The final entry deadline for The 10th Annual American Business Awards^SMis April 25, and while the competition is on track to attract a record number of entries, several categories and a people’s choice competition present special opportunities for aspiring Stevie® Award winners.

Widely recognized as the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., The American Business Awards honor organizations and individuals in a wide variety of categories, from management awards and public relations awards to technology awards, human resources awards, new product awards, and more.

“Historically, 20% of the ABA's categories receive 80% of the entries and this year is no different,” said Michael Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, organizer of the ABAs.  “Certain categories are extremely popular and have stiff competition, but there are others with fewer entries that we encourage potential entrants to look at.”

Gallagher recommends that organizations consider entering the following categories:

• New Product Awards: there are 46 new product awards categories in this year's ABAs
• Marketing Awards: there are more than 40 categories for marketing campaigns of every type. 
• Web Site Awards: there are also more than 40 categories for online media
• App Awards: there are 18 new categories to recognize smartphone and tablet apps of all kinds
• PR Awards: there are 13 categories for all types of communications campaigns

This year’s ABAs will bring the fourth edition of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, in which the general public will vote for their favorite new products of the year in a variety of categories.  Gallagher recommends that organizations nominate their new products and services in the ABAs, because they’ll have the opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie Award in the peer-reviewed categories, and a people’s choice award in the publicly voted competition.

The entry kit for The 2012 American Business Awards is available at www.stevieawards.com/aba.  The 2012 awards will honor achievements since January 1, 2011.   The final entry deadline is April 27, 2011.  Final results will be announced at ceremonies in New York on June 18 and in San Francisco on September 17/

More than 200 professionals nationwide will participate in the peer-review judging process this year.

Last year’s winners of Stevie Awards in the ABAS included  American Express OPEN,  Blackboard, EmpowHER Media, ESPN, Hewlett-Packard, Kwittken & Company, Millennial Media,  Overstock.com, Red Frog Events, and Tesla Motors, among others. 

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 Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. 

All individuals and organizations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – may submit nominations to The International Business Awards.  The early-bird entry deadline, offering discounted entry fees, is 11 April.  The final entry deadline is 16 May.  Late entries will be accepted through 27 June, and results will be announced in late July.  Entry details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba. 

New in 2012, Stevie Awards will be conferred at three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze.  Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards. The Stevie Award trophy, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, is one of the world’s most coveted prizes. Stevie Award winners will be selected by an international judging panel of more than 200 executives.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace.  Categories include:

For a full list of categories visit the IBA web site.

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.  Voting will open in late July and winners will be announced at the Seoul, South Korea awards ceremony on 15 October.

2012 Stevie Award winners will be celebrated at the 9^th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea.

The 8th 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.  

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. 

Boeing, FedEx, Groupon, OnStar and Twitter Are Among Gold Stevie Winners

LAS VEGAS, NV – February 28, 2012 – Winners in the Sixth 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.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is the world’s leading sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards program.  For the first time, Stevie Awards were conferred in three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze.  Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards.

Zions First National Bank won three Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization in the competition. Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards are Avaya, Cloud9 Analytics, Direct Alliance, ING Direct USA, iolo Technologies, and PetRays Veterinary Telemedicine Consultants. Other notable gold winners included Boeing Commercial Airplanes, FedEx, Groupon, OnStar, Twitter, UPS, and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. 

Winners of the most Stevie Awards in all levels included John Hancock Signature Services with 14, DeVry University with 11, and Marriott Vacation Club International and Coloredge Los Angeles * New York with 10 each. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Winners in the third annual People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 250,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Apple Inc./Apple Stores, Amazon.com, eCornell, Finding Freedom Team, InterContinental Hotels Group, Photodex, SquareTrade, Rosetta Stone, India’s TATA Motors Ltd., and Vodafone Turkey.

The presentations were broadcast live by the Business TalkRadio Network (http://www.businesstalkradio.net), and the recording will be available online in the coming weeks.

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 350 professionals from around the world attended the event. 

More than 1,000 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of almost 30% over 2011. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 93 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 38 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 

More than 100 members of seven specialized judging committees determined Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, January 30 - February 10, 2012. 

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.

Sponsors and supporters of the 6^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Coloredge Los Angeles * New York, Competence Call Center, SDL and ValueSelling Associates.

We're expecting a record attendance - a sellout of 360 - for the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.   These are the world's top sales awards, contact center awards, and customer service awards.

