Seventeenth Annual Stevie® Awards Program to Be Presented This Fall in Paris

The Stevie Awards has opened entries for The 17th Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 70 nations and territories each year.

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, with reduced entry fees, is 8 April. The final entry deadline is 13 May, but late entries will be accepted through 17 June with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Interested in entering The 2020 International Business Awards®?

Juries featuring more than 150 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced on 11 August. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Paris, France on 24 October.

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

• Management Awards 
• Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
• Company of the Year Awards
• Customer Service Awards 
• Human Resources Awards 
• Information Technology Awards
• Marketing Awards 
• New Product Awards 
• Public Relations Awards 
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

There are many new and revised features of The IBAs for 2020:

• Nine new categories to recognize singular business achievements in areas such as business turnaround, finance, revenue generation, and science and technology, among others.
• The submission requirements have been simplified for 2020 in the following categories: Company/Organization Awards, Corporate Communications & Public Relations Awards, Marketing Awards, and New Product & Product Management Awards.
• There are no entry fees for nominations in the Company of the Year categories and other select categories.
• Entries may be submitted as a written essay or a five-minute maximum video essay.

Stevie Award winners in the 2019 IBAs included ASDA’A BCW (United Arab Emirates), Cisco Systems, Inc. (USA), DHL Express (worldwide), Dubai Health Authority (United Arab Emirates), IBM (USA), LLORENTE & CUENCA (Spain), Megaworld Foundation (Philippines), Meli Studio (Australia), NBCUniversal (USA), PT Petrokimia Gresik (Indonesia), Seoul Metropolitan Government (South Korea), Switching-Time (China), Tata Consultancy Services (United Kingdom),  Vodafone Turkey Foundation (Turkey), and many more.

Professionals in IT operations often resolve issues by automating scripting or coding.

Why use automation?

Throughout the past two decades, technological innovations and information delivery systems have spurred unprecedented growth. The continued evolution of tech, as well as human ingenuity, present organizations across the retail, manufacturing, telecom, banking, and financial services sectors with an array of ever-expanding scenarios and challenges. As just a few examples, being connected continues to become cheaper, and device ownership is skyrocketing.

Data volumes are soaring, and billions of new connected data sources are anticipated within a few years. We are quickly approaching exabyte volumes and are surging toward zettabytes, and the growth of mobile connectivity continues to surpass fixed lines. Security is, as always, a major issue, along with regulatory complexity.

These automations, however, often only work within a monolithic and extremely predictive environment. If one thing changes in that environment, it typically results in the automation failing within the system. Once this happens, an IT professional must begin the troubleshooting process, which might take anywhere from five to thirty minutes to complete. This increases a company’s internal costs and bogs down IT resources.

Are Humans and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Destined to Work Together?

IT has revolutionized businesses across global industries. The way IT operates in most enterprises, however, is still very people-centric, which means the industry is prime for robotic or runbook automation initiatives. Having a fairly straightforward goal of achieving direct cost savings, these automations can reduce the manual effort spent on repetitive activities.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is great for a predictive environment, but it’s not necessarily designed for an ever-changing landscape. It lacks, therefore, the agility to successfully handle many scenarios. To see better results, the automation efforts need to be cognitive and intelligent.

While script-based automation yields quick, small wins, most organizations soon realize the accelerating pace of business-related changes, the increasing complexity of technology and operations, and rising technology-based operational risks far outmatch traditional automation capabilities. There is a critical need, therefore, for an intelligent system that can keep up with technology churn, understand business processes, and be customized to an industry domain and business model.

Many companies praise automation like it’s already the backbone of their business platforms, but human intervention within that automation is still largely necessary. Companies like Digitate try to be aware of this (currently) inescapable reality by working with top brands in virtually every industry. By continuing to improve their product capabilities, service delivery, and customer support, they can build a community of dedicated users who are excited about sharing their stories with them.

Digitate™ leverages machine learning and artificial intelligence to manage IT and business operations. Their product, ignio™, enables better decision-making and ultimately solves IT operations challenges.

Other companies that also leverage machine learning and AI to manage IT and business operations are still working on developing an overarching process that can understand system needs across dynamic situations from different sectors. This is a daunting task, though, and something no one has been able to achieve—yet.

