The following professionals participated in first-round judging of the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Businessin September - October 2016.  Their average scores determined the nominations that were eligible to be included in final judging, that would ultimately be named Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners.  We thank them for their time, interest and insights. Stevie Awards for Women in Business finalists will be announced on October 6, 2016.

Lisa Abeyta, Founder/CEO, APPCityLife, Inc., Albuquerque, NM USA

Lara Abrams, Managing Member, Lara Abrams Communications, LLC, Lexington, KY USA

Nicole Y. Adams , Marketing, PR and Corporate Communications Translator, NYA Communications, Bellbird Park, QLD Australia

Ahmed Alhai, BRM Specialist, ADCO, Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates

Huda Al-Husaini , Associate Engineer, Jordan Engineers Association, Shmisani, Amman Jordan

Marcie Allen, CEO, MAC Presents. New York, NY USA

Maria Bailey, CEO, Blue Suit Mom Media, Miami, FL USA

Janet Beale, Managing Director, Sytor Enterprises Pty Ltd, East Lindfield, NSW Australia

Deb Birnbaum, Strategic Initiatives and Continuous Quality Improvement Professional, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN USA

Jennifer Bonham, Director, Marketing & Sales Strategy, Envolve, Inc., St. Louis, MO USA

Yvonne Borg, SVP, E.ON Nordic, Malmo Sweden

Deborah Bowie, CCE, IOM, President/CEO, United Way of North Central Florida, Gainesville FL USA

Marcia Brand, President, Creative Marketing Concepts, Inc., Alexandria, VA USA

Khobi Brooklyn, Communications, Tesla Motors, San Francisco, CA USA

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing, Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Rigaud, QC Canada

Carolin Buchardt, CEO and Founder, CB Praxisberatung, Heidelberg Germany

Valerie Burke, Director of Digital Media and SEO, Sundance Vacations, Wilkes-Barre, PA USA

Beverly Butler, Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo, San Francisco, CA USA

Krista Canfield, Founder, Food Water Shoes, San Francisco, CA USA

Deb Carr, Founder, Sydney Lifestyle Blog, Sydney, NSW Australia

Alexandra Cearns, Creative Director / Owner, Houndstooth Studio, Perth Australia

Viola Manuela Ceccarini, TV PERSONALITY, PRODUCER, COLUMNIST AND WRITER, LIVEIN-STYLE MAGAZINE, SEVENPRESS.COM, TELEVIVA HOUSTON, DEAMINA MAGAZINE, New York, NY USA

Joy Chen, Chairman & CEO, H2O+ Beauty, San Francisco, CA USA

Kim Clark, Principal, Polished Professionals Boston, Boston, MA USA

Robyn Davis, Owner, When I Need Help, Columbia, SC USA

Ana Degani, Regional Director of Customer Service, Americas Region, DHL, Plantation, FL USA

Michele Don Durbin, VP, Inflection, San Jose, CA USA

Eve Dumovich, Editor, Boeing/Snowline Publishing, Ashford, WA USA

Lorretta Gasper, Owner/Principal, Wind Rose Communications, Atlanta, GA USA

Pamela Gharaibeh, Child and Family Therapist, Main Street Therapy for Children and Families, Livonia, MI USA

Barb Girson, President, My Sales Tactics, LLC, New Albany, OH USA

Siki Giunta, Managing Director - Cloud and Infrastructure, Accenture, New York, NY USA

Regina Glick, Director of Marketing, Summit Professional Networks, New York, NY USA

Lisa Goldberg, Director, Marketing Services, VetCentric, Inc., Baltimore, MD USA

Allison Golsby, CEO, ConsultMine, Brisbane Australia

Charity Herb, Online Content Administrator, American Greetings, Cleveland, OH USA

Alison Higgins-Miller, Regional Business Development Manager, International Corporate Advisory PTE LTD, Dural, NSW Australia

Robyne Highsmith, Founder, Teen Dare To Dream Program, Zionsville, IN USA

Joann Hizon, Vice President - Human Resources SM Investments Corp, Pasay City, Philippines

Rebekah Hurworth, Founder and Director, Your Architect, Red Hill, Queensland Australia

Craig Jacobsen, Founder, Open Spaces Marketing, Encinitas, CA USA

Anne Jefferies, Vendor Compliance Manager, AT&T Global Vendor Management, Biggar, United Kingdom

