Hopefully you have seen the important changes made to The 2016 American Business Awards (if not you'll find them here). Every year we make slight changes and additions to allow the hardworking business people of America's accomplishments to be recognized. The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S.A., with categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, from management to marketing, human resources to new products and websites.

The final entry deadline is this Thursday, February 18. Late entries will be accepted through March 16 with the payment of a late fee.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

This year we have introduced a few new categories:

Minority-Owned Business of the Year

This category will recognize the achievements since January 1, 2015 of businesses in the U.S.A. that are majority owned by members of an ethnic minority.

Entry requirements:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's achievements since January 1 2015

Veteran-Owned Business of the Year

This category will recognize the achievements since January 1, 2015 of businesses in the U.S.A. that are owned by veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Entry requirements:

a. An essay of up to 650 words describing the nominated organization's achievements since January 1 2015

The Stevie Awards is always working to provide new awards categories to suit every aspect of the business world. If you are a Minority or Veteran Business owner, check out those two categories for your chance at the prestigious Stevie Awards.

As always, more than 250 other awards categories are offered in The American Business Awards including:

• Management Awards
• HR Awards
• IT Awards
• Marketing Awards
• PR Awards
• Creative Awards
• Website Awards

…and much more. Dont forget, the entry deadline is Thursday, February 18!

You've been busy this year. The holidays are officially over and it’s back to work. Whatever the reason, you haven’t gotten around to submitting entries to the 2016 American Business Awards. But you've gotten a reprieve. We are going to show you how to submit entries to the ABAs in 10 minutes. The entry deadline of The American Business Awards, the preeminent business awards program in the U.S.A., is this coming Thursday, February 18. Submit your entries through Thursday to avoid late fees.

We know, you're still busy. Your calendar this week is still chock full. But surely you can find some time during your lunch break to prepare your submission. Because in 10 minutes you can prepare and submit an entry to the ABAs and potentially win a Stevie®, one of the most coveted trophies on the planet.

Here are a number of ways you can do that.

Repurpose Nominations From Other Awards Programs
The submission requirements for the ABAs are fairly open-ended, and there's a wide variety of categories to choose from. If you've entered any other awards programs this year, simply repurpose the nominations you wrote for those competitions for the ABAs. Most categories require only the submission of an essay of up to 650 words and a bullet-list summary of the achievements portrayed in the essay. It should be fairly easy to reconfigure your other awards nominations for the ABAs.

Repurpose Your Press Releases and White Papers
It's likely you've already done the heavy-lifting of describing your organization's achievements, your innovations, your new products and services, your marketing and PR campaigns, etc. Throughout the year you've been trumpeting your successes through press releases and white papers. Simply comb through your output over the past year and cobble together the text you've already written into a short essay. Note that the 2016 ABAs will recognize your achievements since the beginning of 2015.

Repurpose Your Press Clippings
With every ABA nomination you have the option to attach any number of press clippings, work samples, video clips, photographs, etc. to your essay, to help paint the picture for the judges. Does one or more of your press clippings feature a compelling story that can be the basis of the essay for your ABA nomination? There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists and you can reuse it.

Hire a Consultant
Did you know that there are a number of consultancies that specialize in preparing and submitting awards nominations on behalf of their clients? There are quite a few in the U.S.A., and they've been remarkably successful over the years in winning Stevie Awards for their clients. Contact us if you'd like a referral to one of them who can take the process of getting entries into the ABAs off your hands this week.

Submit Media Work
Most often people think of business awards as recognizing a member of management or a member of your team. The American Business Awards has categories for a broad range of achievements including videos, apps, websites, publications, and live events. It's really easy to enter these categories. These categories generally require only a short essay of up to 125 words, describing the nominated work's purpose and results to date, and the nominated video or app, etc., itself.

Resubmit a Nomination From Another Stevie Awards Program
Did you have success with a nomination in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or the Stevie Awards for Women in Business? One Stevie Awards competition has nothing to do with another, and resubmitting a nomination from one program to this year's ABAs is a valid strategy followed by many organizations.

Contact Us for Help
You'll save a lot of time by letting us do some of the important work for you. We'll save you the trouble of plowing through our category lists to find the category that's right for you, for example. Contact us, by email at help@stevieawards or telephone at +1 703-547-8389. Tell us what your organization wants to be recognized for, and we'll suggest the best category for your nomination.

Whichever strategy you choose to get your ABA nominations written and submitted,  be sure to submit through February 18 to avoid late fees!

Ready to enter The 2016 American Business Awards?  Begin here:

We are pleased to announce that the new Stevie® Awards websites are live.  The new websites make learning about each of the Stevie Awards programs much easier  – from requesting an entry kit to viewing the lists of categories. Check out the sites on your laptop or tablet today at www.StevieAwards.com.

