dotCoop Launches the Global Award for Cooperative Excellence and Web Site

dotCoop, sponsor of the .coop domain, has launched www.globalawards.coop where co-ops from around the world can submit entries for the dotCoop Global Awards for Cooperative Excellence. The deadline for entries for the inaugural awards is May 31, 2009. To encourage all eligible co-ops to participate, there is no entry fee for this award. The Award recognizes successful businesses that embrace cooperative principles, asking entrants to describe and document specific processes and activities they employ that leverage the cooperative business model, such as using the .coop domain for branding purposes. Top industries expected to compete for the reward include retail, agricultural and worker cooperatives as well as cooperative banks and credit unions.

"By focusing attention on cooperatives that have created successful, ethical businesses, the award will demonstrate the strengths of the cooperative business model to the global economic community,"" says Paul Hazen, President of dotCoop and President and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA). ""Co-ops can be a winning solution for challenges facing the global community in today's economic realities. Recognizing these co-op leaders helps people realize that these are not just successful businesses but also successful cooperatives."

Cooperatives can compete in one of three categories based on the size of the co-op. It doesn't matter how big or how small a co-op might be but how they address the challenges and rewards of being a cooperative business that will determine the final winners of the awards.

Winners will be selected by the international panel in late summer and receive funding towards travel to Geneva, Switzerland in November 2009 where they will accept the award in front of the International Co-operative Alliance General Assembly.

Visit www.globalawards.coop for information about the award criteria and submission process, which can be submitted online, via email or post. For more information, please contact dotCoop at support@nic.coop or +1-202-383-5453.

Published on 14 January 2009