I love the term "greenshoots" when referring to a recovering economy showing fragile signs of new life and vitality. It seems to conjure up such hope and visions of rebirth and renewal.
As we approach springtime, I am encouraged by the stories you've sent of the greenshoots sprouting at your companies, and I want you to share them with your fellow readers so that they might offer inspiration - fertilizer, if you will - for their own economic regrowth. As such, I invite you to nominate yourself, a colleague or client for the 2010 Benny Awards.
The Bennys, now in their 23rd year, are presented by Employee Benefit News and sponsored by VSP to recognize excellence and innovation in the employee benefits/human resources field. Awards are granted to employee benefit, human resource or other practitioners directly involved in the management of employee benefit programs.
Benefits professionals may nominate themselves, or employers, co-workers, and benefit suppliers or consultants may submit nominations. Only one person per company may be nominated.
The awards are organized into five categories:
>> Benefits Professional of the Year
>> Benefits Leadership in Health Care
>> Benefits Leadership in Retirement Planning
>> Benefits Leadership- Judges' Choice
>> The VSP GetFit Award
The Benefits Professional of the Year is presented to the candidate who has demonstrated a consistent pattern of creativity and achievement in benefit plan design, administration, communication and/or staff management, as well as contributions to the benefits profession overall.
The Leadership Awards in Health Care and Retirement Planning go to professionals who have demonstrated excellence in developing and managing programs yielding measurable impacts on the cost and/or quality of these benefits. The Judges' Choice winner is drawn from a wider spectrum of benefit programs and areas of professional responsibility.
The VSP GetFit Award recognizes the benefits professional who has led the adoption of an innovative program or approach that best exemplifies a "GetFit" organizational commitment. The program or approach should specifically promote work-life balance among employees, focus attention on superior service at every level, and generate opportunities for employees to support each other and the communities in which they live.
The Judges' Choice Award is a "wild card" category covering a wide spectrum of benefit programs and areas of specialty.
A panel of EBN editors, current Benny award winners and the program's corporate sponsor will evaluate nominees. Judging criteria include recent achievements involving innovative multiyear projects, professional recognition and depth of experience.
The Benny Awards will be presented at EBN's 23rd annual Benefits Forum & Expo, to be held Sept. 26-28 at the Boca Raton Resort in Boca Raton, Fla. The Benefits Professional of the Year receives a cash award of $3,000 and $1,000 in travel expenses to attend the event. The three leadership award winners and the VSP GetFit honoree will receive $1,000 apiece and $750 in travel expenses. Additionally, the award winners will be profiled in the Sept. 15 EBN.
All nominations must be submitted using our online nomination form, available at ebn.benefitnews.com.
Submitted material need not be limited to the nomination form. Supporting information - such as documentation of achievements, or letters of support or endorsement from other colleagues/business contacts - is welcome and encouraged, and may be submitted on EBN's Web site, or sent to me at kelley.butler@sourcemedia.com.
The deadline for nominations is Friday, June 25. Winners will be notified by July 1.
Meanwhile, please feel free to contact me with questions or concerns about the Awards, and learn more about this year's BF&E at our conference Web site, ebn.benefitnews.com/conferences/benefitsforum10.
I look forward to reading this year's submissions and wish all of you good luck.
Send letters, queries and story ideas to Editor-in-Chief Kelley M. Butler at kelley.butler@sourcemedia.com.
