Shining a spotlight on more than 60 outstanding women executives, business owners and organizations, the winners of the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business were unveiled on Friday, November 13.

With over 300 businesswomen in attendance, the winners of the 6th annual awards competition were announced at an awards dinner at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. More than 1,100 nominations were submitted for consideration in 54 categories.

Notable Stevie Award winners from this year's competition include:

-- Best Executive: Anna Chagnon, President and CEO of Bitstream Inc.
-- Best Asian Entrepreneur: Shunee Yee, President and CEO of CSOFT International Ltd., China
-- Best Entrepreneur: Lindsay Phillips, Founder of SwitchFlops by Lindsay Phillips
-- Best Young Entrepreneur: Melissa Fields Tugwell, Founder of PetRays Veterinary Telemedicine Consultants
-- Best Canadian Entrepreneur: Shabnam Rezaei, Managing Partner, Big Bad Boo Studios
-- Best Overall Company of the Year: Camp Bow Wow
-- Lifetime Achievement Award: Jennifer Openshaw, Founder & President, WeSeed & Women's Financial Network
-- Mentor of the Year: Nancy Long, Chief HR Officer and Senior VP-Human Resources of Hitachi Data Systems
-- Fastest Growing Company of the Year: The Bioengineering Group, Inc.

The 2009 honorees reflect a diverse group of large and small organizations from around the world. Additional Stevie Award winners include: Reading Room (London), iRobot Corporation, Canada Post and more. Eulogy! Public Relations (London) was the only organization to win two Stevie Awards this year, for Best Overall Company of the Year (Services Businesses -- up to 100 Employees) and Best Executive in EMEA (President Lara Levanthal). For a complete list of honorees and more information, visit: www.stevieawards.com/women.

		Learn More About the Stevie Awards for Women in Business...

Friday, December 11 is the final entry deadline for the 4th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service , the premier awards honoring customer service and sales professionals. If you're still pondering submitting an entry or two, we have some tips to help you streamline the entry process and increase your chances of walking off with a Stevie Award.

First off, if you haven't reviewed the entry kit, you should do that right away. You'll find the complete entry kit for the Stevies for Sales & Customer Service online. It lists the more than 70 categories you have to choose from, and explains the submission requirements for them. Most categories require the submission of an essay of up to 500 words, describing the nominee's accomplishments since July 1, 2008.

Consider these tips as you prepare your entries:

1. Choose your categories carefully. Like everything else in life, 20% of the categories receive 80% of the entries. Some categories are heavily subscribed, others...not so much. You'll have a better chance of winning a Stevie in categories where you have less competition. To get a sense of which categories are more popular than others, check out the list of last year's honorees. The number of Finalists in a category is a fairly good indicator of how many entries were submitted. (Last year about 40% of all entries submitted were recognized.)

2. Contact us for help. Not sure which category to choose? Need pointers about how to prepare your entry? Don't hesitate to email or call us at +1 703-547-8389. We love it when entrants ask us for advice.

3. Tell a good story. Judges are people, and people respond to good stories. If you provide them with a good read, you're likely to get a good score.

4. Enter one of the Customer Service Department of the Year categories. You'll have a chance to win two awards, because nominees in these categories will also be submitted to the new People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite Customer Service, a worldwide public vote that will be conducted in January and February. We'll provide you with tools to help you encourage your customers and other stakeholders to vote for you.

		Learn More About the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service...

Founded in 1979, Makovsky + Company is one of the U.S.'s leading independent global public relations, investor relations and branding consultancies, specializing in integrated communications programs for the financial, professional services, health, technology and business services sectors. Makovsky + Company won the Stevie Award for Public Relations Agency of the Year in The 2009 American Business Awards.

We recently spoke at length with Ken Makovsky, President and CEO of the agency, about how the firm began, how it's grown, and how the PR business is changing.

Makovsky + Company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

		Listen to the Podcast Interview with Ken Makovsky of Makovsky + Company...

The entry kit is now available for The 2010 American Business Awards, and there's a December 18 early-bird entry deadline by which the entry fees are discounted. FYI, the early-bird deadline is ideal for entries to the ABA's media-categories - ad campaigns, annual reports, videos, web sites, etc. - that won't change between now and April 30, the last day late entries will be accepted.

Volunteer to be a preliminary-round judge in the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and through mid-January you'll learn about how other organizations around the world are achieving success. Learn more...

December 11: Final entry deadline for 4th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

December 18 : Second early-bird entry deadline for 8th annual American Business Awards

January 13 : Finalists announced in 4th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service

Late January: Entries open in 7th annual International Business Awards

February 22 : Awards banquet of 4th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in Miami Beach, Florida