This coming Saturday, October 15 we'll stage the awards banquet of The 19th Annual International Business Awards®, the world's premier business awards program, at the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel in London, England.

Stevie® Award winners in the 2022 IBAs were announced in August.  (Entries for the 2023 edition of the IBAs will open in February.)

Close to 300 executives from around the world will attend this Saturday's IBA event.  Here is a list of the organizations that will be represented (as of October 11):

8x8, Campbell, CA USA
-99 design studio, Istanbul, Turkey
Acıbadem Healthcare Group, Istanbul, Turkey
AD Ports Group, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Adani Skill Development Centre, Ahmedabad, India
ADM Electricity Distribution, Denizli, Turkey
ADQ, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
AgeSA, Istanbul, Turkey
Ajman's Municipality & Planning Department, United Arab Emirates
Alabama Power, Birmingham, AL USA
Align Technology, Tempe, AZ USA
Alliance Traffic Systems, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Anexa BPO, Mexico City, Mexico
AS Watson, Milan, Italy
ASCIRA Global, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Aselsan A.Ş., Ankara, Turkey
Astera Software, Westlake Village, CA USA
ATOS Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Banco Popular Dominicano, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Better2Know, Kirkby Lonsdale, United Kingdom
Black Platinum Gold B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands
BOBA CHiC, Taichung, Taiwan
BRIGHTSPRINGS GROUP LIMITED, London, United Kingdom
Bristol Global Mobility, Phoenix, AZ USA
Cactus Communications Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, India
CARBO, Houston, TX USA
CarrefourSA, Sarıyer, Turkey
CodeTwo, Jelenia Góra, Poland
DHL Express, Muttenz, Switzerland
DHL Express Mexico, Mexico City
Divina Law Offices, Makati City, Philippines
Dolphin International, Los Angeles, CA USA
Dubai Municipality, United Arab Emirates
Eastvantage Business Solutions Inc., Taguig City, Philippines
EES Shipping, Cockburn Central, WA Australia
Emirates International Endurance Village, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., Taichung City, Taiwan
Ensana, Prague, Czech Republic
Ernst & Young, New York, NY USA
Esas Sosyal, Istanbul, Turkey
Etihad Rail, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Events DC, Washington, DC USA
Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs, Warwaw, Poland
GDRFA, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Golden Agri-Resources Ltd., Singapore
Graham Shapiro Design, Nantwich, Cheshire, United Kingdom
Halkbank, Istanbul, Turkey
HCL Technologies, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Horatio, New York, NY USA
IBM Institute for Business Value, Merion Station, PA USA
IBM, Armonk, NY USA
Icertis, Bellevue, WA USA
Informa Middle East, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
ING Business Shared Services Bratislava, Slovakia
Itl AG, Munich, Bavaria Germany
Jonckers Translation & Engineering, Brussels, Belgium
Karsan Automotive, Istanbul, Turkey
Kordsa Teknik Tekstil A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Kyndryl, New York, NY USA
Law Creative, Harpenden, United Kingdom
Limage Media Group, Vancouver, BC Canada
LLYC, Madrid, Spain
Lytx, Seattle, WA USA
Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council, Kuala Lumpur
MDI Ventures, Jakarta, Indonesia
Megaphone Marketing, Cremorne, Victoria Australia
MGI Tech Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China
Microhealth, LLC, Vienna, VA USA
Ministry of Health and Prevention, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ministry Of State For Federal National Council Affairs, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Ministry of Treasury and Finance, General Directorate of Information Technologies, Ankara, Turkey
NewWork Success GmbH, Urbar, Germany
Noguchi & Peters Ltd., Budapest, Hungary
NTT Data Business Solutions (UK&I), London, United Kingdom
NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH
Octopus Energy, London, United Kingdom
OfficePartners360, Ridgefield, CT USA
PMFTC Inc., Taguig City, Philippines
Pru Life UK, Taguig, Philippines
PT Telkom Indonesia Tbk, South Jakarta
QNET, Hong Kong, China
Real Property Ventures, Warwickshire, United Kingdom
Refex Group, Chennai, India
Revomed (Thailand) Co., Ltd. Nonthaburi
SAP SE, Walldorf, BW Germany
Sealand - A Maersk Company, Miramar, FL USA
Sharif Group BSC, Hidd, Bahrain
sheIQ Life Pty Ltd, Belgrade, Serbia
SOCAR Turkey, Istanbul
Solarwinds, Austin, TX USA
SSS Strawberries, Oakwood, QLD Australia
Standigm Inc., Cambridge, MA USA
Strategic Public Relations Group, Hong Kong, China
Sullivan & Stanley, London, United Kingdom
Suretrack Management Consultancy, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Tata Consultancy Services Limited, London, United Kingdom
TELUS Smart Security & Automation, Vancouver, BC Canada
TM Forum, London, United Kingdom
TÜPRAS, Istanbul, Turkey
UFODRIVE, Capellen, Luxembourg
verbaneum GmbH, Nuernberg, Bavaria Germany
Viettel, Ha Noi, Vietnam
Wiser Tech, Izmir, Turkey
Young Hoteliers Summit, Lausanne, Switzerland
ZER, Istanbul, Turkey
Ziraat Participation Bank, Istanbul, Turkey