Digitate recently won a Silver Stevie® Award in the Software Defined Infrastructure category at the 2019 International Business Awards®.

Interested in entering The International Business Awards this year? They open for entries on February 4, 2020. 

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.

Online security is a massive concern for businesses because it's vital to be able to store and to access sensitive data safely. There are myriad security products and services out there, but it's crucial to choose a trustworthy network security solution. The cybersecurity needs of small to medium businesses, schools, and charities (all of which generally have limited tech support) can be complicated. When it comes to finding the most appropriate security solution for an organization operating within a limited budget, the prospect can be a challenge.

Stevie®-winner Untangle is an innovative cybersecurity company that was founded in 2003 in San Diego, California, United States. It focuses on providing creative network security solutions. The company ethos is built around four central principles: loyalty, excellence, agility, and determination, or “LEAD,” as they’re referred to. By focusing on listening to both customers and staff, Untangle can develop user-friendly ways for smaller companies to protect their data. They do so through easy-to-use products and great follow-up care and support.

Community Minded

As a company with a social conscience, Untangle is continually on the lookout for ways they can positively impact their communities. This is why they offer Nonprofit Complete. Identical to NG Firewall Complete, Nonprofit Complete is provided to qualifying not-for-profit institutions at a reduced price, and it includes all available updates. Charities, schools, and religious organizations are as vulnerable to cybersecurity breaches as any other institution, and it can be hard for those nonprofits to protect themselves.

Cerebral Palsy of North Jersey (CPNJ), based in New Jersey, United States, recently got in touch with Untangle because they desperately needed an update to their web protection, which was relying on basic firewalls only. CPNJ needed Internet security protection for a large number of locations, including two schools, three adult training centers, fourteen group homes, a twenty-four-unit apartment complex, and an administrative office. Their IT director needed to ensure the children were protected from accidentally accessing inappropriate websites but couldn't find an easy-to-install system that was suitable for their needs.

As a nonprofit, CPNJ needed to balance budget issues with a security solution that was easy to deploy and easy to manage. The charity also needed to solve the problem of filtering inappropriate content for the schools while also allowing the marketing and administrative teams access to a wider range of websites and applications, such as social media pages.

Katie Bochenski, the director of information technology at Cerebral Palsy New Jersey, now has complete visibility and can easily keep an eye out for any problems. CPNJ was pleased they could get the Internet security they needed with a support team on hand to advise, all at an accessible price.

Personalized Service

Untangle prides itself on delivering top-quality enterprise-level protection to every client. This protection is also tailored to clients’ specific needs. For example, Untangle was recently able to help its client Bridger Valley Electric Association in Mountain View, Wyoming, United States, securely connect twelve remote locations. The main challenge was to implement regular vulnerability assessments while proactively blocking and protecting the network from threats. Untangle was able to set up real-time compliance reporting and install layer 7 app filtering to block undesirable websites and apps. The client was looking to securely allow third-party access to the network, so Untangle worked with them to create detailed policies that control and monitor outside access.

Dirk Morris, founder and CPO of Untangle, sees the position of the company in the cybersecurity market very clearly.

“Untangle is one of the only network security solution providers worldwide focused on offering SMBs a dedicated solution that fits their needs and budget restraints. We specifically innovate and create products designed for businesses with limited IT resources, ensuring their networks stay secure, no matter who is connecting where.”

International Award Winning

The company’s passion for accessible Internet security has made them a multi-award winner, most recently receiving several Stevie Awards. As a winner of a Gold Stevie Award in the Network Security Solution category at The 2019 International Business Awards® and a Gold Stevie in the Network Security Solution category at The 2019 American Business Awards®, their commitment to providing a world-class product is clear. The company’s Silver Award in Customer Service Department of the Year at The 2019 American Business Awards also showcases their continued drive to provide an excellent customer experience.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

The 16th Annual International Business Awards®, the world's top honors for achievement in the workplace, will be presented this Saturday, October 19 at the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere Hotel in Vienna, Austria.  More than 450 executives from organizations in more than 30 nations will attend to celebrate the presentation of the 2019 Stevie® Awards.

