Dialogue On Diversity Awards.

Nominations for Dialogue on Diversity’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards have come in from across the country for review by the nine-member awards jury of business and non-profit executives in choosing the 2004 honorees in the three Entrepreneurial Excellence categories. The prestigeful Entrepreneurship Awards, on the theme New Excellence of the Americas: Promise of the 21st Century, are being conferred for the tenth successive year. The Presentation ceremonies, slated for the evening of October 6th, 2004, include a gala tenth-anniversary reception and dinner at the Hall of the Americas, Organization of American States, in Washington, D.C.

The Pan-American setting recalls the annual month-long Hispanic Heritage Month festivities then going forward in the Capital. Guests will include members of Congress and the diplomatic community, Fortune-500 executives, national chamber of commerce leaders, and representatives of the several national women’s communities sharing in the Dialogue. Program details and registration information are available on the Dialogue’s Web site, www.dialogueondiversity.org.

– The American Stateswoman Award, granted this year for the first time, recognizes Hon. Leila Teresa Rachid de Cowles, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, whose meteoric career has included, among other achievements, a stint as her country’s Ambassador to the United States.

– G. Winston Smith, Director for Supplier Diversity at Microsoft Corporation, receives this year’s Global Diversity Award, conferred in recognition of his pioneering labors and now unmatched expertise in the design of diverse supply chains, the key corporate tools essential for profitability in the crucible of today’s competitive environment.

– The Corporate Awards are conferred this year on Freddie Mac for its promotion of smart and efficient entrepreneurship among its women and minority vendors, and on the Bravo Group, a multicultural group of communications companies reaching audiences of many cultures, whose commercial successes are matched by its avidly pro-women policies in the executive suite, making it unique in its industry.

– The 2003 Mentorship Awards recognize co-honorees Dr. Ana Nogales, psychologist and media personality, and Mary Barrientos, whose Etiquette Plus specializes in 180º turnarounds for youth in Los Angeles public housing.

– Entrepreneurial Achievement Awards, honoring women entrepreneurs of outstanding accomplishment, are granted this year to co-honorees in a closely balanced test of excellence – they are Rita Rivas of A/Del Graphics, an innovative graphics firm, and Wanla Cheng of Asia Link Consulting Group, a multicultural marketing research and consulting firm that has leapfrogged many conventional firms in the design of total marketing approaches to Asian, Hispanic, and other ethnic populations in the U.S. and abroad.

– The Trailblazer Awards, honoring women whose careers of innovative and effective achievement have opened doors for women in economic and civic life, go this year to Linda Alvarado, whose work as a business executive and philanthropist has made an indelible mark in the life of America’s Hispanic communities, and Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte, Professor of American Studies and Journalism at the University of Texas.

– The 2003 International Award is conferred on Carina Perelli, the U.N. official who has famously structured numerous elections in troubled places around the globe, and faces the challenge of guiding the crucial Iraqi election process in the months just ahead.

– The Liberty Award, granted to a woman whose career has recorded accomplishments of great courage and intelligence in the cause of human rights, honors Ms. Shamim Jawad, whose many-faceted work in the nascent civic order in Afghanistan has effectively advanced the always precariously held interests of the women of that country.

The 2004 Awards celebrate the tenth anniversary with related events including a Housing conference on October 5th and a program of visits to Congress and the White House for Awards Presentation attendees, among them a group of young people from Los Angeles accompanying Mentorship Award winner Mary Barrientos.

Registrants for the round of Awards events will attend the October 5th Housing Seminar, and will meet Members of Congress and the diplomatic community, along with officials of the Organization of American States. They will have opportunity to meet and network with women in international business, with leadership figures in national women’s organizations representing the diverse ethnic and cultural communities of the Americas, and with industry executives from Fortune 500 companies. Companies reserving tables for the Awards will gain company recognition and acceptance in America’s diverse cultural communities, and particularly among women and minority professionals.

Registration can be completed by internet at www.regonline.com/16437. Registrations for the Awards Presentations October 6th plus related events are $250. Separate Registration for the Housing Issues Pre-Conference, held October 5th, is $75. The registration deadline for the Awards program is September 30, 2004. Organizations may obtain tables of ten for a contribution of $2,500.

Dialogue on Diversity is an organization directed to women entrepreneurs of ethnic communities in the United States and globally, advancing the productive interchange of concepts and experience among women of diverse traditions and cultures. It has sought especially to promote the cause of economic viability as a key means for women’s assertion of their just influence in worldwide domestic, social, and political communities.