Learn more about The International Business Awards at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA. 

The 20th American Business Awards® will be celebrated at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Time Square in New York City next Monday, June 13 - the first live ABA event since June 2019.  More than 520 professionals from across the USA will gather to network and to celebrate one another's achievements.  

Grand, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and People's Choice Stevie® Awards will be presented to winners announced in April in May this year.  TV personality Cheryl Casone will emcee.  The presentations will be livestreamed at https://stevieawards.com/aba/watch-2022-awards-presentations and on the Stevie Awards Facebook page, beginning at 7:00 pm ET.

The following organizations will be represented at the event:

3Pillar Global
AB Coached
Advanced Drainage System
Align Technology
AscellaHealth
AT&T
Audacy
Avaya Inc.
Bank of America
Binti
Boost Payment Solutions
BRG Communications
Calix
Capital Rx
Carestream NDT
Century Business Solutions
Change and Innovation Agency (C!A)
Chevron Corporation
Childress Business Communication
City National Bank
Coal Creative
Code3
Comsint
Cortex.io
Cox Communications
Crumbl Cookies
Cummins, Inc.
Delaware Life Insurance Company
Dollar General
Donlen
Dottedyellow
Eff Creative Group
EHE Health
Enact Mortgage Insurance
Evisort
Exiger
Experience Kissimmee
EY Global Services Limited
Fidelity Investments
Fiscalnote
Foundry 360
Foxwoods Resort Casino
Fusion Connect
GAVS Technologies N.A., Inc.
Gemini Industries Inc.
Generali Travel Insurance
Givelify
Global Disability Inclusion
Greater Prairie Business Consulting, Inc.
Haemonetics
Hearts & Science
Higher Growth Search
HireRight
Hooked on Code, LLC
IBM
IBM Institute for Business Value
ICON plc
Imperial Steel
InstaMortgage
Interview Connections
IPM
Jade Global
Jeremian Prep. Tutoring Services
JobsOhio
Johnson Controls
Kinetic by Windstream
Kodak
Laundris Corporation
LeverX Group
Light & Wonder
LightBox
Lion Brand Yarn
Lockheed Martin
M&C Saatchi Performance USA
Marvel Marketers
MicroHealth LLC
Modivcare
Moliving
N-Able
National Association of REALTORS®
Noom, Inc.
Openforce
OSMEAC Solutions LLC
Oyate Group
Parallax/APEX
Parkinson's Foundation
Performance Food Group
PickleJar
Praxis AI
Primrose Schools
Protegrity USA, Inc.
Publicis Sapient
QorusDocs
Quantum Metric
Ranial Systems Inc.
Retina AI
RS21
Saint Louis University
Saris and Things, Inc.
Skylex Inc
Skymount Medical US Inc
Soleo Health
SpartanNash
Stanley Black & Decker
SupportU
Swapcard
Talent Works
The Boeing Company
The Collaboration Vector Inc.
The Financial Times
The Flora May Foundation
The Hayes Initiative
The Mosaic Company
The Salvation Army
The Webster Group
Thnks
Transact Campus, Inc.
TTEC
Unum
UPMC for Life
V2Solutions
Veritis Group
Warner Media
Warner Music Group
WebCE
Wells Fargo
West Point Association of Graduates