Jess Jones, Founder, Soar Collective, Melbourne, Australia

Dr. Neelima Kamrah, Chairman, KIIT Group of Colleges, Gurgaon, Haryana India

Michelle King, Senior Director, Legal Operations, Intralinks, New York, NY USA

Renée Knee, Customer Success Executive, Self-employed, San Rafael, CA USA

Shamina Krishna, Manager, Training Department, Smart Reader® Worldwide Sdn. Bhd., Kuala Lumpur, AL Malaysia

Jill Liberman, Founder, Videoglobetrotter, Inc., Boca Raton, FL USA

Sarah Lippincott, Digital Marketing & Public Relations Professional, Tigercomm, Washington, DC USA

Theresa Mack, Owner, PowerUp Partners, Torrance, CA USA

Lisa MacKenzie, President, MacKenzie Marketing Group, Portland, OR USA

Rachel Maleh, Deputy Director, American Heart Association, Arlington, VA USA

Scott Maloney, CEO/Co-Founder, BowTie, Albuquerque, NM USA

Francesca Masoero, CEO and co-Founder, STREAM magazine, Cumiana, TO Italy

Karen Mayfield, Division Lending Executive at Citi, Citi Bank, San Francisco, CA USA

Renie McClay, Project Manager, Caveo Learning, Ozark, MO USA

Robin McCoy-Ramirez, Owner, SoothEaze, Boston, MA USA

Karen McFadzen, Director and co-Owner, Vision Training Australia, Sydney, NSW Australia

Kim McGann, Founder, Wedding Entrepreneurs Academy, Nelson Bay, NSW Australia

Carolyn Melby, President, Carolyn B. Melby, Skin Specialist llc, Chandler, AZ USA

Shar Moore, Editor-in-Chief, YWoman, Wellington Point, Queensland Australia

Jason Morris, Director, SRS Acquiom, Denver, CO USA

Jennifer Morrison, Director of Marketing & Talent Management, H&S Enterprises, Los Angeles, CA USA

Danielle Mullin, Site Coordinator, EmCare, Fort Smith, AR USA

Balaji Nagabhushan, Group Chief Administrative Officer, Tristar Transport LLC, Dubai, NH United Arab Emirates

Rajendran Nair, VP, Marketing, Rootstock Software, San Ramon, CA USA

Mandy Nembs, Founder               , Capillus Distribution LLC, New York, NY USA

Carey-Ann Oestreicher, CEO, Potential Unlimited, Burlington, ON Canada

Lorraine O'Neill, Dr, The EPI Centre Australia Pty Ltd, Parrearra, Australia

Görkem Özkan, HR Professional, HR, Ankara, Turkey

Kaan ÖZSÖKMEN, Owner, K-Tex Sourcing & Buying Agency, Istanbul, Turkey

Liz Palmer, President and CEO, Liz Palmer Media Group Inc., Toronto, ON Canada

M Carmen Paz, Founder, Director of Program Management, Page One Guru, Austin, TX USA

Christine Pietryla, Consultant, Freelance , Pietryla PR & Marketing LLC, Chicago, IL USA

Fabi Preslar, President, SPARK Publications, Matthew, NC USA

Jesintha Rajaratnam, Managing Partner, Money Garden, Bangalore, Karnataka India

Shenan Reed, President of Digital, North America, MEC, New York, NY USA

Dennis Reno, Corporate Vice President, Customer Success, Proofpoint, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA USA

June Ressler, President & CDO, Cenergy, Houston, TX USA

Kelly Roark, Founder & CSO, KPR Strategic Consulting, New York, NY USA

Grace Rodriguez, Co-Founder, Station Houston, Sugar Land, TX USA

Ritzi Ronquillo, Chairman, IABC Phillipines, Manilla, Philippines

Catalina Rousseau, President & CEO, BDR Associates, Bucharest, Romania

Srinivasan Saravanamuthu, Senior Manager, Accenture, Seattle, WA USA

Susan Savage, General Manager , MICROS Fidelio Australia, South Turramurra, IN Australia

Steve Schonberg, Managing Director, K2 Krupp Kommunications, Inc, New York, NY USA

