Winner of the Main Award for Large Corporations for comprehensive approach to corporate responsibility became VÚB, a.s. In the category for small and medium enterprises Honorable Mention for development of employees’ education and responsible approach to employees was awarded to the software company ESET, s.r.o. Winners of the other categories include: Accenture, s.r.o.; Anasoft APR, a.s.; Hewlett-Packard Slovakia, s.r.o.; Skanska Group in the Slovak Republic, SLOVNAFT, a.s.; T-Mobile Slovensko, a.s. and Toyota Motor Slovakia, s.r.o. Honorable Mention for Media Contribution in furthering CSR and corporate philanthropy in Slovakia was awarded to Mária Grebeňová – Laczová, reporter of Slovak Radio. 

With the prestigious award Via Bona Slovakia, Pontis Foundation expresses public acknowledgment to companies and entrepreneurs who enforce corporate philanthropy and corporate responsibility in Slovakia. In the 10th anniversary year of Via Bona Slovakia for activities carried out in 2009, a record number of 111 nominations were eligible for evaluation. In addition to the two main categories, companies were competing in eight other categories. Media and journalists had the opportunity to compete for Honorable Mention for Media Contribution in furthering CSR and corporate philanthropy in Slovakia. Names of winners and names of members of evaluation committee were announced at the Gala evening ceremony on March 30, 2010 at 7 p.m. in City Theater of P.O. Hviezdoslav in Bratislava.

“This year was record year not only in the number of received nominations. We also had the largest evaluation committee in history. We were surprised by only one nomination for the Main Award for Small and Medium Enterprises. The evaluation committee therefore decided to grant only an Honorable mention for development of employees’ education and responsible approach to employees,” explained Oľga Auchenbach, Program Coordinator of the Pontis Foundation about 10th year of Via Bona Slovakia.„Due to this fact, Pontis Foundation plans to start this year with more intensive awareness raising activities on corporate responsibility among small and medium enterprises. I believe, that these activities will lead to higher number of nominations in this category,” continued Oľga Auchenbach.

Winners of Via Bona Slovakia 2009 Awards

Main Award for Large Corporations for comprehensive approach to CR won Všeobecná úverová banka, a.s. The award was given by Ľuboš Vančo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pontis Foundation, to Ignacio Jaquotot, General Director of the VÚB, a.s.

The strategy of corporate responsibility of VÚB, a.s. is based on ethics and transparency. The company implements several programs with the aim to build dialogue between the bank and its various partners. This is eased by a special CSR department which implements the CSR strategy of the company. The bank has several support programs for employees. Through its own foundation, it supports the project Good Angel (Dobrý anjel), the arts as well as the protection of cultural heritage.

The evaluation committee decided that the Main Award for Small and Medium Enterprises for comprehensive approach to CSR will not be awarded. The only nominated company in this category ESET, s.r.o. was awarded Honorable Mention for development of employees’ education and responsible approach to employees. Honorable mention was presented to Miroslav Trnka, General Director of ESET, s.r.o by Her Excellency Trine Skymoen, Ambassador of Norway to Slovakia.

The software company ESET offers its employees above-standard working conditions. Through its philanthropy activities, it supports mainly the education and health care sectors. The majority of the company’s products are sold through Internet, by which protects the environment. Despite the fact that the ethical codex of the company is not in the written form, all employees respect ethical values, which were presented to them by the management of the company.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY area

Green Award for an environment-related project was granted to Toyota Motor Slovakia, s.r.o., for the project Living paths (Živé chodníky). The project is realized in cooperation with Ekopolis Foundation. The aim of this project is the reconstruction and improving of trekking paths, educational routes and public places used by tourists in High and Low Tatras Mountains. The award was presented to Marián Hoffer, Executive Director of Toyota Motor Slovakia by His Excellency Michael Roberts, Ambassador of the UK in Slovakia.

Ethics Award for transparency and fight against corruption won Accenture, s.r.o., for its Accenture Ethics & Compliance Program. The program expresses the pledge of the company to uphold in its activities the most strict ethical standards which go beyond the law requirements. The award was presented by Anna Remišová, expert for ethics from Bratislava School of Law, to Peter Škodný, Country Managing Director of Accenture.

The evaluation committee decided that a second nomination in this category should also be awarded. Therefore Skanska Group in SR was given Honorable mention for endeavor to combat corruption in building industry, for adoption of Ethical Codex and preparation of Plan of implementation in the company. Honorable mention was presented to Magda Dobišová, Director of the Communication of Skanska Group in SR.

