Tomorrow, Wednesday, 16 May, is the entry deadline for The 2012 (Ninth Annual) International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition. (If you miss the 16 May deadline, late entries will be accepted through 27 June with payment of a $35/entry late fee.)

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to the IBAs. If you haven't already done so, you can request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away.  

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Types of award categories include:

• Company/Organization Awards 
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Support Awards
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

See the full list of business awards categories.

Finalists will be announced in late July and 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

Have last minute questions regarding your IBA entries?  Email us at help@stevieawards.com  or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.

The entry deadline for The 2012 International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, is Wednesday, May 16, 2012.

All individuals and organizations worldwide may submit nominations to the IBAs. To begin your submission process, you should:

1. Request an entry kit. 
The entry kit will have all of the information you need regarding entry preparation and submission.

2. Review the 2012 IBA categories.
The International Business Awards honors all facets of the workplace, our award categories include: annual report awards, app awards, company/organization awards, customer service awards, human resources awards, information technology awards, management awards, marketing awards, new product awards, public relations awards, support awards, and website awards, among others. See all corporate awards categories.

3. Submit your entries.
Select your categories, write your submissions according to the instructions, and submit your entries.

The 8^th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  2011 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_21081.cfm. 

Finalists will be announced in late July and 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

Can't make the 16 May entry deadline? Don't worry, we will still accept entries submitted after 16 May, through the final entry deadline of 27 June, with a late fee of $35 in addition to any entry fee.

16 May Is Entry Deadline for 2012 International Business Awards; Ceremony to Take Place in Seoul, South Korea

Fairfax, VA – 9 May, 2012 – Organizers of The Ninth Annual International Business Awards, the world’s premier business awards competition,  are reminding businesses and individuals that the entry deadline is on 16 May. While the competition is on track to receive a record number of entries, there are still many opportunities for aspiring entrants.

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 entry deadline is Wednesday, 16 May, and late entries will be accepted until 27 June with an additional fee.  Entry details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba. 

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

• Management 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

The 2012 International Business Awards will include the Second Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, in which the general public worldwide will vote for their favorite companies. Each company honored with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award in The International Business Awards’ company of the year categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting, which will open in late July.

Winners of the competition will be celebrated at the ninth annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea. 

The 8^th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  2011 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_21081.cfm. 

About The Stevie Awards
Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  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/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards. 

16 May is the entry deadline for The Ninth Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition.

If you haven't downloaded the 2012 entry kit, you can request your entry kit here and you will receive it right away.  

The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace and all individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to the IBAs. Types of award categories include:

• Company/Organization Awards 
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards 
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Support Awards
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

See the full list of international business award categories.

Entries submitted after 16 May, through the final entry deadline of 27 June, will be assessed a late fee in addition to any entry fee. Finalists will be announced in late July and 2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea.

Need help answering  your IBA submission questions?  Email us at help@stevieawards.com  or call us at + 1 703-547-8389 and we'll get back to you right away.

The Ninth Annual International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition, is now accepting entries. The entry deadline is 16 May; request your entry kit here.) 

All individuals and organizations worldwide -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to the IBAs. The International Business Awards recognize achievement in every facet of the workplace. Stevie® Awards are conferred upon top-scoring nominations in each category, as chosen by an international judging panel of more than 150 business leaders.

Our business awards categories include:

• Company/Organization Awards
• Customer Service Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Public Relations Awards
• Support Awards
• Web Site Awards, Smartphone and Tablet App, and other media awards

See the full list of international business awards categories.

Nominations should cite achievements during our eligibility period: January 2011 through 27 June 2012, the last day that late entries will be accepted. There is no eligibility timeframe for web site entries - it does not matter when the web sites were first published.

The IBA deadline is 16 May and late entries will be accepted through the final entry deadline of 27 June with a $35.00 late fee. Finalists will be announced in late July. Entry details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba.

2012 honorees will be celebrated at the 9th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October in Seoul, South Korea. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Stevie Awards movement, we will introduce Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards. This means that all honorees in the IBAs will now be Stevie Award winners (Note: Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will replace Distinguished Honoree (honorable mention) medals). Read more about the new awards here.

To request an entry kit for The 2011 International Business Awards, visit www.stevieawards.com/iba.

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, offering discounted entry fees, is 11 April.  The final entry deadline is 16 May.  Late entries will be accepted through 27 June, and results will be announced in late July.  Entry details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba. 

New in 2012, Stevie Awards will be conferred at three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze.  Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards. The Stevie Award trophy, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, is one of the world’s most coveted prizes. Stevie Award winners will be selected by an international judging panel of more than 200 executives.