Christine Seymour, Director, Marketing and Communications, John Crane, Norcross, GA USA

Manal Sham, Customer Service Supervisor, DP DHL, Amman, Jordan

Keira Shein, Partner, Shein Strategies, Owings Mills, MD USA

Gary Shumaker, President and CEO, C2 Solutions Group, Inc., Reston, VA USA

Alysia Silberg, COO, Acceleforce, London, United Kingdom

Sylvia Slezak, Director of Marketing & Social Media, Internet Directory, Inc. d/b/a CityOf.com, Corpus Christi, TX USA

Theavy Sok, Partner, Country Club Apiaries, Denver, CO USA

Carla Spain, Director of Marketing & Communications, Holy Names High School, Oakland, CA USA

Vickie Sullivan, Founder and President, Sullivan and Associates, Tempe, AZ USA

Linda Summerton, Managing Director, Advanced Care Australia, Maroochydore, QLD Australia

Aniket Suru, FX & Commodities Programme Manager, HSBC, London, United Kingdom

Shoab Syed, Principal Consultant, Sovnex, Toronto, ON Canada

Alice Takpemongo, Co-Create IKEA Open Innovation Leader, IKEA Group, Brentford, Middlesex United Kingdom

Asli Tas Kayabas, Professional Training & Coaching, Kuzey Academy, Istanbul, Turkey

Julie Taylor, Owner, Business coaching 1-1 LLC, Washington, DC USA

Josie Thomson, CEO, JosieThomson.com, Red Hill, QLD Australia

Katy Thorbahn, Partner, Managing Director, Shiny, Wilmington, DE USA

Lori VanDyke, Manager Customer Care, Access One, Chicago, IL USA

Imal Wagner, President, Phoenix Rising, PR, Gaithersburg, MD USA

Joyce Weiland, President, SoftPro, Raleigh, NC USA

Marci Weisler, Co-Founder/Consultant, MW Advisory, New York, NY USA

Susan Werkner, Managing Director/Founder, Interactive Investor Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW Australia

Becky Wilson, Chief Visibility Officer, WDS Marketing & PR, Overland Park, KS USA

Kathy Woodard, Communications Specialist, Freelance Writer, Columbus, OH USA

Lori Zaret, Chief Marketing Officer, Bond Consulting, Dallas, TX USA

If you're interested in being a Stevie Awards for Women in Business Judge in 2017, apply below.

You've been busy. Summer's over and you're getting back into the swing of things. Whatever the reason, you didn't get around to submitting entries to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business. But you've gotten a reprieve. We have some tips on how you can submit your nominations in as little time as possible. The last day final entries wil be accepted is Friday, September 30.

We know, you're still busy. Your calendar this week is still chockablock. But surely you can find 10 free minutes. Because in 10 minutes you can prepare and submit an entry to the Stevie Awards for Women in Business and potentially win a Stevie®, one of the most coveted trophies on the planet.

Here are a number of ways you can do that:

Repurpose Nominations From Other Awards Programs
The submission requirements are fairly open-ended, and there's a wide variety of categories to choose from. If you've entered any other awards programs this year, simply repurpose the nominations you wrote for those competitions, as long as they qualify as being run by women. Most categories require only the submission of an essay of up to 650 words and a bullet-list summary of the achievements portrayed in the essay.

Repurpose Your Press Releases and White Papers
It's likely you've already done the heavy-lifting of describing your organization's achievements, your innovations, your new products and services, your marketing and PR campaigns, etc. Throughout the year you've been trumpeting your successes through press releases and white papers. Simply comb through your output over the past year and cobble together the text you've already written into a short essay. Note that the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will recognize your achievements since the middle of 2015.

Repurpose Your Press Clippings
With every nomination you have the option to attach any number of press clippings, work samples, video clips, photographs, etc. to your essay, to help paint the picture for the judges. Does one or more of your press clippings feature a compelling story that can be the basis of the essay for your Stevie Awards for Women in Business nomination? There's no need to reinvent the wheel if it already exists and you can reuse it.

Hire a Consultant
Did you know that there are a number of consultancies that specialize in preparing and submitting awards nominations on behalf of their clients? There are quite a few in the U.S.A., and internationally and they've been remarkably successful over the years in winning Stevie Awards for their clients. Contact us if you'd like a referral to one of them who can take the process of getting entries into the Stevie Awards for Women in Business off your hands this week.