Here's a rundown of features on the new sites:

Same Function, New Design

For those of you who have been using the Stevie Awards websites for years and don’t want to re-learn how to navigate the sites, you're in luck. Those of you who thought the old sites were hard to use are also in luck. The basic functions of the sites haven't changed, and most of the tools are similarly placed throughout each site. They were designed to be much more user friendly and easier to read. All of the most important tools for submitting nominations, contacting us, etc. are now in a pullout bar on each page of the website, so you never feel lost. This brings us to our next feature…

What Do You Want to Do? Tool

We think this is the most useful new feature for many reasons. All of the main tools you need for learning about and submitting entries to the Stevie Awards competitions are now available to you at all times, no matter which webpage you are on. On the left-hand side of the page, you will notice a collapsed menu labeled “What Do You Want To Do?” When you expand the menu the following options are always available:

• Get The Entry Kit
• Schedule (text message) Reminders
• Submit Entries
• Apply to Be A Judge
• Purchase Tickets
• Become a Sponsor
• Contact Us

This menu will follow you up and down, and across, every page of a Stevie Awards site.

Logging In

Before the sites were updated, you were only able to login to your Stevie Awards account from the homepage of each Stevie Award program website. Now, at the top of each and every page you will see an account login space for both entrants and judges. *Note – the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards site was not updated in the same way as the other five sites because it is newer and offers multiple language options. It is still very user friendly.

Current and Forthcoming Award Cycle

The competition calendars, labeled "Current and Forthcoming Award Cycle", with entry deadlines, finalist and winner announcements, and event dates are now available in a large chart at the bottom of each Stevie Awards homepage. You are also able to keep track of important dates by scheduling text message reminders.

Text Message Reminders

You now have the option to opt-in to receive reminders about Stevie Awards entry deadlines via text message. Each Stevie Awards homepage includes a Schedule Reminders feature.

Tablets and Desktops

The Stevie Awards websites are now optimized for both tablets and desktops! This means you can request entry kits, login to your account, edit and submit your entries, sign up for text reminders, and more while on the go. Even judges will now be able to better participate while on the go!

Questions about the new Stevie Award websites? Contact us.

Consumers the world over now have an opportunity to tell the world’s best providers of customer service just how much they love them, by voting at https://peopleschoice.stevieawards.com in the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service.

This worldwide public vote is open through February 12, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in 13 industry categories. All organizations honored in the Customer Service Department of the Year categories of this year’s Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service are candidates for the people’s choice awards.

Winners will receive the coveted crystal People’s Choice Stevie Award at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas on March 4. Industry categories include:

• Computer Hardware and Services
• Computer Services
• Computer Software (<100 employees)
• Computer Software (100+ employees)
• Distribution & Transportation
• Financial Services (<100 employees)
• Financial Services (100+ employees)
• Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals
• Leisure & Tourism
• Public Services & Education
• Retail
• Telecommunications.
• All Other Industries

All customers, employees, fans, and followers of the nominated organizations are invited to vote.

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at the 10^th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service on Friday, March 4 at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tickets for the event are now on sale. More than 450 executives from around the world are expected to attend.

Mireille Gillings, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer, and Executive Chairman of HUYA Bioscience International in San Diego, California, USA, won a Gold Stevie Award in the Management Awards categories of The 2015 American Business Awards. HUYA Bioscience International also won the Bronze in the Company/Organization Awards categories of the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

We asked Mireille what winning her Stevie Awards has meant to her and her company.

“Winning a Stevie Award was a resounding endorsement of HUYA’s business model,” Mireille told us. “Our aim is to enable and accelerate global development of innovative biopharmaceuticals originating in China.”

“This prestigious award, with its recognition of outstanding performance in the workplace, came at a pivotal point in HUYA’s evolution,” added Mireille. “Our novel anticancer therapy, HBI-8000, had entered clinical trials in Japan, plus it had been approved as Epidaza^® by the Chinese FDA. HUYA’s drug has immunomodulatory properties, which are important to the clinical development of immuno-oncology therapeutics. The Stevie award was a much-appreciated affirmation for our team, and represented another stepping stone towards HUYA’s future success.”

The 2016 American Business Awards will be accepting entries through February 18 and late entries (with payment of a late fee) through March 16. Find out how to enter here.

The 2016 Asia-Pacific Awards is now open and will be accepting entries through March 23. Find out how to enter here.

The Benefits of Additional Exposure

Mireille was also appreciative of the broader awareness a Stevie Award can provide. “As we continue to build our presence in the Asia-Pacific region, the additional exposure that the Stevie award has given HUYA continues to be extremely helpful,” she told us. “Since receiving the award, HUYA has opened new offices in South Korea, taking our proven business model to that country. The recent agreement between HUYA and the Korean Drug Development Fund (KDDF) will facilitate partnerships with local companies and research institutions to accelerate the development and commercialization of Korean pharmaceutical discoveries for global markets.”