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

For a full list of categories visit the IBA web site.

The 2012 International Business Awards will include the Second Annual People’s Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, in which the general public worldwide will vote for their favorite companies. Each company honored with a Gold, Silver or Bronze Stevie Award in The International Business Awards’ company of the year categories will automatically be included in people’s choice voting.  Voting will open in late July and winners will be announced at the Seoul, South Korea awards ceremony on 15 October.

2012 Stevie Award winners will be celebrated at the 9^th annual awards banquet on Monday, 15 October at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Seoul, South Korea.

The 8th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2011 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.  Honorees included American Express, Bombardier, Inc., Etisalat, Everything Everywhere, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, Siemens AG, TATA Motors, Tesco Poland, Toyota Motor Corporation, Turk Telekom, and Unilever N.V., among others.  2011 results are summarized at http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/iba/awards/408_2219_21081.cfm.  

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  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/, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards. 

In order to better serve our website visitors, The Stevie® Awards has updated and improved the search function on our websites.

Our newly added search function powered by Google provides:

1. Easier access to information
   Now, searching on any one of our four awards program web sites - The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and The Stevie Awards for Women in Business – will produce consolidated, fresh search results from all four sites.
   
2. Consolidated search results
   With search results provided by Google, you’ll find what you’re looking for faster and in a format you’re accustomed to.

To access our search powered by Google, enter your keywords in the "Search Site" box at the top of any Stevie Awards webpage and hit enter.

Have you tried our new site search? Let us know what you think!  

APRA Porter Novelli of Sofia, Bulgaria has won the Stevie Award for Best Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Reputation/Brand Management in the public relations awards categories of The 2011 International Business Awards. Here we look at their award-winning campaign to fight the flab.

The devastating facts behind APRA Porter Novelli’s LIVE ACTIVELY! campaign were that each year more and more people in Bulgaria were suffering from obesity and related health problems, particularly children, the elderly, and young working people. Contributing factors included a sedentary lifestyle and a lack of education on balanced nutrition. Bulgaria had recently ranked fifth in Europe for having the most obese population, according to the EU’s Diogenes project.

LIVE ACTIVELY! Campaign Objectives

Nestlé Bulgaria is the country’s biggest Nutrition Health and Wellness (NHW) Company, with products targeted at people from all age groups and social and professional backgrounds. Nestlé is also a socially responsible company, dedicated to long-term investment in the health and well being of consumers.

Research showed that obesity-related problems strike everyone, even children. APRA Porter Novelli therefore created the LIVE ACTIVELY! campaign for its client Nestlé to address the mass public.

LIVE ACTIVELY! Events

Since 2005, APRA Porter Novelli and Nestlé Bulgaria have organized an annual campaign to raise public awareness of the benefits of an active lifestyle and to promote the importance of physical activity in an urban environment. A key element in the project is to promote walking as a simple way to not only stay fit and healthy, but also to improving the environment and reduce air pollution.

APRA Porter Novelli organizes LIVE ACTIVELY! events each year in open air spaces that include central streets, parks, and beaches.  LIVE ACTIVELY! 2010 integrated the following events into one campaign:

• Sofia, June 20: Official Opening Ceremony, a walkathon, sports activities, concerts, and educational games.

• Varna, August 10, Nessebar, August 12, and Primorsko, August 14: Beach sports activities, tournaments, and educational games.
  

Communications Campaign

APRA Porter Novelli supported the 2010 LIVE ACTIVELY! project with a huge communications campaign that included the distribution of thousands of branded hats and T-shirts, special LIVE ACTIVELY! footsteps stuck on the ground to mark the route of the Sofia walkathon; 120,000 leaflet insertions in newspapers and magazines; 60,000 posters; print ads; TV and radio spots, outdoor billboards; Internet banner ads; and a Facebook fan page.

In addition, APRA Porter Novelli arranged for the distribution in Sofia schools of 10,000 maps of South Park, with locations and details of related sport activities; and at the opening ceremony, 50 LIVE ACTIVELY! Gold Medals were awarded to top Bulgarian sportsmen.

VIP Support

LIVE ACTIVELY! received support from numerous Bulgarian VIPs, including the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boyko Borissov; the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova; Olympic athletics champion Tereza Marinova; World rhythmic gymnastics champion Iliana Raeva; World Champion weightlifter Armen Nazarian; and Olympic shooting champion Maria Grozdeva.

