Organizations that focus on their customers can survive and thrive in tough economic times. This was the theme reflected by the winners of the Fourth Annual Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service, which were presented on Monday, February 22 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida.

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service recognize and honor the accomplishments of sales, customer service, and call/contact center professionals, departments and teams worldwide. This year's Stevie Award winners include: AT&T BusinessDirect, DHL Express, DISH Network, Kohl's Department Stores, Marriott International, the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA, Royal Caribbean International and Sherwin-Williams Company. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.stevieawards.com/sales.

Winners in the first-ever People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, determined by more than 87,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including FedEx, Hilton Worldwide, Macy's, the U.S. Postal Service, and more.

Awards were handed out at a gala banquet on Monday, February 22, with nearly 200 nominated customer service and sales executives in attendance. More than 500 entries were submitted to this year's competition, which includes 27 categories for customer service and 41 categories for sales.

Entries for the 5th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service will open in July. Join the mailing list to ensure that you're emailed an entry kit as soon as it's available.

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

The Stevie Awards now have a vital presence on both Facebook and LinkedIn, and we invite you to join us there.

LinkedIn is the most popular social networking site, and within a week of launch our page there already has several hundred members. We invite you to become one of them. You'll mingle with Stevie Awards honorees, judges, sponsors, and supporters.

Our presence on Facebook offers news, opinion, and more, and promotes our new, free Facebook app, called My Work Accomplishments.

Founded in 2002, Bigpoint is located in Hamburg, Germany and operates the world's most popular online gaming portal. GMT and Peacock Equity, NBC Universal’s capital fund, bought a majority share of Bigpoint in June 2008. CEO and founder Heiko Hubertz won the Stevie Award for Executive of the Year in Europe in The 2009 International Business Awards, and will chair the new German-language committee for the 2010 IBAs.

We recently spoke with Heiko Hubertz about how he got his start in business, how and why he founded Bigpoint, and the challenges he's faced in growing the company.

		Listen to the Podcast Interview with Heiko Hubertz of bigpoint GmbH...

The Stevie Awards will present its first webinar, "How to Enter The American Business Awards," on Tuesday, March 9 at 1:00 pm ET. Registration is free. On April 27 we'll present a similar webinar for potential entrants in The International Business Awards.

Try our new, free Facebook application, called My Work Accomplishments. With this tool users in the U.S.A can note their achievements at work on their Facebook profile, invite their friends and colleagues to comment on those achievements, then automatically submit that compilation of achievements and comments as an entry to The American Business Awards in one of six categories.

Volunteer to be a preliminary-round judge in The American Business Awards and/or International Business Awards. You'll learn about how other organizations around the world are achieving success.

March 9: Free Webcast - "How to Enter The American Business Awards"

March 31: Entry deadline for 8th annual American Business Awards

April 27: Free Webcast - "How to Enter The International Business Awards"

April 30: Last day for submission of late entries to 8th annual American Business Awards

May 12: Entry deadline for 7th annual International Business Awards