In the midst of an economic environment where there’s no such thing as “business as usual,” The 9^th Annual American Business Awards^SM honored the best and brightest in a stunningly wide array of businesses and disciplines, crowning this year’s Stevie® Award winners at a gala event last night in New York City.

With more than 600 executives in attendance, The 2011 American Business Awards (ABAs) honored an all-inclusive spectrum of American business people and organizations -- from non-profits, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to corner-office executives, corporate communicators, support staff and customer service teams.

Download the official program of the 2011 ABAs, featuring complete lists of honorees and judges.

The ABAs also paid tribute to entrepreneur and philanthropist Russell Simmons, best known as the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, with its Difference Maker award, which made its debut this year.  The honor was presented to Simmons in recognition of his groundbreaking vision and influence on music, fashion, finance, television and film as well as modern philanthropy.

The event took place at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square and the emcee for the evening was Fox Business Network anchor Cheryl Casone.

Notable Stevie Award winners in The 2011 American Business Awards include, among others:

­   Executive of the Year: Jeffrey Bezos, Chairman of the Board, President & CEO, Amazon.com, Inc.

­   Best Overall Company of the Year: Apple Inc.

­   Business Turnaround of the Year: Whole Foods Market, Inc.

­   Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year: Cisco

­   Customer Service Team of the Year: Dell

­   Support Team of the Year: DHL Express

­   Information Technology Team of the Year: CIGNA Government Services

­   Most Innovative Company of the Year: General Electric

­   Fastest Growing Company of the Year: Groupon

­   Communications or PR Campaign of the Year: Hewlett-Packard

­   New Product or Service of the Year: Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook

Winners in in the People’s Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite New Products, determined by more than 140,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to companies including Apple Inc., Motorola, PetRays, Reliv International and Zebra Technologies.

For a complete list of The 2011 American Business Awards honorees visit:  www.stevieawards.com/aba. 

More than 2,800 entries were submitted to The 2011 American Business Awards and more than 200 executives nationwide participated in judging to determine this year’s Stevie Award finalists and winners.

Winners of multiple Stevie Awards include Akavit, American Express, Apple, BGT Partners, Blackboard, CIGNA Government Services, Cisco, CME Group, Dealer.com, EffectiveUI, Hewlett-Packard, High Performance Technologies, Humana, IFDS Canada, Informatica Corporation, The Knowland Group, LifeLock, MediaCom Search, Millennial Media, MOST Brand Development + Advertising, Mountain View Group, MWW Group, Overstock.com, PetRays, Quality Systems, Inc., Reputation.com, Slack and Company, Sprint Prepaid Brands, Tesla Motors, and XPLANE.

A portion of each ticket sold for the gala event will be contributed to Camfed (www.camfed.org), an organization which fights poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa by educating girls and empowering women to become leaders of change. 

About The Stevie® Awards

The 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.   

Sponsors and partners of The 2011 American Business Awards include Infogroup, IBM Netezza, American Support, Citrix Online, Epic Media Group, High Performance Technologies Inc., iolo technologies, LifeLock, Merisel/Coloredge, PetRays, SDL, SoftPro, and Vérité, Inc.

The Stevie Awards today announced that Russell Simmons, an entrepreneur and philanthropist best known as the co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, will be honored with its Difference Maker award at The 9th Annual American Business Awards ceremony on June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

This honorary award is the first of its kind and will be presented to Simmons for his groundbreaking vision and influence on music, fashion, finance, television and film, as well as the face of modern philanthropy.  The annual gala, which will be attended by more than 600 executives, will be hosted by Fox News Channel business reporter Cheryl Casone.

“Russell Simmons is the personification of the American business spirit,” said Stevie Awards President Michael Gallagher.  “His approach to building businesses for the future -- which are both sustainable and philanthropic -- has instigated change in corporate America.  He has the kind of vision as a business leader that not only makes a difference, but creates a path that inspires others to follow and that’s why we are proud to honor him with this award.”

Named one of USA Today’s “Top 25 Most Influential People,” the New York City-born Simmons created Def Jam Recordings in 1984 with partner Rick Rubin, signing forerunners of the hip-hop movement like the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and Public Enemy. From creating his seminal Def Jam, to the 2007 publishing of his New York Times best-seller Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success and his latest New York Times best-seller SUPER RICH: A Guide To Having It All, Simmons expanded his personal vision far beyond the music world to create a varied business empire with RUSH Communications, a leading multi-faceted holding company with investments in prominent and respected brands in entertainment & media, fashion & lifestyle, finance and empowerment industries.

Widely recognized as the premier business awards program in the U.S., The American Business Awards honor organizations and individuals in a wide variety of categories -- from management and public relations to technology, human resources, new products and more.

Judges of The American Business Awards include many of the leading figures in American business. 

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. 

What do you think of the choice of Russell Simmons for this award?