Submit Media Work
Sometimes you hope to win a Stevie for a specific reason - for a major achievement, or a member of your team - but you can also win a Stevie Award for specific media work. If that's the case, take a look at the categories for videos, apps, websites, publications, and live events. It's really easy to enter these categories. These categories generally require only a short essay of up to 125 words, describing the nominated work's purpose and results to date, and the nominated video or app, etc., itself.

Resubmit a Nomination From Another Stevie Awards Program
Did you have success with a nomination in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, or The American Business Awards? One Stevie Awards competition has nothing to do with another, and resubmitting a nomination from one program to this year's Stevie Awards for Women in Business is a valid strategy followed by many organizations.

Contact Us for Help
You'll save a lot of time by letting us do some of the important work for you. We'll save you the trouble of plowing through our category lists to find the category that's right for you, for example. Contact us, by email at help@stevieawards or telephone at +1 703-547-8389. Tell us what your organization wants to be recognized for, and we'll suggest the best category for your nomination.

Whichever strategy you choose to get your nominations written and submitted this week, do get them submitted by the final entry deadline of Friday, September 30.

Ready to Enter the 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business?

Tania Hummel is Director of Thrive Coaching and Consulting in London, United Kingdom.  She assisted in judging the Company/Organization Awards categories for last year’s Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

The 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business is accepting late entries through the final entry deadline of Wednesday, September 21.  REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

Preliminary judging of the 2016 Awards has just commenced. Tania will be joining the final round of judging in October. If you are interested in being a judge this year, apply to judge here.

Following are some surprisingly moving comments Tania sent us on her experience of judging in 2015.

This time last year, I was approached by an old friend to judge the Stevie Awards for Women in Business.   Not knowing what to expect, I gamely applied and was accepted. At the allotted time and date I accessed the judging website to view entries.

The first thing I discovered was that there were many more entries than I had expected– and from all over the world.  

The next thing I discovered was just how challenging judging could be.

Pressure to Succeed

Some submissions were about women who had scaled the heights of corporate giants, landing in senior roles where the competition and pressure to succeed could scarcely be imagined. Closer inspection of supporting documents to these applications showed that these were often “winners” from childhood–starting in their earliest school days, often mentored or supported by other high achievers, and given the best education money could buy.  In some cases, the question wasn't how could they succeed, but how could they possibly fail?  Yet the pressure to succeed, the perfectionist standards, and the constant striving made clear that success was without doubt hard won.

Rising from Obscurity

Then there were women who rose from complete obscurity, with no advantages at all, who told stories of how they worked during the day, and studied at night, sometimes working more than one job just to make ends meet.  They also scaled the corporate heights, sometimes in areas you might expect such as NGOs and charities, where sheer pluck and strength of character might get you places, but also in more conventional and male-dominated industries.  They added a quality of sheer grit and determination, inspiring others to believe that they, too, could make it, against all odds.  I identified with these women, as their story was my story–but I was careful not to allow my conscious bias to affect my objectivity.

Building Businesses from Scratch

I noticed there were women from all kinds of backgrounds: corporate refugees; stay-at-home moms; apparently ordinary women who started up businesses from their living rooms.  Sometimes they succeeded first time, sometimes they didn't.  Some of them had succeeded so well they had more than one entry, as they were running more than one business.  This demonstrated the power of the Internet to create new businesses, but these entries didn't shy away from illustrating the long hours, moments of doubt and despair, and sheer commitment and sacrifice needed to build a business from scratch.

Turning Weakness into Strength

Then there were the women who defeated the odds by overcoming their personal demons, and in so doing had succeeded beyond all expectations. These were women who had been given harsh feedback because of some personal flaw, but had not given in to either self-pity or self-loathing. Instead–with courage, determination, and the will to work on themselves–they had turned things around, and turned those weaknesses into strengths.  

Harnessing Technology to Solve Suffering

And then there were the women in technology roles, who started out in global organizations but who managed to use their positions of power to lobby their organizations to use their technology for a purpose beyond profit.  One such example was a woman who showed how her company brought first-line medical care to the remotest parts of the world via telecommunications in a way that made me rejoice at the limitless possibilities of harnessing technology to solve suffering in the world.

