No Recession in CR Reporting as Major Companies participate in CRRA '10

PR Log (Press Release) – Nov 06, 2009 – The global recession does not appear to have reduced companies' appetite for corporate responsibility (CR) reporting. Both major multinationals and UK plcs have submitted their reports for the CR Reporting Awards (CRRA '10), the only independent global annual awards for CR reporting. Voting for the CRRA ‘10 has just opened, and is taking place online at http://www.corporateregister.com/crra.

BMW AG, Coca-Cola Enterprises, GAP Inc, Dell Inc and The Walt Disney Company are just some of the multinational firms who are participating. Entrants from the UK include Barclays plc, Guardian News & Media, Tesco plc, Vodafone Group plc, WPP Group plc and many others.

The CRRA is managed by CorporateRegister.com, the CR resources website and provider of the world’s largest online directory of CR Reports. The CRRA identify and acknowledge the best CR reports and reward quality disclosure as a contribution to the raising of global reporting standards.

The jury consists of an online CR community of 28,500. From now until Friday, 29th January 2010, registered users of CorporateRegister.com can vote online at http://www.corporateregister.com/crra.

The CRRA’10 solicited reports published over the last year between October 2008 and October 2009. This year, 128 leading international reporting companies from over 40 sectors entered reports across nine categories:

•   Best Overall Report
•   Best First Time Report
•   Best SME Report
•   Best Integrated Report
•   Best Carbon Disclosure
•   Creativity in Communications
•   Relevance & Materiality
•   Openness & Honesty
•   Credibility through Assurance

Voting is open to all 28,500 registered users of CorporateRegister.com. This online community represents a global audience of highly informed stakeholders and CR report readers: corporate CR professionals, CR consultants, CR organisations, government authorities, investors, analysts, NGOs, charities, journalists, academics and students. Free sign-up is available online at www.corporateregister.com. Signing up not only allows participation in voting, but also access to the entire website, along with several additional benefits.

Voters may select up to 5 choices in each award category. Those voters with a first choice for each award category are then entered in the Voters’ Prize draw and can win cash prizes. A total of £2,500 will be awarded to voters.

The CRRA‘10 winners will be announced in March 2010 at an invitation-only event and ceremony in London.  There will be one overall award winner per category, with a mention for the first and second runners-up. A comprehensive CRRA’10 report will be freely available from CorporateRegister.com after the awards ceremony in hard copy and as a pdf download.

Last year’s annual awards programme was a great success, with many of the world’s largest companies participating. The 2010 event will repeat this success, with a wide range of companies from well-known multinationals to local SMEs competing across the nine categories.

CorporateRegister.com’s Director, Paul Scott said: “This year’s participation in the CRRA is better than ever. There is certainly no sign of global recession in CR reporting! Many of the world’s foremost companies are participating in these leading CR reporting awards. We look forward to the online community identifying the current reporting leaders and the reports which come top of the pile."

- Ends –

Contacts
For further information, please contact:
•   Andrea Krug, Krug Communications, tel. +44 (0)7740 245 867, email: andrea@krugcomms.com.
•   Paul Scott or Jane Ahlering, Corporate Register Ltd, tel. +44 (0)20 7014 33 66, email: info@corporateregister.com.



Notes to editors

About the CR Reporting Awards
Organised by CorporateRegister.com, the CR Reporting Awards are the world’s only independent global annual awards for corporate responsibility reporting. The awards were developed in August 2007 to identify and acknowledge the best in corporate non-financial reporting.

CorporateRegister.com invited all companies with relevant CR/Sustainability reports to participate. There are nine categories, with one winner and two runners-up for each category.

Voting takes place online between 26th October 2009 and 29th January 2010. All 28,500 registered users of CorporateRegister.com are entitled to vote. Each voter can choose up to five reports per Award. Voters’ choices are saved online for them to revisit, amend and refine right up until the deadline.

CorporateRegister.com takes extensive measures to ensure the integrity of the voting process. For example, employees of participating companies are not allowed to vote for their own report. This helps to maintain the CRRA’s position as the world’s most independent and authoritative reporting awards programme.

About CorporateRegister.com
Founded in 1998, CorporateRegister.com is the global CR resources website and hosts the world’s most comprehensive directory of corporate non-financial reporting, profiling 23,000 reports across 116 countries. Around 3,500 CR (Corporate Responsibility) reports are published annually and added to the current 23,000 reports profiled free and online on www.CorporateRegister.com. Used by 28,500 reporting stakeholders worldwide, the website also provides registers for some of the most significant organisations in the corporate responsibility field, including AccountAbility and the UN Global Compact. Access to CorporateRegister.com is free of charge.