More than 4,000 nominations were submitted to the 2019 IBAs by organizations in more than 70 nations.  The nominations were reviewed and rated by more than 200 professionals worldwide on 12 juries.  Their average scores determined the winners of the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies.

Entries for the 2020 edition of the IBAs will open in February.

Here is the list of organizations that will be represented at Saturday's IBA gala in Vienna.

4C1H of Employee Experience, Istanbul, Turkey
A Data Pro, Sofia, Bulgaria
A1 Hrvatska, Zagreb, Croatia
ACTO, Toronto, ON, Canada
Aksigorta, Istanbul, Turkey
Aktif Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
Al Jazeera Media Network, Doha, Qatar
ALFEMO FURNITURE, Izmir, Turkey
Alternatif Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
Amanda Fisher - The Cash Flow Queen, Canberra, ACT, Australia
Amway, Ada, MI, USA
Anexa, Mexico City, Mexico
Angkas, Manila, Philippines
ARIIX, Bountiful, UT, USA
Arts Council Korea, Seoul, South Korea
Arvato CRM Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
ASDA'A BCW, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
ATREVIA, Madrid, Spain
AvivaSA / ATOS, Istanbul, Turkey
AXA Sigorta, Istanbul, Turkey
Ayala Corporation, Manila, Philippines
Bahrain National Gas Company, Riffa, Bahrain
Bahwan Cybertek, Chennai, India
Bej Events, Istanbul, Turkey
Better2Know, Lancaster, United Kingdom
Bilkom, Istanbul, Turkey
Binary Digital Advertising Inc., Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Philippines
Bizim Toptan, Istanbul, Turkey
Blacklane, Berlin, Germany
BlueJeans-Networks San Jose, CA, USA
Borusan Holding, Istanbul, Turkey
Brains For Rent, Mexico City, Mexico
Central de Informação / Vodafone, Oporto, Portugal
Ceyhinz Link International Inc, Irving, TX, USA
Chongqing IFS/Chengu IFS, Shanghai, China
Chubb, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Cisco Systems Inc, San Jose, CA, USA
Cisco Systems, Bangalore, India
Dani Communications, South, South Korea
davero dialog GmbH, Erlangen, Germany
David Tye Brand & Marketing Communications, Bristol, United Kingdom
Dell Technologies - APJC ICSS, Bangalore, India
Dell Technologies Ltd., Bangalore, India
Deutsche Telekom Services Europe GmbH, Cologne, Germany
DHL Express, Muttenz, Switzerland
DIGITALLICA, Istanbul, Turkey
Diligent Corporation, New York, NY, USA
DP World Yarimca, Turkey
Dubai Economy, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai Health Authority / Dubai Thalassemia Center, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
ECi Software Solutions, Fort Worth, TX, USA
Egyptian Cement, Cairo, Egypt
Elita Gida, Adana, Turkey
Empire Eagle Food Co., Ltd., Taichung, Taiwan
Events DC, Washington, DC, USA
FedEx Express, Hoofddorp, Netherlands
Fortinet, Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited, Pune, India
Garanti BBVA Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
GBKSOFT, Kiev, Ukraine
GHESA Water & Art, Madrid, Spain
Glass of Learning, Toronto, ON, Canada
Global PEO Services (GPS), San Jose, CA, USA
Globe Telecom, Taguig City, Philippines
GSK, Istanbul, Turkey
HANAROADCOM w/ Kosha, Seoul, South Korea
HELLENIC PETROLEUM SA, Athens, Greece
HeyMo® The Experience Design Company, Istanbul, Turkey
IBM, Armonk, NY, USA
IDO, Istanbul, Turkey
ING Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
Involvement Packaging Ltd, Manchester, United Kingdom
Isbank, Istanbul, Turkey
Jasmine Norris Photography, Lafayette, IN, USA
Kannaway, San Diego, CA, USA
KC Inner Bella Cosmetics, Seoul, South Korea
KCDC, Seoul, South Korea
KCI, San Antonio, TX, USA
KEPCO Nuclear Fuel Company (KNF), Seoul, South Korea
Kira Systems, Toronto, ON, Canada
KÖNIGSKLASSE, München, Bayern, Germany
KT KBN, Seoul, South Korea
LAW Creative, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Life Insurance Philanthropy Foundation/KPR, Seoul, South Korea
LifeVantage Corporation, Sandy, UT, USA
Limage Media Group, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Link4Media UG, Urbar, Germany
LLORENTE & CUENCA, Madrid, Spain
Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, MD, USA
Lora DiCarlo, Portland, OR, USA
Lotte Corporation, Seoul, South Korea
Maan Program, Ministry of Interior, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Manatee Holdings, Courtenay, BC, Canada
MARCO de Comunicación, Madrid, Spain
MarketsandMarkets, Pune, India
Mastercard, EMEA
Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Quezon City, Philippines
Megaworld Corporation, Taguig City, Philippines
Meli Studio Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
MERALCO, Pasig, Philippines
Mercedes Benz Türk, Istanbul, Turkey
Microhealth, LLC, Vienna, VA, USA
Migros Ticaret A.S., Istanbul, Turkey
Ministry Of Infrastructure Development, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Ministry Of State For Federal National Council Affairs, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
mobile.de GmbH, Europarc-Dreilinden, Germany
Modis, Sofia, Bulgaria
MorrisCookies Science & Development OÜ, Kuusalu vald, Estonia
Mosaicoelearning, Ragusa, Italia
Mphasis Communications, New York, NY, USA
NIIMASH Ltd, Smolensk, Russia
NJMPF, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
NMC Healthcare, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Notice Media, Norwich, Norfolk, United Kingdom
Oncuemedia, Inc., Pasig City, Philippines
Pan American Energy, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Paradigm Design Group, Houston, TX, USA
Pasaz Tesco Company, Warsaw, Poland
passcon GmbH, Hamburg, Germany
Pegasus Airlines, Istanbul, Turkey
PRecious Communications, Singapore
PT ANGKASA PURA II (PERSERO), Jakarta, Indonesia
PT Pembangkitan Jawa - Bali (PJB), Surabaya, Indonesia
PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (Persero) Tbk, Jakarta, Indonesia
PT Petrokimia Gresik, Gresik, Indonesia
PT PGN LNG, Jakarta, Indonesia
PT PGN Permata, Jakarta, Indonesia
PT Pupuk Kalimantan Timur, Bontang Kalimantan Timur, Indonesia
Qulix Systems, Minsk, Belarus
Resolute Forest Products, Montreal, QC, Canada
RICO'S LECHON, Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines
RTB House, Warsaw, Poland
Sanoma Media Netherlands B.V., Hoofddorp, Netherlands
SBI Card and Payments Services Private Limited, Mumbai, India
SeaLand Americas- A Maersk Company, Miramar, FL, USA
Sharjah Finance Department, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
SHELL Philippines - GeiserMaclang Marketing Communications Inc, Metro Manila, Philippines
Sleepm Global Inc., Markham, ON, Canada
SM SUPERMALLS/SM PRIME HOLDINGS INC., Makati City, Philippines
Smart Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
SolarWinds, Cork, Ireland
Solv by Concentrix, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Soohyun, Seoul, South Korea
Strategic Public Relations Group, Hong Kong
Super Star Group (SSG), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Swiss Post Solutions Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City
Switching-Time, Shanghai, China
Synchrotron Light Research Institute, Nakhonratchasima, Thailand
Taiwan External Trade Development Council, Taipei, Taiwan
TANAP Natural Gas Transmission Company, Ankara, Turkey
Tele2, Vilnius, Lithuania
Tesco Poland, Warsaw, Poland
Testa Communications, Warsaw, Poland
TH Food Chain Join Stock Company, Nghe An, Vietnam
Thai Life Insurance Plc., Bangkok, Thailand
The H Creative for The-H, BGFRetail, KoROAD , Gyeonggi Urban, Goyang City, South Korea
The Zone Creative, Seoul, South Korea
Total Oil Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Turkish Aerospace, Ankara, Turkey
Ulled Asociados C.R.P. S.A, Barcelona, Spain
Umbrella IT, Taganrog, Russia
Valor Global, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Viettel Group, Hanoi, Vietnam
Viettel Post Join Stock Corporation, Hanoi, Vietnam
VNPT VinaPhone Corporation, Hanoi, Vietnam
WNS Holdings (P) Ltd., Mumbai, India
XtremeLabs LLC, Redmond, WA, USA
ZEEP Medical, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Ziraat Participation Bank, Istanbul, Turkey
ZOOM International, Franklin, TN, USA

Awards to be Presented at Gala Ceremony on 19 October in Vienna, Austria.