Entries for the 2023 edition of the ABAs will open this October.  Join the mailing list at https://stevieawards.com/aba/request-entry-kit-american-business-awards and you'll be sent the entry kit as soon as it's available.  Questions? Let us know at help@stevieawards.com. 

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, announced today that the final entry deadline for the sixth annual competition has been extended to Tuesday, August 3.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers honors the world’s best companies to work for and the HR teams and professionals, HR achievements, new products and services and suppliers that help to create and drive great workplaces.

“We’ve received so many requests for individual deadline extensions that we’ve decided to extend the deadline for everyone,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher. The original final deadline was July 13. Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted through August 3, and late entries will not be penalized in the judging process.

All organizations now have three more weeks to prepare and submit their entries.

All individuals and organizations worldwide - public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small - may submit nominations to the Stevie Awards for Great Employers. The 2021 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2019. Entry details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/HR.

There are several new categories in 2021 for HR achievements including Achievement in Managing a Remote Workforce, Achievement in Leadership Development for Racial/Ethnic Minorities, and Best Transformation Strategy. Two new categories for Solutions and Implementations include Remote Workforce Management Solution - New or New-Version and Implementation.

Winners in the 31 industry-specific Employer of the Year categories will be determined by a unique blend of public votes and professional ratings. Public voting will take place from July 19 - August 9.

The Stevie Awards for Great Employers will recognize achievement in many facets of the workplace. Categories include:

    Employer of the Year
    HR Achievements
    HR Individual Awards
    HR Team Categories
    Solution Provider Awards
    More than 50 New Product & Service Categories
    COVID-19 Response

More than 100 professionals worldwide, working on several juries, will determine the Stevie Award winners. Winners in the 2021 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards will be announced on August 19, and celebrated during a gala banquet, conditions permitting, on October 1 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. 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.

No Additional Late Fees Will Be Charged

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of the world's premier business awards programs, announced today that they have extended the final entry deadline for the sixth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards to March 31.

"Because of many requests for individual deadline extensions, we have decided to extend the deadline for everyone," said Stevie Awards Executive Chairman, Michael Gallagher. The original deadline was March 4. Gallagher emphasizes that no additional late fees will be charged for entries submitted by March 31, and late entries will not be penalized in any way in the judging process. All organizations now have an additional four weeks to prepare and submit their entries in hopes of winning a Stevie award for their achievements.

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 nations of the Asia-Pacific region: large and small, for-profit and non-profit, public and private. Seven nations have been added to those eligible to submit nominations to the 2020 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The awards focus on recognizing innovation in all its forms, wherever it is achieved in the workplace. Entries are accepted in eight languages - Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese - in the following category groups:

• Annual Report Awards & Other Publication Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Company/Organization Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards
• New Product Awards
• Corporate Communications, IR, and PR Awards
• Website Awards and Smartphone and Tablet App Awards
  …and more

New for 2020, you may now submit a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about your achievements, in all categories, instead of the traditional Stevie Awards written essay.

Asia-Pacific Stevie Award winners will be announced on April 8. Winners will be celebrated and presented their awards during a gala banquet on May 29 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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

The Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Emmy and other major international awards, are among the world's most coveted prizes. The name Stevie is taken from the name Stephen, which is derived from the Greek for "crowned".

