2013-01-10 09:06:31 -

The European Business Awards ( www.businessawardseurope.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. ) has today announced the names of the 100 companies that have achieved the coveted Ruban d’Honneur status in this prestigious 2012/13 awards programme.

Over the past two months, an esteemed panel of judges made up of European business leaders, academics and entrepreneurs has assessed the 200 companies that made it through to the National Champions stage of the awards. From these, 100 businesses from 28 countries across Europe have been chosen as Ruban d’Honneur recipients. They have been picked for their business accomplishments as well as their dynamism, focus and ethical standards.

Each of the National Champions was judged in one of ten individual award categories covering Innovation, Growth Strategy, Environmental &

Corporate Sustainability, Customer Focus, Employer of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year; Import/Export and Business of the Year [t/o €0-25m], [t/o €150m+] and [t/o €26-150m].

Intensive face-to-face interview sessions will now take place before the ten overall category winners are announced at a gala event in April 2013.

This year, for the first time, entrants in the European Business Awards submitted a video case study as part of the judging process. All case studies were uploaded onto the European Business Awards website and an online public voting mechanism was introduced.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards says, “The video element of the 2012/13 awards has allowed our panel of expert judges to gain a much deeper understanding of all entrants’ business strategies.

This has helped the judges make clear and informed decisions about the individual companies in each award category. The face-to-face interviews will now drill down even further into the aims and attitudes of each company, before the judges decide on ten companies as the overall winners.”

Over 35,000 votes were cast during the six week public voting period and the European Business Awards’ website had over 100,000 unique visitors.

The website has become a leading online resource for anyone interested in business across Europe.

For more information, or to register your interest in the 2013/14 awards, please visit: www.businessawardseurope.com : cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww .. .

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For media enquiries relatingto

European Business Awards contact:Jo HendersonPR

Manager, European Business AwardsTel: +44 (0) 7870

634 567Email: jo.henderson@writewaypr.co.uk : mailto:jo.henderson@writewaypr.co.uk