The 15th annual American Business Awards, the premier business awards competition in the U.S.A. which attracts more than 3,000 nominations from organizations nationwide each year, is accepting nominations for the 2017 program.
The American Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Full entry details are available at http://www.stevieawards.com/aba.
There are 29 categories to recognize public relations professionals, agencies, departments, and campaigns.
All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is Thursday, February 16 but late entries will be accepted through Wednesday, March 15.
Information to be submitted online for entries in these categories for the 2017 ABAs will include:
a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominee's achievements since January 1 2016. In the communications campaign categories, this will be a description of the campaign: its genesis, development, execution, and results to date
b. In bullet-list form, a brief summary (up to 150 words) of up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of the nominee since January 1 2016. In the communications campaign categories, this will be a list of the chief features and results of this nominated PR program
c. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files, works samples, and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges
The Public Relations Awards categories are:
C01. Public Relations Agency of the Year
C02. Communications Department of the Year
C03. Communications Team of the Year
C05. Communications or PR Campaign/Program of the Year
a. Arts & Entertainment: campaigns/programs undertaken to promote or raise awareness of an artistic or entertainment endeavor, event, or program.
b. Communications Research: recognizing research conducted for the development of business / communication strategies. (new category for 2017)
c. Community Relations: campaigns/programs that aim to improve relations with communities in which the sponsoring organization has an interest, need or opportunity.
d. Crisis Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with an unplanned event and requiring immediate response.
e. Events & Observances: campaigns/programs that generate awareness of or document commemorations, observances, openings, celebrations, and other types of events.
f. Global Issues: campaigns/programs that demonstrate effective global communications implemented in at least two countries.
g. Healthcare: campaign/programs in the healthcare sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns. (new category for 2017)
h. Internal Communications: campaigns/programs undertaken to inform or educate an internal audience, such as employees or members.
- At organizations with up to 100 employees
- At organizations with 100 or more employees
i. Investor Relations: campaigns/programs undertaken to communicate information to a company's investors and the investment community and/or to manage the company's relationship with investors.
j. Issues Management: campaigns/programs undertaken to deal with issues that could extraordinarily affect ongoing business strategy.
k. Low Budget (under $10,000): campaigns/programs that cost no more than $10,000 to plan and implement.
l. Marketing – Business to Business: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products or services to a business audience.
m. Marketing – Consumer Products: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new products or promote existing products to a consumer audience.
n. Marketing – Consumer Services: campaigns/programs designed to introduce new services or promote existing services to a consumer audience.
o. Media Relations: recognizing effective traditional media relations in a PR campaign. (new category for 2017)
p. Multicultural: campaigns/programs specifically targeted to a cultural group.
q. New Product Launch: campaigns/programs undertaken to introduce a new product or service to the marketplace.
r. Reputation/Brand Management: campaigns/programs designed to enhance, promote or improve the reputation of an organization with its publics or key elements of its publics.
s. Public Affairs: campaigns/programs specifically designed to influence public policy and/or affect legislation, regulations, political activities or candidacies.
t. Public Service: campaigns/programs that advance public understanding of societal issues, problems or concerns.
u. Social Media Focused: campaigns/programs designed to be implemented primarily through online social media.
v. Sponsorship: campaigns/programs that promote or create awareness of sponsorship of an event or activity. (new category for 2017)
w Technology: campaign/programs in the technology sector, including business-to-business and consumer campaigns. (new category for 2017)
x. Travel & Tourism: campaigns/programs designed to advance the interests of clients in the transport, travel, hotel or tourism industries. (new category for 2017)
C06. PR Innovation of the Year: this category will recognize singular innovations in communications practice, research, technology, or management since the beginning of 2015.
C07. Communications, Investor Relations, or PR Executive of the Year
C08. Communications Professional of the Year: for non-executive communications, PR, and IR professionals. There is no entry fee for this category.
There are a number of other ABA categories that should be of interest to communications professionals, including many of the corporate publications and annual report awards categories, web site awards categories, app awards categories, video awards categories, and live event awards categories.