This will be the historic first-ever ceremony at which Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced.  We've introduced Silver and Bronze Stevies this year as part of our celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Stevie Awards movement.  Henceforth all honorees in Stevie Awards programs will be Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie winners.

So who's coming to Las Vegas next week?  Here's the list of organizations that will be represented at the gala, as of this morning:

ABF Freight System, Inc., Fort Smith, AR
Achievers  San Francisco  CA          
Aditya Birla Minacs  Moncton  New Brunswick Canada   
Agility Recovery  Charlotte  NC            
Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention  Arlington  Virginia               
American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company, West Des Moines, Iowa
American Support, Chapel Hill NC
APAC Customer Services  Bannockburn  IL            
Archipelago Learning  Dallas  TX             
Arizona Public Service (APS)  Phoenix AZ            
Avaya, Basking Ridge, NJ                
CenturyLink   Monroe  LA                   
Bluegreen Corporation, Boca Raton, Fl                 
Bombardier Aerospace  Toronto  ON  Canada         
Borro  London  United Kingdom             
Brooks Group  Greensboro NC             
Bulldog Solutions, Austin, TX
CenterBeam  Inc.  Sunnyvale  CA               
CHEP USA  Orlando  FL                
Coloredge New York • Los Angeles  New York  NY        
Comcast Cable   Philadelphia PA                  
Constant Contact, Waltham, MA                  
Con-way Freight  Ann Arbor  MI  
Datapipe, Jersey City, NJ              
DeVry University  Downers Grove  IL             
DHL Express  Tempe  AZ               
DHL Global Forwarding  Columbia  SC            
DiCentral  Houston TX  
Dubai First, Dubai, United Arab Emirates            
eCornell, Ithaca, NY                    
Enterasys  Andover  MA                 
Enterprise Fleet Management  St. Louis  MO       
Envision   Seattle WA                   
Everything Everywhere  Hatfield  Hertfordshire United Kingdom 
Family Heritage Life Insurance Company of America   Cleveland  OH   
FedEx, Memphis, TN / Nuance Communications        
Force 3  Inc.  Crofton  MD                   
GES- Global Experience Specialists, Las Vegas, NV    
GoDaddy.com  Scottsdale  AZ    
Groupon, Chicago, IL              
Heartland Payment Systems  Princeton  NJ  
HomeAway, Austin, TX             
IDentity Theft | 911  Scottsdale AZ                
IHG  Salt Lake City  UT                        
Imparta Ltd  London  England                       
inContact  Salt Lake City  UT                       
ING Direct USA  Wilmington DE                     
International Checkout Inc.  Van Nuys  CA             
iolo technologies  Los Angeles  CA            
ISOdx Solutions, LLC, Columbus, OH            
iSpeak  Inc.  Round Rock  TX              
John Hancock  Boston MA               
kCura, Chicago, IL                  
Language Services Associates, Horsham, PA           
L-com Inc., North Andover, MA               
LifeLock, Tempe, AZ                    
Macy's  Inc.   Cincinnati  OH                
MaintenanceNet  Carlsbad  CA                 
MarketBridge  Bethesda MD                    
Marriott Intl  Inc.  Bethesda  MD                    
Marriott Vacation Club International  Orlando  FL       
Marsh U.S. Consumer  Urbandale IA               
MBX Systems  Wauconda IL                  
Merchant e-Solutions  Redwood City  CA                 
Merchant Warehouse  Boston  MA                
Métier  Ltd.  Santa Rosa  CA                
Nationwide Bank  Columbus  Ohio                
Nationwide Financial  Columbus  OH                
NEW Customer Service Companies, Sterling, VA       
New York Community Bancorp, Inc.   Cleveland OH       
nFocus Solutions, Phoenix, AZ               
NYCM Insurance, Edmeston, NY              
Office Depot  Boca Raton  FL                
OnStar  Detroit  MI                 
OppenheimerFunds Inc.  Englewood  CO             
PacketVideo, San Diego, CA                     
PaySimple  Denver  CO               
Photodex  Austin  TX                
Prescription Solutions by Optum Rx  Costa Mesa CA   
ProShares & ProFunds  Bethesda MD
PSAV Presentation Services, Long Beach, CA           
QBE FIRST  Atlanta GA               
Rackspace Hosting  San Antonio TX             
Reputation.com  San Francisco  CA               
Rosetta Stone  Arlington  VA               
Salt Lake County Government  Salt Lake City  UT       
Schedulicity  Bozeman  MT                   
SDL  Superior CO                 
SecurityMetrics  Orem  UT    
Siemens Enterprise Communications  Munich Germany               
Smith & Nephew Biologics Division, Durham, NC   
SquareTrade Inc, San Francisco, CA      
SurePayroll,  Glenview, IL                
The Knowland Group  Lewes  DE                   
Tracker Corp  San Francisco  CA               
TRX  Inc.  Atlanta  GA                 
Turkiye Ekonomi Bankasi  Istanbul Turkey          
UPC Austria, Vienna, Austria                       
UPS Social Media Customer Service Team  Salt Lake City  UT      
USHEALTH Advisors, L.L.C.   Grapevine TX            
Valerus,  Houston, TX                    
ValueSelling Associates, Rancho Santa Fe, CA          
VerticalResponse  San Francisco CA               
Vestmark  Wakefield  MA                  
Visualize,  Birmingham, MI                    
VIZIO  Inc.  Irvine  CA                
Vodafone Turkey  Istanbul Turkey                    
Volkswagen  Herndon VA                 
Wheels, Inc.,  Des Plaines, IL              
Zions First National Bank  Salt Lake City UT               
ZocDoc  New York  NY           