Winners were announced today in the 2019 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, a feature of The International Business Awards®, the world’s only international, all-encompassing business awards program, which is now in its 16th year.

The worldwide public vote was conducted this summer, with the highest number of votes deciding the winners in a variety of industries. More than 44,000 votes were cast. All Stevie Award winners in the Company of the Year categories of this year’s International Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the People’s Choice Stevie Awards.

The crystal People’s Choice Stevie Awards will be presented to winners at The International Business Awards banquet on Saturday, 19 October at the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere Hotel. Tickets for the event are now on sale. The winners of peer-adjudicated Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be presented with their awards along with the People’s Choice Stevie Awards. Stevie winners were selected from more than 4,000 nominations received from organizations and individuals in 74 nations.

The winners of the 2019 People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies are:

• Advertising/Marketing/PR: Publicity Genie
• Automotive/Transport: Armormax
• Banking: Ziraat Participation Bank
• Business/Professional Services: Pontica Solutions
• Computer Services: Rimini Street
• Computer Software: XtremeLabs LLC
• Consumer Products: Georgio’s
• Consumer Services: Jasmine Norris Photography
• Financial/Insurance: Thai Life Insurance Plc.
• Food/Beverage: Rico’s Lechon
• Health/Pharma: NMC Healthcare
• Hospitality/Leisure: Kindersley Hospitality Endeavors
• Internet/New Media: SideChef
• Legal: Legally Shalini
• Manufacturing: Makers Nutrition
• Media/Entertainment: Link4Media UG
• Non-Profit/Government: Megaworld Foundation, Inc.
• Other: Zen Ecosystems
• Real Estate: Ashby & Graff Real Estate
• Retail: Migros Ticaret A.S.
• Transportation: Whale Logistics

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Grand Stevie Award winners will be presented with trophies at the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere Hotel, on 19 October.

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2019 (16th Annual) International Business Awards®, the world’s premier business awards competition.

Nominees in the 2019 IBAs were not able to apply for the Best of the IBA Awards directly. Winners were determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the IBAs with a Gold Stevie win counting for three points, a Silver Stevie win for two points, and a Bronze Stevie win for 1.5 points.

This year’s Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on 14 August. The winners of the Best of the IBA Awards will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies at The 16th Annual International Business Awards banquet at the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere Hotel in Vienna, Austria on 19 October.

Winners of the 2019 Grand Stevie Awards are:

Most Honored Organization: International mail and logistics company DP DHL Group, with 86.5 award points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted by their offices and affiliates in 32 countries. This is the 11^th Grand Stevie Award won by DP DHL Group in one of the Stevie Award competitions since 2014.

Most Honored Public Relations Agency: LLYC, with a total of 69.5 award points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted on behalf of clients like BBVA, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks. The Madrid-headquartered global communications and public affairs consulting firm won a Top 10 Grand Stevie Award in 2018.

Most Honored Awards Consulting Agency: Melissa Sones Consulting, with a total of 36.5 points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted on behalf of numerous innovative clients in fields from consumer products, technology and filling board-level positions to best research paper and business book. The consulting agency is based out of New York, NY.

Most Honored Marketing Agency: Switching-Time, with a total of 20 points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted mostly on behalf of outdoor brand Columbia. The agency is based in Shanghai, China.

Most Honored Interactive Services Agency: The XD Agency, with 20.5 points earned by Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie-winning entries submitted on behalf of clients such as Porsche and Red Bull.  The Atlanta, Georgia USA-based strategic communications agency is hyper-focused on experience design. The agency also won the Grand Stevie for most honored interactive services agency in The 2019 American Business Awards®.

Top 10: These are the top Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners among all other organizations honored in the 2019 IBAs. They’ll also be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies.

