Newest Stevie Awards Program Recognizing the Best in Business in Germany Now Accepting Entries through February 11

By popular demand, the Stevie Awards have announced a general entry deadline extension for its new German Stevie® Awards.  Entries will now be accepted through February 11.

All organizations operating in Germany are eligible to submit nominations to the 2015 German Stevie Awards. The awards will recognize achievements made since July 1, 2013.  Complete information about the awards process is available 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 Stevie Award trophy is 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 

Judging for the competition will be conducted in two rounds by dozens of executives across Germany.  The first round will take place the week of February 16 and will determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in each category.  Those winners will be announced the week of 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 Berlin on March 27.

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 the more prominent winners.  “With the German Stevie Awards, we are able to recognize the achievements of many more German companies and executives,” said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. “This will mean that many more German businesses will be able to benefit from the brand-building and employee-recognition benefits of winning the major business award, the Stevie Award.”

Questions about the German Stevie Awards?  Contact us at help+deutschland@stevieawards.com.

The newest Stevie Awards program, the German Stevie Awards, is now accepting nominations from all organizations operating in Germany at www.StevieAwards.com/Deutschland.

Recognizing the best in business in Germany, the program is offering the lowest entry fee of the year at 99 euros for all entries submitted by the November 5 deadline. Entry fees will rise substantially on November 6, through the final entry deadline of December 10.

The German Stevie Awards opened for entries in mid-August and have received an impressive number of nominations thus far from a wide variety of organizations.

The Stevie Awards are 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.

Harald Oberhofer, Director of Corporate Communications at optivo and a Stevie Award winner, shared his thoughts about the new German Stevie Awards. “German companies are acting more and more internationally,” Harald added. “The German Stevie Awards might help to deepen our global mindset. At the same time, I think it’s great that German business achievements are going to be recognized through these new Awards, and that German innovations and product highlights will get the visibility they deserve.”

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

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. Stevie Awards competitions typically feature more than 200 executives as judges. 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 Berlin in late March.

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.

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.

The 2015 (2^nd annual) Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the premier business awards competition for the region will offer fully revamped and expanded entry categories.

Nominations will be accepted starting the week of September 15. Get the entry kit as soon as it's available.

All individuals and organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small -- may submit nominations to the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards now feature a wide range of categories to recognize achievement in every aspect of the workplace. In the 2014 awards, only 18 categories were offered. This year there are over 250 industry specific entry categories including:

• Customer Service Awards
• Company/Organization Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Corporate Communications, IR, and PR Awards
• Support Awards
• Website Awards and Smartphone and Tablet App Awards

See the full list of Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards categories.

Nominations should cite achievements since July 1 2013. There is no eligibility timeframe for app and web site entries - it does not matter when they were first published.

The early-bird entry deadline, with discounted entry fees, is October 29. The entry deadline is December 3, but late entries will be accepted through January 28 with payment of a late fee. Entry details are available at www.asia.stevieawards.com.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be announced on March 11. The 2015 winners will be celebrated at the second annual awards banquet on April 24, in China.

Contact us with your questions about how to participate in the 2015 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

The Stevie® Awards have announced the winners of the Best of the IBA Awards in The 2014 (11^th Annual) International Business Awards, the world's premier business awards competition.

Nominees in the 2014 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. This year's Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners in The International Business Awards were announced on August 13.

The winners of the Best of the IBA Awards will be presented with Grand Stevie Award trophies at The 11^th Annual International Business Awards banquet at The Westin Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France on October 10. 

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 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5.  The winners are:

Organization of the Year: Quality, Systems, Inc. Irvine, California, USA. With 68.5 total points, Quality Systems, Inc. is the most honored organization in the 2014 IBAs.

Public Relations Agency of the Year: MWW. MWW offices around the world won a total of 42.5 points.

Marketing Agency of the Year: Weber Shandwick. Weber Shandwick offices worldwide won a total of 39.5 points.

Interactive Services Agency of the Year: Plasenta Conversation Agency, Istanbul, Turkey (31.5 points)

Top 10: After the winners of the above prizes, the following entrants earned the most award points in the 2014 IBAs:

1. MSLGROUP, worldwide (35.5)
2. CallidusCloud, Pleasanton, California, USA (32.5)
3. Akbank TAS, Istanbul, Turkey (31.5)
4. Maras Group, Adelaide, Australia (31)
5. LLORENTE Y CUENCA, Madrid, Spain (27.5)
6. Odea Bank A.S., Istanbul, Turkey (26.5)
7. Ooredoo Group, Doha, Qatar (25.5)
8. Accenture, worldwide (24.5)
9. Oxford City Football Club, Lake Worth, Florida, USA (23)
10. ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (22)

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.