Are you interested in entering the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

The 14th annual edition of the Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, the world's top honors for achievement in customer service, business development, and sales, will be staged this Friday, February 28 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada USA.  More than 600 executives from around the world will attend for the presentation of the Grand, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and People's Choice Stevie Awards.

Finalists in the competition were announced in mid-January, but the Gold, Silver, and Bronze placements in each category will be revealed during Friday's presentations.  The results were determined by the ratings of more than 180 professionals worldwide on seven juries.

Winners of the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, determined by a worldwide public vote, were announced last week.

Entries for the 2021 (15th) edition of the awards will open in July.

Here is the list of organizations that will be represented at Friday's event.

A5 Solutions
Access One Inc
Achievers
Agero
AireSpring
Aksigorta
Alliance Data
Allianz Global Assistance
American Airlines
Anexa BPO
Arch Mortgage Insurance
ARIIX
Arkansas.gov
Arzum
Ascentis
Autodesk Construction Solutions
Aweber
AWS
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Europe S.A.S.
Barclays
Beltone
BlueJeans Network
BMC
BNY Mellon's Albridge
Bounteous
Carbonite, Inc.
Care.com HomePay
CGS
Challenger
Chorus.ai
Cinch Home Services, Inc.
Cisco Systems
CivicPlus
Clarabridge
Cogito Corporation
Command Alkon
Compeat
Con Edison
Concentrix
Conectys
ConnectiCare
Constant Contact
Consumer Reports
Contact Lens King Inc.
CoverMyMeds
Covestic
Cricket Wireless
CyberScout
DataCore Software
Daxko
Dell Technologies
Delta Airlines
Delta Vacations
DenizBank Financial Service Group
DHL Express
DHL Express Mexico
doeLEGAL
Dorel Juvenile
Druva
Dynamic Enterprise Solutions
ECI Software Solutions
EFG Companies
Elevation Home Energy Solutions
EmblemHealth
Enterprise Fleet Management
Envoy
Etech Global Services
ExakTime
ezCater
FCM Travel Solutions
First Advantage
First American Database Solutions
Fiserv
Front
Fundbox
Further
Gainesville Health & Fitness
Grazitti Interactive
Guardian Protection Products, Inc.
Hanzo Archives
HCL Technologies
HCSS
HireVue
HomeServe USA
HUB International
IBM
Integrity Solutions
Intellis Labs
Intuit
iQor
iWave
Janek Performance Group
JDA Software
Jobber
John Hancock
Kira Systems
Kraft Heinz
Kristin Aduna
Learning Pool
Learning Tribes
Legacy.com
Lexmark
Linode
Listrak
LivePerson
Mailchimp
MarketBridge
MediaRadar, Inc.
MEDIATEL DATA SRL
Merrill Corporation
MetTel
Michael Kors
MRO Corp
MTM
Multifamily Utility Company
NCR
Nestle USA
NIC, Inc.
Oi
OmniUpdate
ON24
OneCause
Optima Tax Relief, LLC
OptumCare
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
OxBlue Corporation
PAi
Panera Bread
Paycor
PipelineDeals
PJ Nisbet & Associates, Ltd
Purchasing Power, LLC
Purpol Marketing
Purpol Marketing Limited
Pushpay
QNB Finansbank
Quantum Workplace
RAIN Group
Rakuten
ReceptionHQ
Regalix
Revenue Storm
Ricoh USA, Inc
RxBenefits, Inc.
Sales Partnerships
SBI Cards and Payment Services Limited
SCAN Healthplan
ServiceNow
SIBME
SIMONA Boltaron
Sisense
Sitel Group
SoftPro
SolarWinds
SolarWinds MSP
Strikedeck
Sun Basket
Support Services Group
Support.com
SurePayroll
Sydney and West Painting and Rope Access Pty Ltd
Tata Consultancy Services
Teachable
Tealium
The Crypsis Group
The Western & Southern Life Insurance Company
TIAA
Tivity Health
Travelzoo
TTEC
Tyson Group
UPMC Health Plan
UserTesting
V Digital Services
Valley Forge Fabrics
ValueSelling Associates
Veeam
Vengreso
VENZA
Verimatrix
VIPKid
Visualize, Inc.
Vodafone Turkey
Vpay
VXI Global Solutions
Wells Fargo Treasury Management Client Delivery
Wheels Inc.
Willis Towers Watson
Wolters Kluwer's ELM Solutions
Wolverine Worldwide Contact Center
World Travel Holdings
xneelo
Xvoyant