“This expansion into South Korea adds to our presence in the U.S., Japan, and eight strategic locations throughout China,” continued Mireille. “This builds on HUYA’s overall strategy to be the partner-of-choice for innovative pharmaceutical companies in emerging centers of excellence worldwide.“

Wellspring of Innovation

We asked Mireille what new areas of biopharma innovation her company would be working on in the coming year. “Looking ahead, we see China and other Asia-Pacific countries as a wellspring of innovation. In the coming year, HUYA will continue to implement its uniquely cost-efficient, reduced-risk model for drug development to advance promising molecules from this region,” she explained. “This model includes using preclinical and clinical results from tests carried out in China to create the most time, cost, and risk efficient therapies to be brought to the United States and other major markets. We will also continue to expand our activities in other Asian centers of biopharma research excellence, including South Korea and Japan, to source and add value to promising molecules.”

Continuing Success

In addition to her successes at the beginning of the year, Mireille went on to win two Silver and one Bronze Stevie Award in the 2015 International Business Awards, presented in Toronto, Canada, in October; and two Silver and one Bronze Stevie Award at the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business in November.

“Warmest congratulations to Mireille on this well-deserved recognition," said Clem Gingras, HUYA’s Chief Technology Officer & Chief Operating Officer Asia. “As the first person to identify China’s potential to meet global demand for innovative medicines, Mireille founded HUYA to increase the speed of development and value creation for China sourced innovations in worldwide markets. These awards acknowledge several major recent milestones that have been achieved by HUYA.”

Accelerating & Streamlining Global Development

Mireille founded HUYA to accelerate development and value creation for China-sourced innovations worldwide. Many such compounds have been validated through a rigorous discovery, selection and development process in China, so this model streamlines and accelerates development globally, while lowering risk. HUYA has:

• A database of ~14,000 China-sourced compounds–the world’s largest;
• 110 agreements with Chinese academic & commercial organizations;
• 80 scouts in China, more than top 5 global biopharma firms combined;
• Access to 55% of the biopharma innovation in China;
• Eight strategically located offices across China (Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, China Medical City [Taizhou], Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, and Wuhan);
• Joint headquarters in Shanghai and San Diego, California.

HUYA opened an office in Japan in September 2014 to support future expansion in that country.

The Value of Cooperation

Looking ahead, Mireille will lead HUYA’s efforts to continue building relationships to make candidate compounds more accessible internationally, bringing value for both innovators and developers. Mireille and HUYA aim to be recognized as a main driving force that brings out the value of the Tripartite Cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea in developing novel therapeutics to benefit patients in the three countries and worldwide.

Building Momentum in the Asia-Pacific Region

“I am inspired every day by the talented people who surround me, including HUYA’s dedicated employees and the world-class advisory boards who share their passion and talents,” explained Mireille. “In future, it will be exciting to watch as biopharma R&D continues to build momentum in the Asia-Pacific region. The HUYA teams in San Diego, Tokyo, Seoul and our eight China offices remain committed to globalizing Asian innovation.”

Concluded Mireille: “By building relationships and employing approaches such as in-licensing, alliances, co-development, research funding, and creative financial partnerships, HUYA is poised to bring pharmaceutical discoveries to benefit patients around the world.”

About Mireille Gillings:

Mireille Gillings, Ph.D., a visionary leader with 22 years of scientific and operational experience in the biotech sector, has been the driving force in establishing HUYA Bioscience International. At Quintiles, a Fortune 500 company, she was the first woman to be appointed to the Board of Directors since the company’s privatization and subsequent IPO. Mireille is Co-founder of GHO Capital, a private equity fund specializing in global health opportunities. She serves on the Board of Senté Inc., a science-based skincare company, and is a member of the U.S. Pasteur Foundation Board. Mireille has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and has held post-doctoral fellowships at Bordeaux University and Scripps Research Institute. She speaks fluent English, Dutch, French and Spanish.

About HUYA Bioscience International:

HUYA Bioscience International is a leader in enabling and accelerating the global development of novel biopharmaceutical product opportunities originating in China. HUYA has established extensive collaborations with Chinese biopharmaceutical, academic and commercial organizations to speed development and value creation in worldwide markets for China-sourced product candidates. With the largest Chinese compound portfolio covering all therapeutic areas, HUYA has emerged as the partner of choice for building and maximizing the value of biopharmaceutical innovation in China. HUYA has offices in the U.S., Japan, and eight strategic locations across China, with joint headquarters in San Diego and Shanghai. With the largest team of scientists working with Chinese innovators, HUYA identifies and advances promising drug candidates globally. For more information, go to www.huyabio.com.