For more information about The International Business Awards, including a complete list of all Stevie Award winners in the 2014 IBAs, visit www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.

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.

Suzanne McDonald is CEO of Designated Editor in Newport, Rhode Island, USA and winner of the Gold Stevie® Award for Upstart of the Year in the management awards categories of The 2014 American Business Awards, the top business awards program in the USA. 

(Join the mailing list for the 2015 ABAs and you'll be emailed the entry kit as soon as entries open again in October.)

We asked Suzanne McDonald to explain how she came to found her company. “When I started in the Social Media business, I had been a successful journalist. By 2006, with the looming end of print as we knew it in the form of magazines and newspapers, it was clear to me that print would ultimately coalescence with New Media. Even though it was early days for this trend, I chose to jump the journalism ship and set a course for the new world of Social Media, which is where I believed the future of journalism lay.

“Since then, I have become an expert in New Media—the area of marketing information, rather than brands themselves—that includes every aspect of social media, plus everything that is crucial to have a powerful and fully integrated marketing platform and results. This can include face-to-face networking or it can include branding. It all depends on the client.”

Bringing Social Media to Educators
Suzanne explained how she had started providing services in New Media to universities. “In the past year I have become one of the national leaders in the movement to bring social media—really New Media—into university settings. I have spearheaded this movement because I saw—and still see—what happens when young people use Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest and Instagram, but have no idea how to use these tools cohesively to become useful, usable, and effective in a business setting.”

Continues Suzanne: “I believe students must learn these key tools in college and/or graduate school, and then bring their tool-based skills and strategic know-how to the workplace. Doing this, I believe, will make finding jobs a lot easier. There’s nothing like results to prove your value in the workplace, big or small, and today’s metrics-linked communications and marketing makes this entirely doable.”

Top 10 Tips for Students & Businesses
Suzanne has some useful advice for both businesses and university students, the most fundamental of which is: Be sure to get the New Media guidance you need as you move along your online journey. Following are the ten areas where Suzanne feels both businesses and university students need help:

1. The Campaign Counts.  Whether you are a giant global company or a college student or administrator, you must build a comprehensive and consistent focus for your social media/New Media work—and that focus needs to be a “direct hit” with your target audience. 

2. Know your Target Audience.  Believe it or not, most companies—no matter their size—haven’t taken the time to pinpoint their actual target audience. Do it! An often-seen example: Your audience is B-to-B and you are posting some or all C-to-B. 

3. Share Cautiously. The number-one problem in the world of New Media—whether you are a business executive or a student learning the New Media ropes—is oversharing. If you are putting out too much information, some of it will ultimately be detrimental to your image or your cause. And once it’s up, it can be difficult to remove (although this is one of the fastest-growing areas in New Media jobs). If you’re not sure what to post and when, get the expert advice you need first.

4. Ask Yourself: “Are We Boring our Audience?” This may seem like part of the two items above, but in the world of New Media, it very much stands alone. Avoid putting information online that is not of interest to your target audiences. Do that and you risk losing them. Example: Many companies I work with pack their online arenas with press releases that few people care about. My constant advice: Revise those press releases to resonate with your target audiences.

5. Be Smart about SEO.  As noted above, before you post online, make sure that the post is a perfect fit for your target audience. Avoid posting just for search engines (e.g. the press releases). Have a perfect fit first. Then, if you get great SEO to boot, even better.

6. Know Where to Find Your Audience! Yes, you’ve already segmented your key target audiences, but after doing a nice job, you’ve fallen into the next big New Media trap: you’ve forgotten to find out WHERE your audience exists online. Example: Your audience is primarily female, and you really need to be on Pinterest (largely female) but you’re on only Facebook.

7. Know Your Metrics—and Metric Tools.  Are you analyzing what you have done so far and seeing where you succeeded and where you need to refocus or retool? Example: A participant in one highly successful university-based project I ran used Google and Twitter to analyze the results of a campaign and came up with very little. I stepped in and instead compared them to similar campaigns at other universities and— guess what—they came up near the top, which is where they belonged.

8. Know Your Top Influencers. Be sure you know—and know well—who is following you on Facebook; who is following you on Twitter; and who the influencers are on both. It’s easy to get this information, particularly on Twitter, so use it.  An influencer response can yield big results—if not the first time, then certainly over time—and it’s your job to know who the influencers are.