Finalists in the 6th Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success, were announced today.    

Organizations as diverse as E*Trade, Dubai Bank, Japan’s Lifenet Insurance Company, and ZocDoc are among those recognized in the customer service awards, call center awards, and sales awards categories.  Organizations with Finalists in multiple categories include DeVry University, the UK’s Everything Everywhere, GoDaddy.com, Nationwide Bank, PetRays, Rosetta Stone, UPC Austria, and Vodafone Turkey, among others. For a full list of Finalists, visit www.stevieawards.com/sales. 

Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Tickets are now on sale.  The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious International Business Awards. The Stevies are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards.

For the first time, Stevie Awards will be conferred in three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze.  To date, only overall category winners have received gold Stevie Awards.

More than 1,000 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year’s competition, an increase of almost 30% over 2011. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 93 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges.  Entries were considered in 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 38 categories for sales 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 100 members of seven specialized judging committees will determine Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, to take place January 30 - February 10.  

Beginning today, the general public will be able to cast their votes for their favorite providers of good customer service in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service Department.  Voting is open at http://www.stevieawards.com/Service.peopleschoice.  Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service in multiple industries will be determined in mid-February and honored at the awards gala in Las Vegas on February 27. 

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 http://www.stevieawards.com/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.   

Sponsors and supporters of the 6^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Coloredge Los Angeles * New York, Competence Call Center, SDL and ValueSelling Associates.

Press Contact:  Amy Nizwantowski, amy@mediashoppr.com
Mediashop PR, (212) 867-8778 x232

 

2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the Stevie Awards movement, and to help celebrate our anniversary we'll be conducting a series of polls throughout the year about the events, people, organizations, and products that shaped our lives over the past decade.

Our first poll asks, What's the top business story of the past 10 years? After careful consideration, we've narrowed the choices to the following five. Vote now for your choice, on our poll on our Facebook page:

a) Apple’s introduction of the iPhone sparks a revolution in mobile computing

b) Wall Street’s troubles trigger the “Great Recession”

c) Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter stoke the growth of social media and social networking

d) Europe’s sovereign debt crisis heralds an era of austerity across the continent

e) The rise of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) changes the balance of power in international trade

Results of our poll will be announced at the end of January.

Which do you think is the most important business story of the past decade?

The final day for submitting entries to the 2012 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is January 18. Showcase your organization's sales excellence and customer service excellence by submitting your entries today. (Request your entry kit here.)

Organizations and individuals worldwide are invited to submit entries. There are dozens of opportunities to win for both private and public organizations, small and large organizations, and non-profit and for profit organizations. The 2012 competition will recognize achievements since July 1, 2010.

How the submission process works:

1. Get your entry kit here.
2. Review all of our sales awards and customer service awards categories. We have more than 90 categories honoring sales excellence and customer service excellence for individuals, teams, and departments, plus new categories this year for products, service, and solution providers.
3. Select the categories you wish to apply for, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

Benefits of submitting a Sales and Customer Service entry:

1. More chances to win
   All Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will automatically be included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote that will commence on January 26.  Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will have an opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie Award, as voted by your peers, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as voted by your customers.
2. New award distinctions
   The Sales and Customer Service awards banquet will be the first to showcase our three levels of award distinction: gold, silver and bronze Stevie Awards. You can learn more about the new awards here.
3. Know your finalist status right away
   There's only a short wait to find out if you and/or your organization is a finalist. All Finalists will be notified on January 25.