Honors Sponsored by RAK Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Recognize Innovation in 17 MENA Nations

Winners in the first Middle East Stevie® Awards, the only awards program to recognize innovation in the workplace throughout 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa, were announced today.  The awards are sponsored by the RAK Chamber of Commerce & Industry.  The list of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners is available at http://MENA.StevieAwards.com.

The Stevie Awards are considered to be the world's premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in the workplace over the past 18 years in programs such as The International Business Awards® and the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. The name Stevie is derived from the Greek word for "crowned".

The 2020 Middle East Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 12 markets including Bahrain, Egypt, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.  Several hundred nominations about innovative achievements in the MENA region were considered by the judges this year in categories such as Award for Excellence in Innovation in Products & Services, Award for Innovative Management, and Award for Innovation in Corporate Websites, among many others. 

Two Grand, or best of show, Stevie Award winners announced today are:

• Boehringer Ingelheim, Istanbul, Turkey, is the winner of the Grand Stevie for Organization of the Year. The pharmaceutical giant’s six Gold, two Silver, and one Bronze Stevie wins are tops in the 2020 competition.
  
  
• Dubai Health Authority’s nomination “Diagnostic & Prognostic liquid biopsy biomarkers for Asthma,” a Gold Stevie winner for Innovation in Medical/Dental, received the highest overall average score from the judges, of all nominations in the 2020 competition, and thus wins the Grand Stevie Award for Highest-Rated Nomination of the Year.

Winners of multiple Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Awards include Akenerji Elektrik Üretim A.Ş., Istanbul, Turkey; Birevim, Istanbul, Turkey; Çelebi Aviation Holding, Istanbul, Turkey; Shoaib Javed of DHL Express Saudi Arabia, Al Khobar; Digitallica, Istanbul, Turkey; Dubai Health Authority, United Arab Emirates; Dubai Public Prosecution, United Arab Emirates; Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Eng, Abeer Ramadna, Director Assistant of Control & Inspection Unit, MIT Jordan, Amman, Jordan; Ministry of Interior, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain; Petrol Ofisi, Istanbul, Turkey; Phenomenal PR and Events, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; RAK Transport Authority, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates; Türkiye Vakıflar Bankası T.A.O., Istanbul, Turkey; Vitamin Marketing Services, Istanbul, Turkey; and İbrahim Ziya Akbulut of Ziraat Bankasi, Ankara, Turkey, among others.

Stevie winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet at the Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah Hotel in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, 21 March.  Tickets for the event are now on sale.

More than 70 executives around the world participated on four juries to determine the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners.  

“We are very pleased that our new Middle East Stevie Awards program has been such a success in its first year,” said Michael Gallagher, founder and executive chairman of the Stevie Awards.  “We are very gratified by the number and variety of the organizations that submitted nominations, and we have fielded a strong list of winners.  We look forward to celebrating them in RAK on 21 March.”

About the Stevie® Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in eight programs: the Middle East Stevie Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards®, The International Business Awards®, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 12,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 70 nations. 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.

About the RAK Chamber of Commerce and Industry
RAK Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RAK Chamber) is the second chamber of commerce commissioned in the United Arab Emirates. Incorporated on 22 October 1967, RAK Chamber adopts the spirit of innovation and creativity, strong leadership and initiative to support and develop business sectors to achieve excellence and become pioneers, focusing on clients, investors and business by meeting their needs and offering them added value. The chamber is keen to create and develop a system of sustainable enterprise relations, and it also works to provide a business environment and practices that enhance the culture of group work by working in a spirit of a unified team – along with responding to internal and external changes by providing information, data, procedures and laws for all concerned categories. This is in order to achieve transparency and credibility and to create a business-motivating environment in order to promote the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah as an economic hub in the United Arab Emirates.  Learn more at www.RAKChamber.ae.

