Rules and Terms and Conditions of the Competition
The American Business Awards is a competition organized by The Stevie® Awards, which also organizes The International Business Awards and other business competitions. The American Business Awards honor excellence in the workplace in the United States. All organizations and individuals in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit entries, including the American operations of foreign companies.
Rules and Regulations and Terms and Conditions of participation are set forth on this page.
Rules & Regulations and Terms & Conditions
Submission of your entries through our web site at www.stevieawards.com/aba implies that you have read and accept the following Rules & Regulations and Terms & Conditions.
Eligibility
All organizations and individuals in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit entries to The 2013 American Business Awards, provided
-
That the entries describe accomplishments made since January 1, 2012. Entries in the categories for marketing, video, and other forms of media must have been first released or otherwise made public since January 1, 2012.
-
That the entries can be judged in one of the official categories.
-
Nominees in the New Company of the Year category must have begun operations in the U.S.A. after January 1 2011.
-
Nominees in the New Product or Service of the Year categories must have been introduced to the American market since January 1, 2012.
There is no timeframe eligibility period for the submission of web site entries. Web sites may be nominated no matter when they were first published.
Categories of Awards
Categories are listed on the ABA web site. Each of your entries must be submitted in one of the available categories.
Deadline Dates
Deadline for receipt of entries with accompanying entry fees and entry forms is as follows:
First early-bird entry deadline: November 16, 2012
Entry fees are discounted by as much as 40% by this deadline.
Other entry deadlines are:
December 12, 2012: second early-bird deadline, with entry fee discounts of up to 25%
March 27, 2013: final entry deadline.
April 24, 2013: last day that late entries will be accepted with payment of $35/entry late fee.
Submission of Entries
Entries must be submitted online, through the ABA web site.
Supporting Information
You may support the claims made in your entries by attaching to your entries any number of news stories, press releases, work samples or other files that support your entry. Judges will be provided access to all of the supporting materials you upload to the Stevie Awards server.
Language
English is the language of the competition. You must submit your entries in English.
Entry Fees
Entry Fees differ per category and are listed on the ABA web site. Entry fees must be paid before entries will be submitted to judges for review.
No refunds will be made after March 27, 2012.
Shipping Information
This information applies only if you will submit materials for offline judging, such as printed annual reports and videos on DVD.
-
Ship PREPAID
-
Include a printout of your entry form(s) as submitted online and mail it with your material(s) to
The Stevie Awards
10560 Main Street, #215
Fairfax, VA 22030
Tel: 703-547-8389
Fax: 703-991-2397
Final Decision
In the event of a dispute as to the category in which an entry(s) will be judged, the decision of the Stevie Awards staff will prevail. Judges may recommend that an entry be switched to a different category, and at their discretion Stevie Awards staff may change an entry’s category.
Any offline materials submitted as part of your entries will not be returned.
Judging
All entries are first reviewed by Stevie Awards staff to ensure that eligibility requirements are met, that entries are formatted properly in order to go forward to be judged, and that entries have been submitted in appropriate categories.
All judges receive written instructions about how to score entries. Judges are asked to score the achievements portrayed in each entry based on (a) their own experience, and (b) their understanding of how organizations and individuals in the nominee's industry performed in the eligibility timeframe, given the condition of the economy in general and the nominee's industry in particular. For entries in creative media categories, judges are asked to read the brief submitted about the entry’s communications objectives, and to review and score the submitted media (web site, video, live event, etc.) based on their originality, creativity, production values, and how well they believe the media meet the stated communications objectives.
Preliminary Judging
Preliminary judging will be conducted in April-May 2013. Preliminary judges will be recruited nationwide, will apply to judge on the American Business Awards web site, and if accepted will be assigned categories by Stevie Awards staff, based on their industry, function, and experience. A judge will not be assigned categories to which their own organization has submitted entries.
During preliminary judging, each entry will be reviewed and rated by no fewer than five (5) judges who have been approved as qualified (by Stevie Awards staff) to judge those entries. Rating will be done on a scale of 1-10.
All entries that receive a high average score in the preliminary round of judging, regardless of category, will automatically be designated as Finalists.
Finalist entries may be audited. Any entry found to contain false or misleading information will be disqualified.
Final Judging
In late May 2013, members of the 2013 final judging committees will perform the final judging. Chairpersons of final judging committees will be named by March 2013. Chairpersons will form committees of 20-30 members. Committee members will review and score Finalists, and their average scores will determine the Stevie Award winner placements in each category.
Awards
At least one Gold Stevie Award will be conferred in every category that has at least one Finalist.
The Finalist entry in each category with the highest average score after final judging will receive a Gold Stevie Award. Other Finalists with a final average score of at least 8.0 out of 10 will be designated as Silver Stevie winners, and will be accorded a Silver Medal. All Other Finalists will be designated as Bronze Stevie winners, and will be accorded a Bronze Medal.
Finalists will be notified and announced in mid-May 2013.
Gold, Silver and Bronze Stevie Award winners will be closely guarded and will not be revealed before they are announced at the awards ceremonies. There will be two awards galas in 2013: June 17 in Chicago, and September (date TBD) in San Francisco. The lists of categories indicate at which ceremony a particular category's awards will be presented.
Stevie winners will be able to purchase additional, personalized certificates, wall plaques, and Stevies Awards to share with employees, executives, and clients. Visit the Stevie Awards Store at http://stevieawards.myshopify.com for details.
Publication of Stevie-winning Entries
The full-text of Stevie Award-winning entries will be published on The American Business Awards web site approximately one month after the final results are announced. Stevie Award winners will be given the opportunity to redact any confidential or non-public information from their entries before publication.
Payment of Shipping Fees
Honorees who are not represented at the awards banquets to accept their award(s) will be assessed a shipping fee for the shipment of their award(s). Only sponsors and honorary nominees will not have to pay shipping fees. Shipping fees will be as follows:
• U.S. $40 per Gold Stevie Award trophy
• U.S. $17.50 per Silver or Bronze Medal
Unless otherwise specified, shipping fees will be automatically charged to the credit card to which entry fees were charged. If entry fees were not charged to a credit card, you will be asked to pay shipping fees by credit card, check (written on a U.S. bank), or wire transfer.
Failure to comply with these Rules & Regulations and Terms & Conditions will render your entries ineligible. Entry fees will not be refunded.
|
Calendar