Sydney, May 31, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The 2007 Australian Business Excellence Awards Winners to be Announced

More than 100 leading Australian companies and public sector organisations are vying for a place in the prestigious 19th Annual Australian Business Excellence Awards, to be announced at The Westin Hotel in Sydney at 6.30pm on Thursday, 21 June 2007.

The awards night is the culmination of 12 months of rigorous peer assessment, with organisations' performance assessed against international best business practice.

"These are very tough awards, and only the elite meet the exacting standards to go on and win," explains Ross Wraight, CEO of professional services company SAI Global, which holds the awards each year. "To enter the awards shows a true commitment to continuous improvement, to win an award really means an organisation can hold their own on the global stage."

As part of the process, each year around 100 independent experts assess organisations on:

- Strategy and planning  - Knowledge and information
- People                 - Customer and market focus
- Innovation             - Quality and improvement
- Success                - Sustainability

- Governance             - Social Responsibility
- Quality management     - Environmental management
- Customer service       - Occupational health and safety
- Risk management        - Compliance

The Australian Business Excellence Awards are part of the Global Excellence Model family which includes the European Quality Awards, Malcolm Baldridge Quality Awards in the U.S., and the Singapore Quality Awards. Awards partners include Macquarie Bank, MLC, Westpac, Dow Jones and Sky News.

The 2007 Better Business Conference, June 20-22, will offer you an opportunity to hear from previous Award winners and leading organizations including: Resmed, Credit Suisse, Alcoa, Fremantle Ports, Shell, Transgrid, AMP, Citigroup, Mercer Consulting and MBF ClearView. For further information on the event please visit http://www.saiglobal.com/conference.

For information on those organization in the running to win this year's Awards please contact Tom Godfrey on +61 2 8206 6863 or +61 414 191 034; or Lisa Llewellyn on +61 419 401 362.