We're pleased to share with you the first photographs of the 2020 Silver and Bronze Stevie® Award medals.

The new medals will be conferred first at the 14th Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service event in Las Vegas on February 28.

In addition to the Sales & Customer Service Awards (final entry deadline January 9) Silver and Bronze Stevie medals are presented in the following competitions:

• The American Business Awards®
• The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards
• The Stevie Awards for Great Employers
• The International Business Awards®
• The Stevie Awards for Women in Business

In all Stevie Awards competitions, the highest-scoring qualifying entry in a category receives a Gold Stevie Award trophy.  Other qualifying entries receive Silver or Bronze medals, depending on their score.  Learn more about our judging and award process.  

The Silver and Bronzes feature new designs for 2020.  But the medal boxes are new as well.  The boxes themselves are polished silver and copper metal, with impresses of the Stevie Award trophy.

You can't win one of these beauties if you don't first participate in a Stevie Awards competition, so...

It's that time of year when most companies are firming up their PR and marketing budgets and plans for 2020.  Many organizations are budgeting and planning to enter any number of business awards competitions in the new year, because they know that awards are cost-effective tools for a variety of purposes, with brand building and employee relations chief among them.

But here are the three reasons why you and your organization won't win a single award in 2020 - plus the #1 reason it won't matter a whit even if you do.

1. You Don't Enter

On occasion when we suggest to someone that they should nominate their organization in one of the Stevie® Awards competitions, their response is: We don't believe in nominating ourselves for awards.  We plan to do such great work that awards will just be given to us.

Really? we want to reply. Which award are you hoping will make a beeline to your door?  A Nobel Prize? A MacArthur Genius Award?  Get real. 

Hope is not a strategy. If you don't believe that winning awards can help to burnish your organization's reputation, provide a low-cost reward to your employees for their good work, and provide one more incentive to your executives and workers to excel, we could persuade you otherwise, but at least that's your opinion.  But if you do believe that winning awards can offer these benefits, why on earth wouldn't you plan to pursue them?

Sure, it can take hours to prepare entries, and entry fees for a few awards programs can run to several thousand dollars, but the work and the cost are minor compared to the benefits of winning - and leveraging - a prestigious award.

2. You Aren't Smart About Picking Your Competitions

While we think our Stevie Awards competitions are the best there are, we acknowledge there are many awards programs worthy of your attention around the world for corporate awards, PR awards, marketing awards, IT awards, web awards, HR awards, and so on.  Picking those that are right for you and your organization is important.  And picking the categories within those competitions is also key.

When someone calls the Stevie Awards to inquire about whether their organization might be a fit for one of our competitions, we ask them two questions: one, what do you want to be recognized for?  And two, is it important to you in which category you might be honored?  Their answer to the first question is important, because that will tell us which competition, and which category(s), will be a fit for them.  The answer to the second question is also pivotal, because that will tell us whether we should recommend only the most popular (i.e. "prestigious") categories or can recommend secondary categories to them as well.

3. You Don't Tell Your Story Well

It's our experience that most organizations aren't very good at formally summarizing and articulating their achievements in an engaging way.  Storytelling is a vital part of corporate - and career - success.

When someone says to us, I'm not sure we're ready to enter the Stevie Awards, I don't know that we've achieved enough yet, we ask them to give us their elevator speech, their one-minute summary of what they do and what they've achieved.  Without fail their elevator speech is captivating.  It seems that most people have honed their ability to put into a few words the essence of their organization's capabilities and achievements.  But few people can translate that pride and excitement into a longer document that's well written, well structured, and supported with examples, work samples, and the like. 