The Stevie® Awards held one of its awards galas for its 13th annual American Business Awards competition on Friday night, and announced the winners of its Grand Stevie Award trophies.

Fareportal of New York, NY received the Grand Stevie for organization of the year, for earning the most award points (54.5) in The 2015 American Business Awards. Other top ABA Grand Stevie winners include C-4 Analytics (Saugus, MA) for interactive services agency of the year (11 points), MSLGROUP (nationwide) for marketing agency of the year (21), and MWW (nationwide) for public relations agency of the year (30). This is the third year in a row that MWW has won this award.

The Grand Stevie Awards were presented to the organizations that submitted the best body of entries to The American Business Awards this year, in their own name or in the names of one or more clients, with a Gold Stevie Award win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win counting for 1.5 points. The organizations with the most points won.

Besides Fareportal, C-4 Analytics, MSLGROUP, and MWW, Grand Stevies were also awarded to the 10 other organizations with the most points in the 2015 competition. There were a few ties this year which resulted in 11 members of the top 10. They are:

1. Tied at 23.5 points: AT&T (Dallas, TX) and Accenture (Chicago, IL)

3. Quality Systems, Inc. (Irvine, CA, 21.5)

4.   Tied at 19.5 points: Isagenix International (Chandler, AZ) and SoftPro (Raleigh, NC)

6.   Dell Inc., Round Rock, TX (19)

7.   Capital One Investing, Seattle, WA (18)

8.   Engility, Chantilly, VA (17.5)

9   Three-way tie at 17 points: Cisco Systems (nationwide), Davies Murphy Group (Burlington, MA), and Finn Partners (nationwide)

Friday’s gala was the second of two American Business Awards ceremonies this year. The first took place in Chicago on June 22 and honored winners in disciplines such as customer service, human resources, corporate communications, information technology, live events, publications, and selected categories for company/organization, management and marketing.

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, product developers, marketers and web development teams.

More than 200 executives attended Friday’s event at San Francisco’s Julia-Morgan Ballroom. Stevie Awards were conferred in five levels of distinction: Grand, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and People’s Choice. See the press release issued earlier today for a summary of the other Stevie Award winners.

For a complete list of all 2015 American Business Awards’ Stevie Award winners visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

More than 3,300 entries were submitted to The 2015 American Business Awards and more than 200 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Entries for The 2016 American Business Awards will be accepted starting in October.

The 13th Annual American Business Awards announced Stevie® Award winners on Friday at its event focused on outstanding new products and technology-industry categories, including technology organization management.

Friday’s gala was the second of two American Business Awards ceremonies this year. The first took place in Chicago on June 22 and honored winners in disciplines such as customer service, human resources, corporate communications, information technology, live events, publications, and selected categories for company/organization, management and marketing. 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, product developers, marketers and web development teams.

More than 200 executives attended Friday’s awards banquet at San Francisco’s Julia-Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Building. Stevie Awards were conferred in five levels of distinction: Grand, Gold, Silver, Bronze, and People’s Choice.

The Grand Stevies were awarded to the organizations who received the most awards overall – Gold, Silver or Bronze – in the ABAs this year. Fareportal (New York, NY) was presented with the Grand Stevie for Organization of the Year. The winners of the other Grand Stevie Awards will be named in a followup press release today.

Prositions Inc. (Urbandale, IA) and Workplace Answers (Austin, TX) were the top Gold Stevie winners on Friday, with three each. Winners of two Gold Stevies include Agiliance, AT&T, Auto Integrate, Discovery Education, Fareportal, Five Elements Robotics, and TangoMe.

Other notable Gold Stevie Award Winners announced on Friday include, among others:

- New Financial Service: Azul Systems’ ReadyNow!
- Integrated Mobile Experience of the Year: Fidelity Mobile® for Apple Watch
- Telecommunications Service of the Year: Broadview Networks' MyOfficeSuite
- Technical Innovation of the Year - At Organizations With 1,000 or More Employees: Ernst & Young’s EY ACA COMPASS
- Tech Startup of the Year: SeedInvest
- Marketing App of the Year: FrontFlip’s Marketing App
- New Cloud Application/Service: Verifone Cloud PS
- New Business-to-Business Services: Language Line’s eLanguage Proficiency Test
- Company of the Year - Computer Software - 500 or More Employees: Epicor Software Solutions
- New Computer Hardware Product: Imation's IronKey Workspace W700
- Executive of the Year - Computer Software - Up to 500 Employees: Jordan Kretchmer, CEO and Founder, Livefyre

Winners of the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products, which were determined by more than 16,000 votes in July and August, were announced in August and presented their crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards on Friday.

More than 3,300 entries were submitted to The 2015 American Business Awards and more than 200 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.

Entries for The 2016 American Business Awards will be accepted starting next month.