ChappellRoberts Tampa FL U.S.A.
Cigna Hartford CT USA
ClientAttraction.com
CompTIA Downers Grove IL USA
Consorcio Nobis Guayaquil Ecuador
CropLogic Ltd. Christchurch New Zealand
Decipher Inc. Fresno CA USA
Denihan Hospitality Group  New York NY USA
Designated Editor Newport RI USA
DHL Global Forwarding Miami FL USA
DiGennaro Communications New York NY USA
Dollhouse Budapest Hungary
Durée & Company, Inc.  Ft. Lauderdale FL USA
e-Cycle LLC Hilliard OH U.S.A.
EMC Corporation Hopkington MA USA
EMD Millipore Billerica MA USA
Enlightened Goddesses Business Network Coolum Beach QLD Australia
etouches Norwalk CT USA
EZface Bnei-Brak Israel
FITCH Columbus OH USA
Friends of the Global Fund Africa Lagos Nigeria
Great Place to Work Institute San Francisco CA USA
GreyHawk Films Charlotte NC USA
Health Revenue Assurance Associates, Inc. Plantation FL USA
Heaven by Deborah Mitchell Shifnal Shropshire United Kingdom
Heidi's Vision Sydney Australia
Horn Group New York NY USA
IAITAM Canton OH USA
ImprovEdge Powell OH
Improving Enterprises Inc. Dallas TX USA
Indus Health Plus Pvt. Ltd. Pune Maharashtra India
Inspired Spirit Coaching Academy Mooloolaba Queensland Australia
IntelePeer Inc. San Mateo CA U.S.A
iolo technologies Los Angeles CA USA
Kanga Care  Golden CO USA
KC Projects Birmingham AL USA
Ketchum Pleon Berlin Germany
KoçSistem Bilgi ve Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Istanbul Turkey
Leverage a Lawyer LLC Albuquerque NM
Little PINK Book Atlanta GA USA
MAC Presents New York NY USA
MARC USA Pittsburgh PA USA
MARDA Management Inc. Windsor ON Canada
Marvell Technology Group  Santa Clara CA USA
Marketing Maven Public Relations Camarillo CA USA
McKinsey Development Inc. Warrenton VA U.S.A.
Medicard Finance Inc. Toronto ON Canada
Mercer-MacKay Solutions Burlington ON Canada
Métier, Ltd. Healdsburg CA USA
Minerva Procurement Consultancy Services Ltd Basingstoke Hampshire United Kingdom
Miyako Knitwear Co. Ltd. Shimane Japan
Momentum Inc. Camp Hill PA USA
Navantis Inc. Toronto ON Canada
Network9 New York NY USA
New Family Organization Tel Aviv Israel
Omega World Travel Fairfax VA USA
Oncology Rehab Partners Northborough MA U.S.A.
One Heart World-Wide San Francisco CA U.S.A.
Opinion Co. Ltd. Tokyo Japan
Pam Hendrickson Consulting San Diego CA USA
Pathways Community Interest Company Crewe United Kingdom
Peak 10 Charlotte NC USA
Pivot Communications Salt Lake City UT USA
Primetime Inc. Tokyo Japan
Privia LLC Herndon VA U.S.A.
Prosperity Organic Foods Inc. Boise ID USA
Prosperwell Financial Plymouth MN USA
Pure Romance Loveland OH United States
Rao's Specialty Foods Inc New York NY USA
Reading Room London United Kingdom
Richardson Philadelphia PA
Sage Creative Inc. Culver City CA U.S.A.
Save Your Do LLC Walnut Creek CA U.S.A
Savoir Media LLC Belmont MA
Sentis Pty Ltd Brisbane Queensland Australia
SLM Facility Solutions Nationwide Green Lane PA USA
SmartMark Communications, LLC  Newton PA USA
SmartSearch Marketing Boulder CO USA
SoundSense LLC East Hampton NY USA
Stratus Interactive West Chester PA USA
Street Swags Ltd Brookfield QLD Australia
Sullivan  New York NY USA
Sum Creation Tochigi Japan
Theresa Bradley-Banta Real Estate Consultancy New York NY USA
Tradies Sydney NSW Australia
Transcend Academy Washington DC U.S.A
VerticalResponse San Francisco CA USA
Vivint Provo UT
Vodafone Turkey Istanbul
Walton Isaacson Los Angeles CA U.S.A.
Women Presidents' Organization New York NY U.S.A.
Women Unlimited London United Kingdom

Entries for the 2013 edition of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business will open in May.  Join the mailing list and you'll get the entry kit by email as soon as it's available.

Entries for the 2013 (7th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will open on July 30.  These are the world's top honors for call center, customer service, sales, and business development professionals.

We're getting ready to launch the competition and are finalizing the sales awards and customer service awards categories, and were wondering, which categories do you think we should add to the competition for 2013?

You'll find a list of the 2012 categories here.  Which categories do you think we should add to this list?

Please let us know your thoughts by July 25.

The Stevie Awards have opened a store at StevieAwards.MyShopify.com where Stevie Awards-branded commemorative items, apparel, and gifts are available for purchase.

Personalized duplicate awards for all Stevie Awards programs dating back to 2003 are also available for purchase in the store.

Among the items available for purchase are duplicate Gold Stevies, Silver and Bronze Stevies, Silver and Bronze medals, medal embedments, apparel, lapel pins, Stevie Winner stickers, and more.

Give it a visit today!