Platinum KPMG Foundation Gold The Sharper Image Silver Weizmann Institute Bronze Keane, Inc.	Platinum Anadarko Petroleum Gold Big Lots, Inc. Silver Home Properties Bronze CH Energy Group	Platinum Lockheed Martin Gold Verity, Inc. Silver Salt River Project Bronze City of Tacoma	Platinum Hormel Foods Gold SICOR, Inc. Silver Cousins Properties Bronze Charles Schwab
Platinum Hibbett Sporting Goods Gold PPIC Silver Buca, Inc. Bronze Yale-New Haven Hosp.	Platinum FEMSA Gold Caterpillar Silver Coca-Cola FEMSA Bronze Diversa Corporation	Platinum General Electric Gold MVV Energie AG Silver Shell International Bronze Teekay Shipping	Platinum Cognis Deutschland Gold Biovail Corporation Silver Office Depot Bronze Pitney Bowes, Inc.

HOW THE COMPETITION WAS JUDGED

INTRODUCTION

The competition was judged by a field of communications professionals affiliated with LACP.  Their expertise spans a broad spectrum of PR functions ranging from corporate, executive, and internal communications for Fortune 500 organizations to product, service, and non-profit publicity expertise.  Judges are screened to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest.

COMPETITION CLASSES

Award results are based on the judging of submissions within peer-level competition classes.  Competition classes are established to create the most level playing field possible between entries.  They are determined according to company size, annual revenue, and other pertinent factors included on the entry form.

SCORING

Scoring is derived according to a proprietary judging system developed by LACP, which assigns point values to various criteria of an entry. The Competition Scorecard provides further details on these criteria as well as the scores earned. A composite score, based on a 100-point scale, is then determined by summing the results of all judging criteria.

Narrative descriptions can be correlated to an entry’s scores according to the following chart:

The entry with the highest total score within its competition class is presented with the Platinum Award.  The entries with the second-, third-, and fourth-highest total scores within their competition class garner the Gold, Silver, and Bronze Awards, respectively.  In the event of a tie, multiple awards are distributed per award level.

Honorable Mentions are earned by entries not scoring within the top four award levels of any given competition class but achieving a minimum score of 75.

TOP 100

Top 100 awards are given to the highest-scoring entries regardless of competition class. Ties are broken by weighting various judging criteria according to overall importance.