Newest Stevie Awards Program to Recognize the Best in Business in Germany; No Entry Fees Through 30 September

The organizer of the world’s leading business awards programs announced today that Germany will be the setting of its newest program, the German Stevie Awards, which is now welcoming nominations from all organizations operating in Germany at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition over the past 12 years in programs such as The International Business Awards and The American Business Awards.  Stevie Awards programs attract more than 8,000 nominations each year from organizations in more than 60 nations.

The German Stevie Awards will be only the second national Stevie Awards program, after the 12-year-old American Business Awards.  “Germany is a huge, vibrant economy with many outstanding companies in a wide variety of industries,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.  “It has been our goal to establish another national Stevies program in a major economy, and Germany is the ideal choice, as it’s the largest economy in Europe and the fifth largest by GDP in the world.”

The Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, are among the world's most coveted prizes.

The German Stevie Awards welcome nominations from all organizations operating in Germany – large and small, for-profit and non-profit, publicly-held and privately-held - with a wide range of categories to choose from, including

• Company of the Year awards
• Management awards
• Marketing awards
• Public relations awards
• Customer service awards
• Human resources awards
• IT awards
• New product awards
• App and website awards
• Video awards
  and more

To celebrate the inauguration of the awards, no entry fees will be charged for nominations submitted through the early-bird entry deadline of 30 September.  From October 1, the entry fee will be just €99 for entries submitted through the second deadline, November 5.  Entries submitted after November 5, through the final deadline of December 10, will be assessed the standard entry fees, which can be as much as €400 per entry.

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds.  The first round will determine Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category.  Those winners will be announced on February 23.  All of the Gold Stevie Award winners will then compete in the second round of judging for the right to be named the Grand Stevie Award winner in their category groups.  Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will be honored, and Grand Stevie Award winners announced, at a gala awards banquet in Germany in late March.

Judging committees for the German Stevie Awards are now being formed.  Those interested in participating in the judging process may also apply at http://www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives as judges.

Many German companies have been recognized in Stevie Awards programs over the years, including adidas Group, Bertelsmann AG, DP DHL, Lufthansa, and Siemens AG, among others.  “With the German Stevie Awards, we’ll be able to recognize the achievements of many more German companies and executives,” Gallagher said.

Uwe Krummenoehler, CEO of AVL Emission Test Systems GmbH of Neuss, Germany, winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in The 2013 International Business Awards, said, “Winning a Stevie Award demonstrated that we are doing a lot of things right.  Our performance was validated by many leading executives in the judging, and that is very important to our management team and our employees.”

Gallagher said there are many reasons why companies participate in Stevie Awards programs.  Chief among them, he said, are the brand-building benefits of winning a major national or international award; the goodwill generated with employees when they are nominated for awards; and the opportunity to network with other business leaders at the annual awards galas.

To learn more about the German Stevie Awards, visit our Frequently Asked Questions webpage at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/gsa/about/514_2923_24742.cfm.

About the Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in six programs: The American Business Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.