The Capacity to Care

Finally, there were the stories that made me stop in wonder at the human capacity to care.  One woman had started an obscure charity in a faraway country to which she apparently had no personal links. As an example of what must have been pure altruism, she showed the difference she had made–with no personal gain that I could see–to a group of blind and disabled people in a developing country, who, as a result of her efforts, were able to earn a living in a supportive community.

Mentoring and Inspiring

How clever, how kind, how determined, and how creative these ladies were. And how wonderful that so many of them cited other women as mentors, and were mentoring young women themselves.  It shattered the myth of the Queen Bee who pulls up the ladder behind her, and renewed my gratitude to the great lady who gave me my own big break.  And how encouraging, too, that many cited as inspiration their fathers, the male bosses who mentored them, or the husbands and partners who provided much needed moral, practical, or financial support.

I was once asked in a consultation forum what was the one thing I thought a woman with a family most needed to be successful. Without hesitation I replied: “A quality husband!”  Looking around at my successful girlfriends, however, I note that these can be a rare commodity, which makes the women who succeed as single parents, or who recover from adversity, all the more to be admired and respected.  

At any rate, there is usually someone, whether male or female, who is prepared to take a step down while you take a step up. Someone who is prepared to be a little bit beta while you go a little bit alpha … because no one gets to have it all–at least not all at the same time. 

So, in celebration of all successful women and the people who helped make them so, here is an anthem to Women’s Day from Peter Gabriel & Youssou N’Dour to play us out. 

Read more of Tania’s views on the world of Coaching and HR on the Thrive Blog.

About Tania Hummel:

Currently the Director of Thrive Coaching & Consulting, for six years until 2014 Tania Hummel led the HR function of the Nature and Macmillan Publishing Group, one of the world’s most renowned scientific, academic, and education publishers, during a period of transformation from a regionally organized, traditional, print-based business to a global digital and data-driven information provider. She had strategic and operational accountability for over 5,000 employees in over 50 markets, dealing with complex people and organizational challenges in countries as diverse as Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Kenya, Mexico, Brazil, India, Japan, Australia, and the US. Her key experiences include managing complex employee relations issues in the UK and internationally, executive coaching, talent management, employer brand development, leadership and management development, communications, and global compliance and risk management.

Creative, pragmatic, and focused, Tania creates a safe space for teams and individuals to develop transformational goals whilst building confidence and increasing strategic capability. She is equally comfortable coaching groups, or individuals and is passionate about developing talent through strategic talent management initiatives. She uses innovative, award winning tools and techniques to create bespoke initiatives and has coached senior executives internationally via Skype or Google hangouts.

The Stevie^® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, is accepting entries for its 2016 (13^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The final entry deadline is Wednesday, September 21. Finalists will be announced on October 5. The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on November 18, 2016.    

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 85 categories 

Today we will highlight the Company / Organization Awards categories:

These categories will recognize the achievements since July 1, 2015 of women-owned and -run organizations worldwide. To be eligible for these categories, an organization must be at least 50% owned by one or more women, and/or have a woman as its chief executive and at least 40% of its management team comprised of women.

Entries to these categories require the following:

1. An essay of up to 525 words describing the nominated organization's achievements in the category since July 1, 2015

2. A biography of up to 125 words of the leader of the nominated organization
3. Optional (but highly recommended), a collection of supporting files and web addresses that you may upload to our server to support your entry and provide more background information to the judges.

Note that employee totals are for the entire organization.

50. Company of the Year – Business Products – 10 or Less Employees
51. Company of the Year – Business Products – More Than 10 Employees
52. Company of the Year – Business Services – 10 or Less Employees
53. Company of the Year – Business Services – More Than 10 Employees
54. Company of the Year – Consumer Products – 10 or Less Employees
55. Company of the Year – Consumer Products – More Than 10 Employees
56. Company of the Year – Consumer Services – 10 or Less Employees
57. Company of the Year – Consumer Services – More Than 10 Employees
58. Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– 10 or Less Employees (this category has no entry fee)
59. Organization of the Year – Government or Non-Profit– More Than 10 Employees (this category has no entry fee)

60. Startup of the Year: These categories will recognize the achievements since July 1, 2015 of organizations that began operations after July 1, 2014.  There are no entry fees for these categories.
      a. Business Products Industries
      b. Business Services Industries
      c. Consumer Products Industries
      d. Consumer Services Industries