Overwhelming Results

The amount of publicity and total media space devoted to LIVE ACTIVELY! events has doubled each year.  Over 300 media outlets covered the events in 2010. The number of participants has grown by over 1,500% over the past 5 years, with 28,500 people taking part in 2010. Over 83,000 people were involved in all the 2010 LIVE ACTIVELY! activities, including 18,000 Facebook fans; and the most active participants received a total of 30,000 sports awards.

LIVE ACTIVELY! is currently the biggest sports event in Bulgaria. It is Nestlé

Bulgaria’s flagship initiative for Nutrition Health and Wellness.

About Tomislav Tsolov and Lubomir Alamanov:

Tomislav Tsolov and Lubomir Alamanov founded APRA Porter Novelli in 1994.  Under their guidance, it has evolved into one of the most experienced communication groups on the Bulgarian market, setting trends for the whole Bulgarian market.

APRA Porter Novelli was among the founders of the Bulgarian Association of PR

Agencies, and Lubomir Alamanov was its first Chairman, from 2001 to 2008. During these years the foundation of the PR industry in Bulgaria was formed and the Stockholm Chapter of Ethics was adopted.

About APRA Porter Novelli:

APRA Porter Novelli is a full-service communications agency with a team of over 70 experienced staff.  For more information go to www.apraagency.com.

More than 35,000 votes were cast in the first People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Companies, from 28 July through 9 September, and here are the top vote-getters in the 25 categories, and thus the winners of the crystal People's Choice Stevie Awards:

2011 Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations: BrainJuicer Group PLC            

2011 Aerospace, Defense & Transportation: Gulftainer Company Limited                      

2011 Automotive & Transport Equipment: International Armoring Corporation                       

2011 Banking: National Bank of Abu Dhabi

2011 Business Services: ActionCOACH

2011 Chemicals: SABIC

2011 Computer Services: Quality Systems, Inc.

2011 Computer Software: SYSPRO

2011 Conglomerates: Siemens AG

2011 Consumer Products: Beiersdorf AG

2011 Electronics: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing 

2011 Energy & Utilities: Abu Dhabi National Oil Company                 

2011 Financial Services: Union National Bank

2011 Food & Beverage: Al Ghadeer Water Factory LLC 

2011 Health Products & Services: PetRays

2011 Insurance: PlanSource

2011 Manufacturing: Joseph Group

2011 Materials & Construction: GS Engineering & Construction                       

2011 Media: British Sky Broadcasting

2011 Metals & Mining: African Rainbow Minerals

2011 Non-Profit & Government: Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters                      

2011 Real Estate: CTP Company

2011 Retail: Ross Stores

2011 Services: African Access Holdings

2011 Telecommunications: Türk Telekom

This worldwide public vote was conducted as part of The 8^th Annual International Business Awards, the only global, all-encompassing business awards program honoring great performances in business.

Nicknamed the Stevie® for the Greek word “crowned,” the awards will be presented to honorees at the IBA awards banquet on Tuesday, 11 October in the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  Tickets for the event are now on sale.

All organizations honored in the Company/Organization awards categories of this year’s International Business Awards were eligible to be included in voting for the people’s choice awards, which was open to the public for more than five weeks this summer.

How did your favorites fare in the voting?

For the past week we've been recognizing the participation of the more than 200 judges in The 2011 International Business Awards, the world's premier awards program honoring achievements of all sorts in the workplace.  Today we look at the members of the panel whose scores determined this year's honorees in the Company/Organization categories.

Panel members included

Rene Co, General Manager, Corporate Communications & Reputation, Procter & Gamble Asia, Singapore
Sangmin (Eddy) Hong, CEO, Nextrans Inc., Seoul, South Korea
Sinta Kaniawati, Director, Unilever Foundation, Unilever Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
Steve Keum, CEO & Creative Chairman, UK Creative Group, Seoul, South Korea
Ilchul Kim, Professor, Dongeui University (Dept. of Marketing Communications), Busan City, South Korea
Stephen Midgley, VP-Global Marketing, Absolute Software, Vancouver, Canada
Eunjoo (Stephanie) Song,  CEO & President, Culture Bank Inc., Seoul, South Korea

The committee was chaired and formed by Shin Sung-In, CEO, KPR & Associates Inc., Seoul, South Korea.

Among the categories judged by this committee were

• 33 industry-specific Company of the Year categories
• Most Innovative Company of the Year
• CSR Program of the Year
• Environmental Responsibility Program of the Year
• New Company of the Year
• Fastest Growing Company of the Year

Among the honorees in these categories this year are Bombardier Inc., Tata Motors Limited, Agricultural Bank of China, Quality Systems, ING Group, and Bertelsmann AG, among many others.

What do you think of the selections by this judging committee?