Award for Responsible Approach to Employees was awarded to SLOVNAFT, a.s., for the project Eiffel. The project focuses on increasing loyalty of employees, building and handover of the knowledge among employees, improving communication between employees and management and moral appreciation of employees’ initiatives. Award was presented by Michaele Stessl from Law Company DLA Piper to Anton Molnár, Director of Company Communication of Slovnaft.

Award for Socially Responsible Market Operations received T-Mobile Slovensko, a.s. The jury was convinced by introduction of the pay plan for deaf, which respects communication needs of this community. Award was presented to Miriam Kušnírová – Benčíková, Senior Manager for marketing communication of T-Mobile Slovensko, by Michal Štencl, winner of the award Entrepreneur of the year 2009.

CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY area

Award for Long-Term Positive Corporate Impact on society and the surrounding community was awarded to Anasoft APR, a.s., for support of literature and Slovak prose through project Anasoft Litera. Writer Tomáš Janovic presented the award to Stanislav Čekovský, Executive Director of Anasoft APR.

The evaluation committee decided that the Award for Courage to Support an Innovative Project implemented in a little-known area or in an unconventional form will not be awarded. Despite more nominations for this award, the committee decided, that only Honorable mention for Courage to support challenging theme (Čestné uznanie za odvahu podporiť náročnú tému) will be given. This Honorable mention was awarded to Accenture, s.r.o. for support of the project Gama, which is aimed for social work with persons in prison. Honorable mention was presented by Michal Kaščák from Pohoda Agency, to Peter Škodný, Country Managing Director of Accenture.

Award for Employee Engagement in volunteer activities received Hewlett-Packard Slovakia, s.r.o. HP Slovakia is for the third year partner of the corporate volunteering event Our Bratislava, partner of donating program Great Country, cooperates in program Youth for the Future and organizes its own charity project HP Christmas Week. Award was presented by Ján Orlovský, Director of Central Affairs of ZSE, to Martin Kubala, General Director of Hewlett-Packard Slovakia.

SPECIAL AWARDS

The Pontis Foundation granted Honorable Mention for Media Contribution in furthering CSR and corporate philanthropy in Slovakia to Mária Grebeňová-Laczová, reporter from Slovak Radio. Mária Grebeňová - Laczová created more than 50 radio news on corporate responsibility and philanthropy, which were broadcasted in Radio Slovakia and Radio Regina Bratislava. Honorable mention was presented by Beata Hlavčáková, Program Director of Pontis Foundation and Executive Director of Business Leaders Forum.

Another special award was Award for Innovative Solutions to Social Inclusion on the occasion of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Inclusion (2010). This award was granted in partnership with the Slovak Social Development Fund to its winner T-Mobile Slovensko, a.s., for long-term positive impact of the company to the community of the deaf and hearing impaired, their integration to majority and improvement of the quality of their lives. The award was presented by Jakub Krako, Slovak three-time gold medalist at the 10th winter Paralympics games in Vancouver. He presented the award to Miriam Kušnírová – Benčíková, Senior manager for marketing communication from T-Mobile Slovakia.

Evaluation Committee

Winners of the 10th anniversary Via Bona Slovakia Awards were selected by 22 members of the evaluation committee in a two-round evaluation process. Members of the evaluation committee were: Ján Bača (U.S. Steel Košice), Simona Bubánová (Creative Department), Marianna Butkovská (Trend), Jana Debrecéniová (Občan a demokracia), Gabriela Dubcová (University of Economics in Bratislava), Iveta Griačová (Innovative Management Partner), Marcela Havrilová (Junior Achievement), Pavel Hrica (Pontis Foundation), Marián Huba (Slovak Association of Nature and Country Protectors - Slovenský zväz ochrancov prírody a krajiny), Pavol Jablonický (Social Development Fund), Stanislav Janota (SITA), Miloslava Jezná (Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic), Viliam Krížik (Slovak Environmental Agency), Ján Marušinec (MESA 10), Martin Mazag (Stratégie), Anna Remišová (Bratislava School of Law), Ján Orlovský (Západoslovenská energetika), Ján Pallo (The Slovak Spectator), Lucie Schweizer (DLA Piper), Lenka Surotchak (Pontis Foundation), Ondrej Šebesta (Slovenský plynárenský priemysel) and Martina Vagačová (ETP International).

Partners

Západoslovenská energetika was the General Partner of the 10th annual Via Bona Slovakia Awards. Partners were DLA Piper and U. S. Steel Košice. Partner of the Award for Innovative Solutions to Social Inclusion was Slovak Social Development Fund. Partners of the gala event were Bratislava Culture and Information Centre (BKIS) and Vivent Production. Media partners were Euractiv.sk, SITA, The Slovak Spectator, Stratégie, Trend, Webnoviny.sk and Zodpovednepodnikanie.sk.