61. Most Innovative Company of the Year – 10 or Less Employees
62. Most Innovative Company of the Year – More Than 10 Employees

63. Fastest Growing Company of the Year
64. Community Involvement Program of the Year

65. Management Team of the Year – 10 or Less Employees
66. Management Team of the Year – More Than 10 Employees

67. Women-Run Workplace of the Year - 10 ore Less Employees
68. Women-Run Workplace of the Year - More Than 10 Employees

Past winners in the Company / Organization Awards categories of the Stevie Awards for Women in Business include:

Company of the Year - Business Services - 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
DemandLab, LLC, Jenkintown, PA USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNER:
Irving Levin Associates, Inc., Norwalk, CT USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
Brookline Public Relations Inc., Calgary, AB, Canada
Jacobson Strategic Communications, Philadelphia, PA USA
KC Projects, Birmingham, AL USA
Tasman Consulting, San Francisco, CA USA

Company of the Year – Business Products & Services - More Than 10 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Vaco Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
ALOM, Fremont, CA USA
Consultants 2 Go, Newark, NJ USA
Grow Marketing, San Francisco, CA USA
Pink Elephant, Burlington, ON, Canada
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
DCR Workforce, Inc., Boca Raton, FL USA
eZCom Software, Englewood, NJ USA
HUYA Bioscience International, San Diego, CA USA & Shanghai, China
Stratus Interactive, West Chester, PA USA

Company of the Year - Consumer Products & Services - 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Owl's Brew, New York, NY USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNERS:
ECLAT! on madison, New York, NY USA
MuTu System, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Organization of the Year - Government or Non-Profit- 10 or Less Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Dream it. Code it. Win it., New York, NY USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
The Australian Charity for the Children of Vietnam (ACCV), Queensland, VIC, Australia
The Double Hit Lymphoma Foundation, Chicago, IL USA
Miss America's Outstanding Teen, Inc., Clearwater, FL USA
BRONZE STEVIE WINNER:
The Mentoring by Example Foundation, Inc., Bowie, MD USA

Organization of the Year - Government or Non-Profit- More Than 10 Employees
GOLD STEVIE WINNER:
Enterprise Community Partners, Columbia, MD USA
SILVER STEVIE WINNERS:
The Connecticut Open, New Haven, CT USA: The Connecticut Open Tennis Tournament and Its Ability to Connect the Community
Pathways Community Interest Company, Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom: Impacting Health Through Work

...and more. See all of the 2015 Stevie-winners here.

All Female Entrepreneurs, Executives and Employees Worldwide are Eligible

The Stevie^® Awards, organizer of the world’s premier business awards programs, has issued the call for entries for its 2016 (13^th annual) Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Entry kits and complete details on the competition are available at www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

The awards are produced by the creators of the prestigious American Business Awards and International Business Awards.

REVIEW THE ENTRY KIT HERE.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor the achievements of working women in more than 85 categories including, among others, Best Entrepreneur, Best Executive, Mentor or Coach of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, Women Helping Women, Employee of the Year, Woman-Owned or -Run Company of the Year and Innovator of the Year. All female entrepreneurs, executives, employees and the organizations they run, anywhere in the world, are eligible to be nominated.

The early-bird entry deadline is July 20 and includes reduced entry fees. The final entry deadline is August 24, but late entries will be accepted through September 21 with payment of a late fee. Finalists will be announced on October 5. The Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on November 18, 2016.    

Most categories require the payment of an entry fee for the submission of a nomination. Several categories, such as most honoring women in the non-profit and governmental sectors, and the Startup of the Year categories, do not have a fee.

Susan LaPlante-Dube and Maureen Condon, principals at Precision Marketing Group and 2015 Gold Stevie Award winners, commented on the impact of their win.

“Being recognized as one of the first-ever Women-Run Workplace of the Year winners was truly an honor. We’ve worked hard to balance our commitment to being responsive to our clients with our vision of maintaining a flexible, supportive work environment for our team. It’s important to us that our employees are engaged and challenged every day—and winning this Gold Stevie Award was a great testament to the team and the way the company culture allows employees to have  rich, fulfilling personal lives."

