Call for Submissions for the 2009 RFID Journal Awards

(PRWEB) September 25, 2008 -- RFID Journal has announced that it is now accepting submissions for the 2009 RFID Journal Awards, which recognize companies that have distinguished themselves by their successful use of RFID technology. The winners will be announced at RFID Journal LIVE! 2009, RFID Journal's seventh annual conference and exhibition, which will be held April 27-29 at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

The deadline for all submissions is Jan. 30, 2009. The awards will be given in four categories:

Best RFID Implementation: This award will be given to an end-user company utilizing RFID to improve its manufacturing, supply chain or retail operations. The winner will be the company that best demonstrates how radio frequency identification is delivering real value to shareholders.

Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service: This award will be given to an end-user company that has employed RFID technology to enhance an existing product or service. The winner will be the firm that best demonstrates how it is using RFID to provide additional value to its customers.

Most Innovative Use of RFID: This award will be given to the end-user company with the most novel use of RFID technology to solve a business problem, deliver a return on investment to shareholders or improve customer service.

Best in Show: This award will be given to the RFID technology hardware, software or service provider chosen from among 10 finalists by the editors of RFID Journal, with input from RFID Journal LIVE! attendees, as the best new product or service showcased at the conference. Those finalists will offer presentations on the event's exhibit hall floor.

RFID Journal's editors have selected an independent panel of five judges to evaluate entries in each category and choose this year's award winners. The judges were selected from academia because they understand RFID's business applications and can be completely objective. Among the judges already confirmed are:

Most Innovative Use of RFID

* Harold Boeck, Professor, Universite de Sherbrooke

* J.T. (Tom) Cain, Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh

* Bob Hoheisal, Project Manager and Laboratory Director, Texas State Technical College

* Stephen Miles, Research Scientist, Auto-ID Labs at MIT

* Pankaj Sood, Founder and Manager, McMaster RFID Applications Lab

Best RFID Implementation

* Giselle Bennet, Director, Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute

* Robb Clarke, Associate Professor of Packaging, Michigan State University

* Bill Hardgrave, Director, RFID Research Center, University of Arkansas

* Antonio Rizzi, Director, RFID Lab, University of Parma

Best Use of RFID in a Product or Service

* Daniel Engels, Founding Director, Texas Radio Frequency Innovation and Technology Center; Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington

* Elgar Fleisch, Co-Chair, Auto-ID Labs, ETH Zürich / University of St. Gallen

* Dimitris Kiritsis, Computer-Aided Design & Production Lab, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

* Florian Michahelles Associate Director, Auto-ID Lab St. Gallen

Best In Show

* Jean-Pierre Emond, Co-director, IFAS Center for Food Distribution and Retailing, University of Florida

* Marlin H. Mickle, Professor of Industrial Engineering; Executive Director, RFID Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh

* Justin Patton, Director, RFID Research Center, University of Arkansas

* Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal

"The awards have been an unqualified success, and we've added additional judges this year to handle the volume of submissions we expect," Roberti says. "I'm pleased that we have been able to recruit the top academics from RFID labs around the world to judge the entries, and I'm excited to begin reading the submissions."

The judges will evaluate the submissions and choose the best RFID applications in each of the three categories, as well as the 10 finalists for Best in Show. An awards ceremony will then be held at RFID Journal LIVE! 2009, and the winning entries will also be featured in RFID Journal magazine.

Read more about the 2009 RFID Journal Awards and view last year's winners at the RFID Journal Awards Web site: http://www.rfidjournalawards.com/.

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