2026 Admin Awards Dallas Fort Worth
Some of the people who make the biggest difference inside an organization do their best work behind the scenes. Great administrative professionals solve problems before they become problems, protect executives' time, keep teams moving, remember what everyone else forgets, and often become trusted partners in the success of an organization. Because much of that work happens quietly, its impact can also be easy to take for granted.
That is one reason Engage has been proud to support the Admin Awards, a program founded in Dallas by entrepreneur Sunny Nunan to recognize administrative professionals and the contributions they make to their organizations. What began as a Dallas event has grown into a much larger recognition program, and Engage has enjoyed supporting the organization and its mission over the years.
Nominations for the 2026 Admin Awards Dallas Fort Worth & Southwest Region are now open through October 1, 2026. If someone immediately comes to mind when you think about the person who makes your organization run better, this may be a good opportunity to recognize them.
Great Administrative Work Can Be Easy to Take for Granted
Executives spend a great deal of time thinking about recruiting, retaining, developing, and motivating talented people. Yet some of the most valuable contributions inside an organization are difficult to capture in a job description or performance metric. An exceptional administrative professional may coordinate executives, clients, employees, vendors, schedules, projects, and communications while quietly preventing dozens of problems that everyone else never sees.
There is an interesting paradox in that kind of work: the better someone becomes at making complexity disappear, the easier it can be to overlook how much effort sits behind the result. We tend to notice a missed deadline, scheduling failure, forgotten commitment, or communication breakdown. We may be less likely to notice the person whose daily work prevents those things from happening.
Recognition provides an opportunity to change that. It makes visible a contribution that otherwise may remain largely behind the scenes.
The Admin Awards Creates an Opportunity to Say “We See What You Do”
The Admin Awards was created specifically to recognize administrative professionals. The program includes multiple award categories recognizing different forms of contribution, including leadership, loyalty, strategic partnership, team achievement, public service, and administrative excellence.
Its highest honor is the Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence, named for the legendary Southwest Airlines executive whose remarkable career progressed from legal secretary to President and Chief Operating Officer. Her story is a particularly powerful reminder that administrative professionals can become extraordinary organizational leaders.
Awards naturally focus attention on finalists and winners, but there is value in the nomination itself. Someone has to stop, think about the nominee's contribution, and articulate why that person matters to the organization.
A nomination costs little more than time, but it can tell someone something that may not be expressed often enough: we see what you do, and it matters.
Why Engage Supports the Admin Awards
We like what the organization represents. Great businesses depend on people who take ownership, solve problems, support others, and consistently make the organization better. Administrative professionals frequently embody those qualities without receiving the visibility given to people with more prominent titles.
The Admin Awards creates a deliberate moment to recognize them. That is a mission we are pleased to support.
Who Makes You Better at Your Job?
If you are an executive, in-house lawyer, entrepreneur, or business leader, think about the person who makes you more effective. Perhaps they anticipate what you need before you ask, protect your attention from unnecessary distractions, keep important projects from slipping, build relationships throughout the organization, remember commitments, or simply find a way to get difficult things done.
If a particular person came to mind, consider nominating them.
Nominations for the 2026 Admin Awards Dallas Fort Worth & Southwest Region remain open through October 1, 2026. The Good as Gold Gala is scheduled for November 13 at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas.
Nominate an Administrative Professional for the 2026 Admin Awards
Taking a few minutes to submit a nomination may be a small act for the person making the nomination. For the person receiving the recognition, however, it may mean considerably more.
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