Other winners of the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business include, among others: 

•     Debbie Madden, CEO, Stride, New York, NY
•     Stephanie Mitelman, President, Founder and Inventor, Senseez Pillows, Montréal, QC, Canada
•     Brittany Stresing, Prosthetist / Orthotist and President, LimBionics, Durham, NC
•     Gorkem Özkan, HR Director, Calik Energy, Ankara, Turkey
•     Carrie Rich, CEO and Co-founder, Global Good Fund, Arlington, VA
•     Kerri Evans, Senior Director, DHL Express (Canada), Ltd, Brampton, ON, Canada
•     María Esteve, Managing Director, LLORENTE & CUENCA in Colombia and Madrid, Spain
•     Heather Magaha, Senior VP and National Client Services Manager, Wells Fargo, San Francisco, CA
•     Dream it. Code. Win it., New York, NY
•     Family Development Foundation, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
•     Ooredoo, Doha, Qatar
•     Virtual Legal Pty Ltd, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

The 2015 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflected a diverse group of large and small organizations around the globe. The 2016 Stevie Awards for Women in Business will be judged by more than 200 leading professionals around the world, and nominees will have access to the judges’ comments and suggestions about their nominations.

I Change Her Life, a social business enterprise that is creating phenomenal changes in the lives of women in conflict-ridden regions of Pakistan and among the refugees in Turkey, won the Stevie Award for Community Involvement Program of the Year in the Company/Organization Awards categories of the 2015 Stevie Awards for Women in Business.

Dr. Ambreen Zaman Riaz, the founder of I Change Her Life, was in New York for the gala awards presentations at the Marriott Marquis on November 13, 2015. Just before the presentation, however, she gave a talk at TEDxKinnaird, Lahore, Pakistan, outlining her beliefs and motivations.   She has shared the official link to this presentation with us, and you can view it at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYb2TtEmSdc

The objective of I Change Her Life is to create positive change in the lives of disadvantaged women by employing and training them. The induction program has been updated over the past year to include a breakthrough “Life Coach” training manual that helps women overcome their suffering and enables them to become productive contributors to their communities.

In Pakistan, the outreach and visibility of I Change Her Life increased tremendously thanks to a collaboration with local non-profits and sister organizations. As a result of relentless efforts to improve the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable and weak women, the organization was able to increase the scope of positive social impact from 20 to 85,849 women in Pakistan.

Dr. Ambreen Zaman Riaz, the founder of I Change Her Life, tells us that this expansion was the direct result of collaboration with many organizations already working in the region such as Nida Pakistan, Blue Veins, and Sawera Pakistan.

“We are also in the process of initiating a joint program with the prestigious Agha Khan Foundation to work alongside their organization CIQAM to increase the scope of social impact,” added Dr. Zaman.   “In Pakistan, we have increased our presence and visibility, and managed to penetrate into the heart of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) region in the Northwest, by establishing close ties and creating relationships based on mutual trust and a strong belief in the process of positive social change.”  

Continued Dr. Zaman: “In Turkey, we have formed key alliances with Women Entrepreneurship group Kadiger Turkey, and with Macka and Flying Bloom. The vision and goals of these organizations are closely aligned with our own values and beliefs.”  

I Change Her Life is using these platforms to fight against gender violence in Pakistan. “We are actively involved in the process of drafting a legislature to modify the bill against honor killings and Sharia law in Pakistan that demeans the status of women in society and constricts their rights and civil liberties,” Dr. Zaman told us. “We are now actively involved in the process of social and legal change to create a positive atmosphere for women to flourish. Through our cooperation with WEF (Women Empowerment Forum) in Pakistan, we have been able to bring about subtle changes in the network of Pakistani society and institutions. The subject of gender violence is our priority, but it must be handled very delicately so as to not offend certain segments of society.”

“We have learned to create small but meaningful changes through our workshops, to create awareness against gender violence, and to focus on gender development,” concluded Dr. Zaman. “Our unique approach has helped us win over critics as well as conservative members of the institutions that we want to change. This is an unprecedented accomplishment: most other organizations have failed because they could not negotiate and ended up being attacked or abolished by fundamental groups. By combining good negotiation skills with open dialog, rather than pushing our agenda in the face of rigid opposition, we have managed to dissolve the boundaries of gender discrimination, leading to an overall change in the perception of the general population.”

