Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal

Tampa Bay area businesses won national accolades in the renowned American Business Awards, also know as The Stevies. Three Tampa Bay companies were Stevie Award winners (two are CEO Council members). Five Bay area companies were finalists (one is a CEO Council member).
 
Now in its seventh year, Stevie Awards were presented in more than 40 categories including Best Overall Company of the Year, Executive of the Year and Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year. More than 2,600 entries were considered from companies of all sizes and industries.

Stevie winners in the Bay area are:

• Best Software Programming/Design: atLarge Inc., an interactive digital marketing, design, branding and search engine optimization firm in Sarasota for its IMG Academies' Web site software/programming design.

• Hospitality & Leisure: Mario Tricoci of Bayshore Solutions in Tampa, a full-service Internet marketing firm with clientele comprised of more than 1,200 clients across 54 countries.

• Customer Service Department of the Year - Computer Services: Digital Hands in Tampa, a global, outsourced IT provider that specializes in call center help desk support, monitoring and management of critical IT infrastructure, and custom solution design among many other offerings.

Stevie finalists in the Bay area are:

• AchieveGlobal in Tampa for its Activating Change Training System.

• Phara E. McLachlan, president and chief executive officer at Animus Solutions Inc. in Tampa for Executive of the Year in business services.

• atLarge Inc. for the Sarasota Film Festival's home page.

• Mark T. Geary, vice president of operations at Digital Hands, for Customer Service Professional of the Year.

• RedVector in Tampa for the University of Tennessee Sustainable Design and Green Building Certificate.

• Syniverse Technologies (NYSE: SVR) for its corporate Web site redesign.

More than 200 executives across the country participated in the judging process to determine the finalists and winners.

The awards were presented during ceremonies Monday at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City and hosted by Cheryl Casone of the Fox Business Network.

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. They recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide.