Press Release
Wed Apr 28 2010
Just how prestigious are ASTD's BEST Awards? Here's a quote from a 2009 winner. "Being a five-time winner of the ASTD BEST Awards, we not only take pride in our past accomplishments, we look forward to the challenge each year that ASTD puts forward concerning the rigour of the application process as well as the thought provoking questions themselves," notes Dan Pontefract, Senior Director, Learning at TELUS. "Knowing we're competing against global organizations brings not only credibility to the win, but it elevates the learning function's cause and ultimate capabilities across our entire organization."
The ASTD BEST Awards, the training industry's most rigorous and coveted awards program, received a record number of applications for 2010, indicating that more companies around the world understand the value employee learning brings to their workforce and want to be recognized by their peers as leaders in training and development. The BEST Awards are unique because of the rigor and blind peer-review that comprise the judging process. Applicants who submitted in the 2010 program represent companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to international organizations.
"Through the BEST Awards, ASTD has recognized excellence in learning and development for eight years," says Tony Bingham, President and CEO of ASTD. "The BEST Awards program is unlike any other awards in the training industry. Not only is the application and review process unique, but ASTD extends the value of the BEST Awards by holding the Learn from the BEST one-day conference following the awards ceremony where learning executives from winning organizations share their knowledge and expertise with conference attendees."
In addition, the data gathered from BEST Award winners is used in ASTD's annual State of the Industry report, the benchmarking source for the industry. All BEST award applicants receive feedback from reviewers on their applications as a way to benefit their organizations.
John Con, former Vice President of Learning & Development at Dell, Inc., and now a consultant in organizational learning, is on the BEST Awards review panel. He notes that one of most useful things about the BEST Awards process is that it is a "great introspective act that helps you \[applicants\] and others to look holistically, critically, and appreciatively at your work."
The 2010 BEST Awards will be presented on September 30, 2010 in Washington, D.C.
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