I Change Her Life is also using its platform to voice concerns about the violation of the rights of minorities living in Pakistan.

About Dr. Ambreen Zaman Riaz:

Dr Ambreen Zaman Riaz is a medical doctor, social entrepreneur, renaissance scholar, and polymath. She left her successful career as a cosmetic dermatologist to help disadvantaged women because she firmly believed that educated people needed to get actively involved in the social-service sector. Dr Zaman has worked as a volunteer for non-profits both in Pakistan and Turkey. This has further enhanced her enthusiasm to serve vulnerable and weak women.

Dr Zaman is an active advocate of women's rights and participates in highlighting the rights of Christian, Agha Khani, and non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. Her commitment to change the lives of underprivileged women has enabled her to achieve the status of "change maker" in international circles.

About I Change Her Life:

I Change Her Life is a Social Business Enterprise committed to changing the lives of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Pakistan and refugees in Turkey. The organization creates positive social impact in the lives of the vulnerable and weak. Its aim is to create awareness about issues such as gender violence and the rights of minorities. To find out more, go to: www.ichangeherlife.com

Shining a spotlight on women executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations run by women, the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business announced the results of its 2015 competition on Friday, November 13.

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business is an international competition produced by the creators of the prestigious International Business Awards and American Business Awards. The Stevie is widely considered to be the world’s premier business award.

With more than 400 businesswomen and their guests in attendance, the awards were announced at a gala dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Nations represented at the event include Afghanistan, Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Croatia, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and Venezuela. The presentations were broadcast via Livestream.

Find the event photos here.

More than 1,300 nominations from organizations and individuals in 26 nations were submitted to the awards this year for consideration in categories including Entrepreneur of the Year, Executive of the Year, Most Innovative Company of the Year, and Startup of the Year, among others. More than 160 professionals around the world participated in the judging process to determine the Finalists and then the Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award placements.

Grand Stevie Award trophies were presented to the five organizations that submitted the best body of entries to the competition, in their own names or in the names of one or more clients. Winners were determined by the number of Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Awards won in the competition. The Grand Stevie Award winners are:

•             DP DHL, Worldwide (#1)
•             Digital Risk, Orlando, FL U.S.A. (#2)
•             iFinance Canada, Toronto, ON Canada (#3)
•             Accenture, New York, NY U.S.A. (#4)
•             Pink Elephant, Burlington, ON Canada (#5)

Notable Gold Stevie Award winners from this year’s competition include:

•     Virtual Legal Pty Ltd, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, Startup of the Year - Consumer Services    
•     Sunshine Farzan, Head of Marketing and Communications, MetLife Hong Kong, Female Executive of the Year in Asia, Australia or New Zealand    
•     Stephanie Mitelman, President, Founder and Inventor, Senseez Pillows, Montreal, QC, Canada, Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Consumer Products
•     Kate Barton, Vice Chair EY, New York, NY U.S.A., Woman of the Year - Business Services    
•     Axonify, Waterloo, ON Canada, Management Team of the Year – Business Services    
•     I Change Her Life, Lahore, Pakistan & Istanbul, Turkey, Community Involvement Program of the Year
•     Pivot Point Marketing, Larkspur, CA U.S.A., Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Marketing - Consumer Services
•     Ooredoo, Doha, Qatar    , Smartphone or Tablet App of the Year
•     Kanchan Naikawadi, Director, Indus Health Plus Pvt Ltd., Pune, Maharashtra, India, Female Executive of the Year – Health Products and Services
•     Owl's Brew, New York, NY USA, Company of the Year – Consumer Products

The 2015 Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the globe. Organizations that won more than one Gold Stevie Award include AMN Healthcare Services, Inc., AT&T, Cisco Systems, ClearPeople, Collectively, Creative Lodging Solutions, DHL Express, Digital Risk, Just for Pets Pty Ltd, Kim Flynn Consulting, Luvo, Inc., Lynn University, Roshan, Stride, and Synchrony Financial. For a complete list of Stevie Award winners and more information, visit http://www.StevieAwards.com/Women.

Entries for the 2016 edition of the awards will open next May.

About the Stevie Awards
The 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 http://www.StevieAwards.com, and follow the Stevie Awards on Twitter @TheStevieAwards.