LAS VEGAS, NV — February 28, 2012 — Winners in the Sixth Annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are vital to business success, were unveiled last night at a gala ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

The Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service is the world's leading sales awards, customer service awards, and contact center awards program. For the first time, Stevie Awards were conferred in three levels of distinction: gold, silver and bronze. Previously, only overall category winners have received Gold Stevie Awards.

Zions First National Bank won three Gold Stevie Awards, more than any other organization in the competition. Winners of two Gold Stevie Awards are Avaya, Cloud9 Analytics, Direct Alliance, ING Direct USA, iolo Technologies, and PetRays Veterinary Telemedicine Consultants. Other notable gold winners included Boeing Commercial Airplanes, FedEx, Groupon, OnStar, Twitter, UPS, and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. 

Winners of the most Stevie Awards in all levels included John Hancock Signature Services with 14, DeVry University with 11, and Marriott Vacation Club International and Coloredge Los Angeles * New York with 10 each. A complete list of all honorees by category is available at www.StevieAwards.com/Sales. 

Winners in the third annual People's Choice Stevie® Awards for Favorite Customer Service, as determined by more than 250,000 public votes, were also awarded at the event to organizations including Apple Inc./Apple Stores, Amazon.com, eCornell, Finding Freedom Team, InterContinental Hotels Group, Photodex, SquareTrade, Rosetta Stone, India's TATA Motors Ltd., and Vodafone Turkey.
The presentations were broadcast live by the Business TalkRadio Network (http://www.businesstalkradio.net), and the recording will be available online in the coming weeks.
The awards are presented by the Stevie Awards, which organizes several of the world's leading business award shows including the prestigious International Business Awards. More than 350 professionals from around the world attended the event. 
More than 1,000 entries from organizations worldwide were submitted to this year's competition, an increase of almost 30% over 2011. Finalists were determined by the average scores of 93 professionals worldwide, acting as preliminary judges. Entries were considered in 27 categories for customer service professionals, including Contact Center of the Year, Award for Innovation in Customer Service, and Customer Service Department of the Year; 38 categories for sales professionals, ranging from Senior Sales Executive of the Year to Sales Training or Coaching Program of the Year to Sales Department of the Year; and categories to recognize new products and services and solution providers. 
More than 100 members of seven specialized judging committees determined Stevie Award placements from among the Finalists during final judging, January 30 - February 10, 2012. 

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 www.stevieawards.com
 
Sponsors and supporters of the 6th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service include American Support, Coloredge Los Angeles * New York, Competence Call Center, SDL and ValueSelling Associates.

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