1. MSL, worldwide (66.5 points)
2. IBM, worldwide (65)
3. ASDA’A BCW, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (59.5)
4. The Audacious Agency, Coombabah, QLD Australia (37)
5. PT Petrokimia Gresik, Gresik, Indonesia (35.5
6. (tie) Dell Technologies, worldwide (30)
Ooredoo, worldwide (30)
8. Dan Lok Education Inc., Vancouver, BC, Canada (29)
9. (tie) Jeunesse Global, Lake Mary, FL, USA (24.5)
Thai Life Insurance Plc., Bangkok, Thailand (24.5)

“Of all the outstanding organizations and achievements that were recognized among this year’s record-breaking number of IBA nominations, these 15 organizations stand out as the ones with the widest breadth of achievement,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “The Best of the IBA Awards are intended to honor organizations that show an especially strong dedication to honoring the work of their employees, commitment to their clients, and a sense of innovation, and we look forward to celebrating these firms with Grand Stevie Award trophies at our gala event in Vienna on 19 October.”

The International Business Awards feature a wide variety of categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management awards, new product awards, marketing awards, PR awards, customer service awards, website awards, and more.
Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award placements in the 2019 IBAs were determined by the average scores of more than 250 professionals worldwide in the three-month judging process.

For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2019 competition, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Interested in winning a Stevie Award in 2020?

Like everyone concerned about equitable compensation in her home country, businesswoman Henrike von Platen eagerly awaited the first German Equal Pay Day in 2008. In some ways, the event—now held annually—delivered on its outsized expectations.

“The campaign ensured a great deal of attention was focused on the difference in income between women and men in Germany,” she says. “It wasn’t long before the causes of the pay gap had been well researched.”

Soon, however, that sense of optimism turned to frustration.

“Despite all the talk, almost nothing happened,” says von Platen. “In the meantime, the pay gap of 21 percent has narrowed by just two percentage points since then—far too slowly.”

Given that lack of tangible results, the finance and IT executive launched the Fair Pay Innovation Lab, or FPI, in 2017. Its goal: to assist companies and organizations in the practical implementation of pay equity, to create a space for dialogue, and to provide suggestions for the labor market.

Though FPI is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, the disparity in pay among the sexes is very much an international issue, especially in the West. Throughout the European Union, women make 16 percent less than men, and in the United States, women take in 15 percent less than their male peers, according to the Pew Research Center.

Von Platen insists there’s widespread consensus to even the economic scales. She points to the Berlin Declaration, signed in 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Economic Community, as an example. The landmark document called for equality on pay slips, and it received widespread support in politics and in the private sector.

“Everyone wants pay equity,” says von Platen, who serves as the chief executive of FPI. “At the present pace, though, it will take a long, long time to reach that point—around 170 years.”

Developing Sustainable Policies

In order to reach the goal faster, the FPI Fair Pay Innovation Lab has offered companies concrete solutions about how to make salaries more equitable since 2017. Every day, it helps clients figure out how to develop sustainable compensation policies and to prepare for laws dealing with salary transparency.

“Despite many firms having had very good experiences with open salary structures, transparency still represents a daring venture for most people,” says von Platen, whose organization earned a Bronze Stevie® Award last year for Organization of the Year in the government and nonprofit category. “Among employees, too, the subject of salary is often a bigger taboo than sexual orientation.”

In addition to implementing best practices in the field, FPI also hosts “fair pay management circles” that encourage leaders to exchange ideas in a private, invitation-only setting.

“We invite experts and decision makers from the fields of industry and commerce, science, and politics to share their views in order to trigger new debates, including controversial ones.”

The organization isn’t just in the business of preaching pay equity, however; it’s also quite literally a laboratory for the ideas it champions. In order to provide a work-life balance, its employees all work from different places and have leeway to create their own schedules. Full-time positions at FPI are only 32 hours per week, so half-time work is 16 hours per week, and 40 hours per week would be a 125 percent post.

Plus, FPI provides employees with one of the tools it offers to clients: a wage calculator where staffers can look up the salary for virtually any job in the organization, even before applying. To determine the pay scale, FPI relies on an objective set of criteria, including relevant professional experience, project experience, and how much responsibility the person takes on.

“We advocate for openness, transparency, and fairness,” says von Platen. “We strive for these values in our own organization and personally test every instrument we promote.”

While closing the pay gap is an uphill battle, the CEO insists it’s one worth fighting.