Helpful resources to make your submission process easier:

1. Watch our helpful video tutorial on how to successfully enter submissions here. 
2. Review past winners' entries here.  These are great examples of entries that were judged highly in the 2011 awards.
3. Make your entries count:  learn how to submit winning entries here.

Still have questions? Call us at + 1 703-547-8389 or leave us a comment and we'll get back to you right away.

With the holidays upon us, give a gift of appreciation by submitting entries to The 2012 American Business Awards and Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  (You can get the entry kit for the ABAs here and an entry kit for Sales & Customer Service awards here.)

Why Give the Gift of the Stevie Awards?
The Stevie Awards are the world's premier business awards.  Not only does a nomination represent appreciation and a recognition of success, but all Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be recognized on a national and international scale- an invaluable gift!

What is the nomination process?
The nomination process is simple:

1. Get your entry kits for the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and/or The American Business Awards.  The Sales & Customer Service awards are open to all organizations and individuals worldwide, with an entry deadline of January 18.  The ABAs are open to all organizations and individuals in the U.S.A., with an entry deadline of March 28.
   
   
2. Review all of our awards categories. We have scores of sales awards and customer service awards categories as well as hundreds of business award categories.
   
   
3. Select your categories and write your nominations according to the instructions.

Need more resources?

1. Understand the value of your gift: Learn more about the importance of corporate awards.
   
   
2. Make your nomination a winning one: Read How to Submit Winning Entries.
3. Know what to say: Review past Sales and Customer Service awards winners' entries here and past American Business Award winners' entries here.

Still have questions? Call us at 703-547-8389 and we'll help you get started!

Happy holidays to you and yours, and best wishes for continue success in the New Year!

How will you use a Stevie Award nomination to reward those in your organization?

The final day for submitting entries to the 2012 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service is January 18. Recognize your organization's sales excellence and customer service excellence by submitting your entry today.

All organizations and individuals worldwide are invited to submit entries.  The 2012 competition will recognize achievements since July 1, 2010.

To start your submission process, you should:

1. Get your entry kit here.
   
   
2. Review all of our sales awards and customer service awards categories. We have more than 90 categories honoring sales excellence and customer service excellence for individuals, teams, and departments, plus new categories this year for products, service, and solution providers.
   
   
3. Watch our helpful video tutorial on how to successfully enter submissions here. 
   
   
4. Review past winners' entries here.  They're examples of entries that judges scored highly.
   
   
5. Make the most out of your submissions and learn how to submit winning entries here.

Still have questions? Contact us at help@stevieawards.com; we'd love to answer your last-minute questions!

More than 200 professionals worldwide will participate in the 2012 judging process.  Finalists will be notified on January 25.  Starting in 2012, all Finalists will be recognized as Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award winners.  Results will be announced at the sixth annual awards banquet on Monday, February 27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

All Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will automatically be included in the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote that will commence on January 26.  (Last year more than 150,000 votes were cast.)  So Finalists in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories will have an opportunity to win two awards: a Stevie Award, as voted by your peers, and a crystal People's Choice Stevie Award, as voted by your customers.

Leave a comment and let us know which Sales or Customer Service award your organization deserves most!

Gwen Rhys is the Founder & CEO of Women in the City, London, United Kingdom, and winner of the Women Helping Women Award in the 2011 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. The 2012 edition will open for entries in May - join the mailing list to get the entry kit as soon as it's available.

In 2003 Gwen Rhys invited a few women working in the City of London to bring some of their female colleagues to lunch.  The idea gathered momentum and within three months 200 women gathered to hear an inspirational speaker, share experiences, and network. This simple concept became Women in the City (WIC). Led by Gwen, and supported by a small team, WIC has evolved into an organization that promotes, recognizes, and rewards female talent and creates opportunities for women to achieve their career goals.

We asked Gwen’s advice on what she thought were the three most important ways women can help other women in the business environment today.  Here are her suggestions.

1. Recommend other women—it reflects well on you.

 Men “get” the power of recommendation. Let’s say Peter recommends John for a job in Bob’s team and the recommendation works out well. This reflects well on Peter, and Bob says: “That guy Peter’s great, he really knows how to spot talent.”