9. Build New Media Relationships. This is an adjunct of the item above, but it also stands on its own as a key aspect of New Media: build relationships with your top influencers and stick with it until you get New Media placements.

10. Be Pitch Perfect! Where do I see companies and university students/administrators miss the mark most often? Call it “off-pitching.” Example: You’ve found an influential fitness blogger who is vegan, and yes, he or she reaches millions—but you work for a snack food company. Don’t pitch that blogger. Instead, look for influencers who are a perfect match for your product or idea or point of view. One “off-pitch,” and the influencers may never work with you again.

According to Suzanne, these suggestions should be looked on as a tune-up for businesses and university leaders. As she puts it: “Be sure to get the help you need, even if you are working with an agency. You need to know all relevant aspects of New Media, and it is sometimes the case that so-called ‘experts’ give you what they know, not what you need to learn.”

Suzanne’s conclusion: “Whatever it is, take the time to learn the fundamentals in order to be able to ask good questions!”

About Suzanne McDonald
Suzanne McDonald is a revolutionary in New Media who started her company, Designated Editor, with the express purpose of educating clients on every aspect of New Media. This includes social media from Google+ to Twitter, as well as WordPress, blogger outreach/strategy, fully integrated marketing, and face-to-face events/networking.

McDonald’s objective is to combine all New Media into a consistent whole, and to do it affordably and thoroughly. By so doing, she has become the leading purveyor of New Media expertise in New England. McDonald's "techie" forum in Newport, Rhode Island, reaches nearly 1,000 business leaders, and her business has doubled in size each year since it began.

About Designated Editor
Designated Editor is New England's leading purveyor of New Media expertise at affordable rates, encompassing every aspect of New Media including Social Media. Founded in 2006 by Suzanne McDonald, Designated Editor is New England's leading source for techie forums, business-to-business networking for technology pros, and for global clients needing one-stop-shopping for a world that has become treacherous to navigate. As of 2013, Designated Editor is a leader in the movement to educate university students nationwide in New Media. For more information go to www.designatededitor.com.

Yesterday was the final entry deadline for the 11^th annual International Business Awards, the world’s top business awards program.

By popular demand, we have decided to universally extend the final entry deadline through Wednesday, July 9.  No additional late fees or penalties will be required, and late entries will not be penalized in any way in the judging process.

GET THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The IBAs typically receive nominations from organizations in more than 50 nations and territories and are the world’s only completely international business awards competition. All organizations and individuals worldwide are eligible to submit entries.

This business awards program features a wide range of categories to recognize achievement in every aspect of the workplace, including

• Customer Service Awards
• Company/Organization Awards
• Creative Awards
• Human Resources Awards
• Information Technology Awards
• Management Awards
• Marketing Awards Categories
• New Product Awards
• Corporate Communications, IR, and PR 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 since January 1 2013. There is no eligibility timeframe for app and web site entries - it does not matter when they were first published.

Winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards will be announced on August 13, and the winners celebrated at a gala banquet at the Westin Vendome Hotel in Paris, France on October 10.

Do not hesitate to contact us with your questions about how to participate in The 2014 International Business Awards.

The first of two awards banquets for The 2014 (12th Annual) American Business Awards, the premier business awards programs in the U.S.A., will be staged next Friday, June 13 at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago.

* Get your tickets here

* Reserve guest rooms at the Fairmont Hotel here

The customer service, human resources, live events, publications, public relations & corporate communications, support and video awards categories, and selected categories for company/organization, management, and marketing, will be presented in Chicago next Friday.

The app, IT, new product and service, and website awards categories, and other selected categories for company/organization, management, and marketing, will be presented at a second event on September 12 in San Francisco.

So who's coming to the gala in Chicago next week?  Here's a current list of the organizations who've already confirmed their attendance.