Until the day when we can transmit our thoughts to one another via telepathy, the written word will continue to be the way to communicate data-intensive information.  So if you can't write well, you don't stand much chance of winning many if any awards.  If you don't write well, hire or contract with someone who does to write your awards entries for you.

Even if you do enter the right categories in the right competitions, and prepare and write your entries extremely well, and win a raft of prestigious awards, they won't mean a thing if you don't translate those wins into meaningful tools, by

* Publicizing your wins to the media and stakeholders
* Congratulating and celebrating your employees for their recognition
* Using the resources provided by awards organizers, such as winners' logos, to create a long-term association between your products and your brand and their mark of excellence. 

Our suggestion?  Get the new year off to a good start by getting and reviewing the entry kits for the Stevie Awards competitions, and consider nominating your organization's achievements in one or more of them.

Nominations for the 2020 (14th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, considered the world’s top honors for customer service, business development, and sales professionals, will be accepted through January 9 at StevieAwards.com/Sales. Late fees will apply for nominations, but no entry fees or late fees will apply for nominations to a new category to recognize leadership in transforming consumer engagement models, sponsored by HCL Technologies.

The Leader in Transforming Consumer Engagement Models category will recognize outstanding examples of individual leadership and innovation in the field since July 1, 2018. As in all other categories in the competition, nominees may submit a written essay or case study of up to 650 words describing their ethical sales practices and achievements or a video of up to five minutes in length, illustrating the same.

Only those with a promotion code supplied by HCL Technologies may submit nominations to the category. To inquire about getting the promotion code, email mohit_si@hcl.com.

HCL Technologies is a next-generation global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Their technology products, services, and engineering are built on four decades of innovation, with a world-renowned management philosophy, a strong culture of invention and risk-taking, and a relentless focus on customer relationships.

HCL Technologies is a long-time sponsor of two other Stevie Awards programs, The American Business Awards® and the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, but this is only the second time that the firm will sponsor the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Maggie Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, is looking forward to having the longtime Stevie Awards sponsor present this award. “We are gratified that HCL Technologies has decided to use this Stevie Awards platform to recognize those individual executives who excel in using technology to transform how organizations delight their customers.”

Finalists in this and all other categories, based on the ratings of more than 150 professionals around the world in the judging process, will be announced on January 16. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the finalists will be revealed at a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday, February 28.

The final entry deadline for the awards is January 9.  GET YOUR ENTRY KIT NOW!

Nominations for the 2020 (14^th annual) Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, considered the world’s top honors for customer service, business development, and sales professionals, will be accepted through January 9 at StevieAwards.com/Sales. Late fees will apply for nominations, but no entry fees or late fees will apply for nominations to a new category to recognize leadership in transforming consumer engagement models, sponsored by HCL Technologies.

The Leader in Transforming Consumer Engagement Models category will recognize outstanding examples of individual leadership and innovation in the field since July 1, 2018. As in all other categories in the competition, nominees may submit a written essay or case study of up to 650 words describing their ethical sales practices and achievements or a video of up to five minutes in length, illustrating the same.

Only those with a promotion code supplied by HCL Technologies may submit nominations to the category.  To inquire about getting the promotion code, email mohit_si@hcl.com.

HCL Technologies is a next-generation global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Their technology products, services, and engineering are built on four decades of innovation, with a world-renowned management philosophy, a strong culture of invention and risk-taking, and a relentless focus on customer relationships. 

HCL Technologies is a long-time sponsor of two other Stevie Awards programs, The American Business Awards® and the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, but this is only the second time that the firm will sponsor the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  Maggie Gallagher, president of the Stevie Awards, is looking forward to having the longtime Stevie Awards sponsor present this award. “We are gratified that HCL Technologies has decided to use this Stevie Awards platform to recognize those individual executives who excel in using technology to transform how organizations delight their customers.”

Finalists in this and all other categories, based on the ratings of more than 150 professionals around the world in the judging process, will be announced on January 16. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements from among the finalists will be revealed at a gala event at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Friday, February 28.

The final entry deadline for the awards is January 9.