The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) honored 32 organizations from Canada, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Turkey, and the United States as winners in the 2011 ASTD BEST Awards competition. Shell Oil Company - Jiffy Lube International, from Houston, Texas, won the first place ranking. The companies were recognized during a ceremony held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C.

The ASTD BEST Awards is the training industry's most rigorous and coveted recognition. The BEST Awards recognize organizations that demonstrate enterprise-wide success through employee learning and development. "These 32 companies excelled in creating innovative, vibrant learning cultures that clearly aligned with strategic business goals," said Tony Bingham, ASTD's president and CEO. "They get it. The leadership of these organizations value learning and know it is a strategy driver. "

The 2011 ASTD BEST Award winners are recognized in a special section of the October issue of T+D, ASTD's flagship magazine, and will share their best practices at the Learn from the BEST conference on October 7th. That event is also at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Through an online application ASTD received entries from 73 organizations in ten countries. These organizations submitted quantitative and qualitative information to ASTD about their learning and development practices and programs. Their applications were assessed in a rigorous blind review by members of the BEST Awards advisory committee, a group of select experts in the learning and development field.

The 2011 ASTD BEST Award winners and rankings:

1. Shell Oil Company - Jiffy Lube International, Houston, Texas

2. Grant Thornton LLP, Chicago, Illinois

3. U.S. Navy, Naval Education Training Command, Pensacola, Florida

4. United Overseas Bank Limited, Singapore

5. CaridianBCT, Lakewood, Colorado

6. BJC Healthcare, St. Louis, Missouri

7. Cbeyond, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

8. Summit Credit Union, Madison, Wisconsin

9. Reliance Industries Limited, Refinery Division, Jamnagar, Mumbai, India

10. Steelcase Inc., Grand Rapids, Michigan

11. Wipro Technologies, Bangalore, India

12. University Health System, San Antonio, Texas

13. Cerner Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri

14. APi Group Inc., New Brighton, Minnesota

15. Union Bank, San Francisco, California

16. Equity Residential, Chicago, Illinois

17. BMO Financial Group, Toronto, Ontario

18. AlliedBarton Security Services, Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

19. BB&T, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

20. TELUS Corporation, Vancouver, British Columbia

21. Prescription Solutions by OPTUMRx/UnitedHealth Group, Irvine, California

22. Reliance Industries, Ltd, Group Manufacturing Services, Mumbai, India

23. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina

24. The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, Hong Kong

25. Reliant Medical Group, a member of Atrius Health (formerly Fallon Clinic), Worcester, Massachusetts

26. Indiana University Health, Indianapolis, Indiana

27. InterContinental Hotels Group, Atlanta, Georgia

28. ESL Federal Credit Union, Rochester, New York

29. ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, Mumbai, India

30. Morrison Management Specialists, Atlanta, Georgia

31. Garanti Bank, Istanbul, Turkey

32. Suzlon Energy, Ltd., Pune, India

In addition, thirteen companies on this list have been ASTD BEST Award winners for three years or more. They are: BB&T, BJC Healthcare, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Equity Residential, Grant Thornton LLP, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, InterContinental Hotels Group, Reliance Industries Limited, Refinery Division-Jamnagar, Suzlon Energy, TELUS Corporation, United Overseas Bank, University Health Systems, and Wipro Technologies.

More information about the 2011 ASTD BEST Award winners may be found in the October 2011 issue of T+D magazine and online: www.astd.org/best. Details about the 2012 program will be available in February 2012.

ASTD thanks Kepner-Tregoe and SkillSoft, Silver Sponsors of the 2011 BEST Awards.