7-Eleven
97th Floor
AAA Auto Club Group
ABM Franchising Group
AccountingDepartment.com
Acorda Therapeutics
Adconion Direct
AECOM
AHC
All Florida Paper, Inc.
AMD
American Medical Response
American Solar Direct
AT&T
Avention
BackBay Communications
Bankers Warranty Group/Bankers Financial Corp
BDS Marketing, Inc.
Benefitmall
Best Doctors, Inc.
Bloom Health
Bloomin' Brands
BMO Capital Markets
Borro
Capital One ShareBuilder
Cars.com
Checkers & Rally's Restaurants
Cisco Systems
Citrix Systems
Cub Cadet
CyraCom International, Inc.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport
Dean Evans and Associates
Digital Grin Communications
Diligent Board Member Services
Echelon Design, Inc.
Electric Insurance Company
Empire Today
Endurance
Engility
EPS Financial
Experian Marketing Services
Extraordinary Events
Fazoli's Restaurants
FBMC Benefits Management
Fiksu
FleishmanHillard (for AT&T)
Fora Financial
Google, Inc.
Graebel Companies, Inc.
Grand Canyon University
Grass Roots Meetings & Events, Inc.
Grow Marketing
Hamilton Jewelers
HighPoint Global
Home Instead Senior Care
HRsmart
Hyatt Legal Plans
Hyundai Motor America
IgnitionOne
Information Builders
Insperity
Integral Ad Science
InVNT
Isagenix
Kowa Pharmaceuticals
L.C. Williams & Associates
Level 3 Communications, LLC
Locus Telecommunications, Inc.
Lyris
Makovsky Integrated Communications
MarketBridge
Marriott Vacations Worldwide
MassMutual Financial Group
mBlox
Medtech
Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs
Minacs Marketing Solutions
Monitronics
MOSAIC Rehabilitation, Inc.
Move Management, Inc.
MWW
Nongshim America
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORPORATION
Omnitracs, LLC
One Eighty
Oswego Community Unit School District 308
Oxford City Football Club, Inc.
Pairelations, LLC
Pepco Holdings, Inc.
Petplan
PetRays / CardioVet
PrintingForLess.com
ProcessPro
Quality Systems, Inc.
Realityworks, Inc.
Redbud Financial Group
Renters Warehouse
Roof Diagnostics Solar
Roth Staffing Companies, L.P.
Ryan, LLC
Saatchi and Saatchi
SCRA
Sentient Interactive
Sentric, Inc.
SignUpGenius
SingleHop
Slack and Company
Snowbound Software
Squaremouth
Squarespace
Stratus Interactive
SunTrust Banks, Inc.
Tallie
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES
TechnologyAdvice
Teletrac, Inc.
Terapeak
The 5th Avenue Theatre
The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions
The Remi Group, LLC
The Webster Group
TIAA-CREF
Trex Company
Trupanion
U.S. Green Building Council
UAE Embassy - Consulate Division
UAE Embassy - Police Division
USHEALTH Advisors
Utah Basement Kitchen & Bath
Velie Law Firm
Virtusa Corporation
Washington Street Properties
Wells Fargo Bank
Wheels, Inc.
World Water Works, Inc.
Xcelus
Yext (Representing Citibank)

Want to network with this impressive group of organizations? Get your tickets here.

Stevie® Awards to Be Presented This Fall in Paris

The Stevie® Awards today issued the call for entries for The 11th Annual International Business Awards, the world’s premier business awards competition, which attracts nominations from organizations in more than 50 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 entry deadline is 14 May.  Late entries will be accepted through 11 June, and results will be announced in mid-August.  Entry details are available at www.StevieAwards.com/IBA.  

Stevie Awards will be conferred at three levels of distinction: Gold, Silver and Bronze.  Several Grand Stevie Awards also will be conferred as best-of-competition prizes.  Stevie Award trophies, made by the company that makes the Oscar and other major international awards, are among 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:

• 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

Because 2014 Stevie Award winners will be celebrated on Friday, 10 October at the Westin Vendôme Hotel in Paris, France, all organizations in France may submit an unlimited number of entries to the IBAs this year without having to pay the entry fees.  French organizations should use the promotion code “Paris” where indicated in the online entry process.

The 10th Annual International Business Awards were presented in October 2013 in Barcelona, Spain.  Top Stevie winners last year included Accenture (USA), Best Doctors, Inc. (USA), Burson-Marsteller (Australia and the UAE), Coca-Cola Turkey (Turkey), Finansbank A.S. (Turkey), Ignacio de las Cuevas S.A. (Spain), Jack Morton Worldwide (UK and the USA), KW Digital (Sweden), LLORENTE & CUENCA (Spain), Maras Group (Australia), Nu Skin Enterprises (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan), Reading Room (Singapore), RTR Rete Rinnovabile (Italy), and Weber Shandwick (Hong Kong and the UK). 2013 results are summarized here.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in five programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.  A sixth program, the German Stevie Awards, will debut later this year.  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.