Congratulations to the 2008 AACE Award Winners! The ESOP Association Honors Members for Excellence in 'Employee Ownership' Communications describes the Annual Awards for Communications Excellence (AACE) Award selection process and announces the 2008 Award winners:

• Category 1-A, Total Communications Program, 100 or fewer employees
  
  • Winner: Sebago Technics, Inc., Westbrook, ME
    
  • Runner Up: Worm's Way, Inc., Bloomington, IN
    
    
• Category 1-B, Total Communications Program, 101 - 500 employees
  
  • Winner: MidSouth Building Supply, Inc., Springfield, VA
    
  • Runner Up: Dakota Supply Group, Fargo, ND
    
    
• Category 1-C, Total Communications Program, 501 - 1,000 employees
  
  • Winner: Hypertherm, Inc., Hanover, NH
    
  • Runner Up: Woodward Communications, Inc., Dubuque, IA
    
    
• Category 1-D, Total Communications Program, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
  
  • Winner: Burns & McDonnell Engineers-Architects, Kansas City, MO
    
  • Runner Up: American Systems Corporation, Chantilly, VA
    
    
• Category 2, Young ESOP
  
  • Winner: BL Companies, Inc., Meriden, CT
    
    
• Category 3, Audio Visual
  
  • Winner: Harrell Remodeling, Inc., Mountain View, CA
    
  • Runner Up: Dakota Supply Group, Fargo, ND
    
    
• Category 4-A, Printed Materials, 250 or fewer employees
  
  • Winner: Cisco-Eagle, Inc., Dallas, TX
    
  • Runner Up: Dental Health Services, Long Beach, CA
    
    
• Category 4-B, Printed Materials, over 250 employees
  
  • Winner: Pacific Steel & Recycling, Great Falls, MT
    
  • Runner Up: Van Meter Industrial, Cedar Rapids, IA
    
    
• Category 5-A, Educational Materials, Print
  
  • Winner: Foldcraft Company, Kenyon, MN
    
  • Runner Up: PBI/Gordon Corporation, Kansas City, MO
    
    
• Category 5-B, Education Materials, ESOP Intranet
  
  • Winner: Murray Insurance Associates, Inc., Lancaster, PA
    
  • Runner Up: ComSonics, Inc., Harrisonburg, VA
    
    
• Category 6-A, External ESOP Advertising, Print
  
  • Winner: Brookshire Brothers, Ltd, Lufkin, TX
    
  • Runner Up: American Systems Corporation, Chantilly, VA
    
    
• Category 6-B, External ESOP Advertising – Website
  
  • Winner: Van Meter Industrial, Cedar Rapids, IA
    
  • Runner Up: Woodward Communications, Inc., Dubuque, IA
    
    
• Category 7-A, Special Events, Promotions, 250 or fewer employees
  
  • Winner: Kapco/Valtec, Brea, CA
    
  • Runner Up: Carl Warren & Company, Placentia, CA
    
    
• Category 7-B, Special Events, Promotions, over 250 employees
  
• Winner: Carris Reels, Rutland, VT
  
• Runner Up: Social & Scientific Systems, Inc. Silver Spring, MD

Here is a link to the 2007 AACE winners., and here is the rest of the press release:

WASHINGTON, May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ESOP Association is pleased to announce the 2008 winners of the Annual Award for Communications Excellence (AACE). The AACE Awards are sponsored each year by the Association to recognize the outstanding communications and educational programs of its members. The awards will be presented May 12, 2008 at the Association's Annual Conference in Washington, DC to companies who have excelled in communicating the ESOP (employee stock ownership plan) and its meaning to employee owners.

AACE Award winners are chosen by a panel of five judges made up of both management and non-management employee owners, each of whom has demonstrated active experience and interest in the field of ESOPs and employee ownership communications. Awards are based on: overall quality and quantity of employee owner education, contributions of employee owners, integration of the ESOP into company culture, frequency of ownership communications, involvement and/or response of employee owners, encouragement of ownership attitudes, clear explanations, creative ideas, graphic design, and technical quality… The core cause of The ESOP Association is the belief that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation, and strengthen our free enterprise economy.