“Fair pay is imperative to ensuring gender equality,” she says. “Without solving the money question, gender equality will not be reached.”

FPI Fair Pay Innovation Lab is a Bronze Stevie Award winner for Organization of the Year - Non-Profit in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Women in Business. 

Interested in winning a Stevie Award for Women in Business?

Business Awards Program to Celebrate Excellence Worldwide at Vienna Event

High-achieving organizations and executives around the world have been recognized as Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie® Award winners in The 16th Annual International Business Awards®, the world's only international, all-encompassing business awards program.

Nicknamed the Stevies from the Greek word for "crowned," the awards will be presented at a gala event on Saturday, 19 October at the Andaz Vienna am Belvedere Hotel in Vienna, Austria. Tickets for the event are on sale now at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners were selected from more than 4,000 nominations received from organizations and individuals in 74 nations. All organizations worldwide are eligible to compete in The International Business Awards, and can submit entries in a wide range of categories, including management awards, company of the year awards, marketing awards, public relations awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, new product awards, IT awards, web site awards, and more. 

More than 250 executives worldwide participated on 12 juries this year to determine the Stevie winners.

LLYC, a global communications and public affairs consulting firm headquartered in Madrid, Spain won 17 Gold Stevie Awards, more than any organization has ever won in a single edition of the IBAs.

Among the other top winners of Gold Stevie Awards are MSLGROUP, USA with 10; IBM, USA (nine), ASDA’A BCW, United Arab Emirates (seven); Ooredoo, Qatar (six); Thai Life Insurance Plc., Thailand (six), Dan Lok Education, Canada (five); Jeunesse Global, USA (five), PT Petrokimia Gresik, Indonesia (five); The Audacious Agency, Australia (four), Makers Nutrition, USA (four), The XD Agency, USA (four), and Zeep Medical, Australia (four).

Deutsche Post DHL, with nominations submitted by affiliates worldwide, won eight Gold Stevies and 45 Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies in total.

Other organizations with eight or more Stevie wins include Dell Technologies Ltd., worldwide; KocSistem Bilgi ve Iletisim Hizm. A.S., Turkey; PJ Lhuillier, Inc (PJLI), Philippines; SM Supermalls, Philippines; Strategic Public Relations Group, China; Switching-Time, China; Ulled Asociados C.R.P. S.A., Spain; Viettel Group, Vietnam; WNS Holdings (P) Ltd., India; and Yapi Kredi Bank, Turkey. The five nations that have the most winning nominations are the United States, Turkey, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines.

A complete list of all 2019 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

During the week of 19 August the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards, five best-of-competition prizes, will be announced.  Winners will be determined by a tally of the total number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevies won by organizations, and will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies in Vienna.

For high-resolution photos of the Stevie Award trophy or International Business Awards logo, visit http://stevieawards.com/iba/photos-and-logos. Other information and resources for press are available at http://stevieawards.com/iba/media-inquiries-news-service-list

The Stevie® Awards, organizer of The International Business Awards®, has announced that the final entry deadline in the 2019 competition is extended to July 18. The original final entry deadline was June 12. Recognized as the world’s premier business awards program, The IBAs attract nominations from organizations in more than 70 nations and territories each year.

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 2019 awards will honor achievements since the beginning of 2018.  Entry details are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Juries featuring more than 250 executives will determine the Stevie Award winners. Results will be announced August 13. Stevie Award winners will be presented their awards at a gala banquet in Vienna, Austria on October 19.

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Categories including, Management Awards, Company of the Year Awards, Customer Service Awards, Entrepreneur Awards, PR Awards, Web Awards, and many more.

There are many new and revised features of the IBAs for 2019:

• A variety of new categories, including the IT categories Best Technical Support Strategy and Implementation and Best Technical Support Solution. In categories for business-related media, there are many new Live Event, Publication, and Video categories.
• Entry fees have been eliminated for nominations to the Company of the Year categories. Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie winners in these 35 by-industry categories will again be included in the worldwide public vote called the People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies.
• In the Marketing, New Product & Service, and Public Relations categories, nominees may now submit a video of up to five minutes in length, instead of the traditional written Stevie Awards essay or case study.