On June 16, 2006 we launched the First Annual Twinkie Awards. It began as a private conversation over coffee with friends. Business was slow and a friend told me I needed to "get a twinkie." I responded, "That’s my sister’s nickname! And a hostess cake!" He said a "twinkie" is something you can do to make $20 or more each day. "It’s how you can keep your business going when things get tough. It’s a quick snack, Ms. Tish." I started thinking, how could I get my "twinkie?" I had just gotten a new printer and I wanted to show off the brilliant color, so I advertised 100 color copies for $20. In just a week I generated over $500 in sales and another $500 on related services. I was motivated to share this "twinkie" concept with other business folks. I am a member of several networking groups, so I invited everybody I knew to "get a twinkie." We had so much fun sparking new business, I knew it was a good time to have a competition, to see how creatively a company could deliver savvy sales and marketing skills. I realized this was a great way for me to return to my career as a producer and start living my passion again. We developed 10 categories to test creative sales and marketing skills and established five judging criteria, highlighted on the criteria page. I had a great production team that held me to strict deadlines to close sponsorship. At that time, I was already in partnership with Hewlett Packard, but I needed an edgy way to gain the trust of sponsors who knew nothing about The Twinkie Awards concept or me. Here was my chance to put my sales and marketing to the test. As we start a new year, it is my pleasure to welcome you as a potential new sponsor who will again put us to the test of a unique "call to action" for your company. We are pleased to welcome back last year’s sponsors and hope you will see all the benefits of being a part of a creative sales and marketing effort. The production is different because it honors unsung small business heroes that you would not ordinarily hear about. Often, we see mostly Fortune 500 companies honored. We want to show off or rather embrace the small business as a source of how they process information and drive business to them. I asked all potential sponsors, " What can we do for you?" We developed a plan to have a "call to action." I am pleased to say, we generated impressive results for our sponsors. We signed up hundred’s of A+ Rewards for AirTran Airways, and referred many new bank accounts to Washington Mutual. At all functions we highlighted our sponsor in a unique way. It was my way of saying thank you for trusting me. It was so rewarding to receive calls with, "I opened a Washington Mutual Account" or "How many more people do you need to sign up for A+ Rewards?" We gave away so many Hostess Twinkies, thanks to Interstate Brands, maker of "The Hostess Twinkies." It was big fun! About our team Our Team is comprised of business professionals in: Sales, Marketing Graphics Design, Internet Marketing, and Finance We are interested in highly effective presentations as a means of advertising and selling of product(s) to an audience. We have experts to review and judge each category. Our judges rank at the top of their fields, and bring a fresh approach to evaluating each submission. Consider “The Twinkie Awards” a huge buffet that we are offering for any business to sit at the table and have a feast!  The Twinkie Awards offers unusual exposure to a marketplace hard to reach, our esteem judges offer helpful advice and constructive criticism that has been very successful over the past two years. We choose our contestants for excellence in business.