For some reason women rarely do this.  Are we nervous in case our recommendation won’t work out?  Go ahead: Make that recommendation. This is one of the unwritten rules of the game!

2. Support other women—don’t be a bitch!

Men close ranks and support one another.  How often have you seen that in meetings?  Aren’t you amazed at the way men cover for each other?

Women need to do that for one another, too.  Far too many women are bitches! They’re just waiting for the moment to show up someone else’s faults and weaknesses.

Learn from the boys. Support your female colleagues. Make sure they know you’re doing this … and make sure you get their support when you need it!

3. Speak up—celebrate your successes.

 Men are forever “bigging themselves up.” They are always the fastest, richest, most intelligent; they’ve traveled further, climbed higher, dug deeper … they haven’t really, but they just can’t help speaking in superlatives.  

Women—who have usually achieved MUCH more—say things like: “Oh, it was nothing really.”

Speak up for your female colleagues and friends. More important, find your own voice.  Learn to big yourself up.  Say: “Yes, I did really well on that project!”

A Signature Event
The annual Women in the City Celebration Lunch is a sell-out each year and has become one of the City of London’s signature events. Like all WIC gatherings, the lunch has a motivating and inspiring atmosphere, created in large part by Gwen’s energy and passion, and supported by the meticulous event management of WIC’s Program Manager, Marianne Bosak.

This annual luncheon includes an awards presentation, a keynote speaker, and in 2007 Gwen created the Woman of Achievement Award.  This award, presented after the lunch, recognizes senior women who, in addition to fulfilling a demanding job, are actively supporting the progress of women. Winning this award enables highly successful women to raise their profile internally and externally, with many gaining promotion to the very highest of levels.  The overall winner of this award is offered a complimentary place on the Accelerated Development Program held on the London campus of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

In 2010, WIC added a second award: The Future Leaders Award, presented at a breakfast event each July.  The award identifies high-potential women leaders and includes a place on the Cranfield School of Management Accelerated Talent Development Program.

In 2012, WIC will host its 10^th Anniversary Women in the City Celebration Lunch. Gwen plans to add one special award for this occasion: International Businesswoman of the Decade.

Key to Success
Gwen’s ability to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships is key to WIC’s success.   This year she has secured award sponsorship from global brands such as Google, Barclays Capital, Barclays Wealth, Bluefin, Heidrick & Struggles, niche City of London caterers Lusso, and the growing software business Patients Know Best.  WIC has partnered with leading academic institutions including the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Cranfield School of Management, and has gained backing from major professional institutions in the U.K., including the Chartered Institute of Insurance, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Facilities Management Association, and the British Bankers’ Association. Leading women’s organizations such as The Association of Women in Property, the Medical Women’s Federation, and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists all endorse the WIC awards program and help judge the candidates.  Gwen has gained support for her activities from numerous organizations and companies, including accessories brand knomo, Charles Worthington hair products, and The Museum of London Docklands.

Internship Program
Through WIC’s Internship Program, female students are able to network beyond their usual circles, gain confidence from hosting at events, speak with enthusiasm about WIC at interviews, acquire valuable business and life skills, and secure jobs.

WIC Foundation
In 2011 Gwen set up the WIC Foundation. Says Gwen: “The aim of the WIC Foundation is to enable individuals to make better-informed and more aspirational career choices.”  She is partnering with The Capital Community Foundation to run a pilot program in 2012, and she has already secured funding from AXA Commercial, Bradshaw Property Associates, MITIE Client Services, and Ryland House Galleries, as well as from Major Rowena Patrick (in memory of her mother, who was named after Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the British suffragette movement). She plans to launch a major fundraising campaign to further the Foundation’s development in the first quarter of 2013. 

About Gwen Rhys
Gwen Rhys set up her first business in 1979 and sold it in 1987. She has initiated UK-wide projects that have forged links between business and education.  In 1995 she started ew-network to support female entrepreneurs. Gwen continued to run this network while setting up the talent and leadership development organization Networking Culture Limited. She launched Women in the City in 2003.

Gwen is a Liveryman and Court Assistant in the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers; was named Management Champion by the CMI City Branch in 2009; is a Town Councillor; and is a Fellow of the RSA (Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).

About Women in the City
Launched in 2003, Women in the City has developed a strong brand presence in London's business hubs. It promotes, recognizes, and rewards female talent; runs a highly successful annual lunch and an awards program; and offers other products and services to support professional businesswomen.  For more information go to www.citywomen.co.uk.