About the Contest

This year CSRDG for the fifth time conducts the annual Corporate Social Responsibility Excellence Contest - Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards “Meliora”. The Awards are organized within the frames of the Civil Society STAR Initiative, with the support of European Union and Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The Contest is organized in collaboration and with the support of various business associations aiming to promote responsible business conduct in Georgia, international and local experts’ organizations and CSOs.

“Meliora” is a Latin word meaning The Best.

Therefore, every year Meliora Awards will celebrate companies operating in Georgia for most inspiring and outstanding projects and initiatives in the area of corporate social responsibility, that change Georgia for the better.

With a growing attention to the responsible and ethical behavior of the businesses throughout the world, as well as in Georgia, companies have to come up with innovative approaches to the way they operate.

New challenges and opportunities provided to the Georgian companies by the EU-Georgia Association agreement and the further integration of Georgia into EU internal market, as well as global market, at many instances are strongly linked to development and sophistication of their CSR and adhering to international standards of responsible business conduct.

Therefore, Georgia’s Responsible Business Awards “Meliora” is a nation-wide effort to promote and strengthen the CSR commitment among businesses; attract attention to excellent examples of CSR projects; encourage and motivate companies to adopt best practices and become role models for others; and finally to demonstrate that a responsible business, aiming to be a force for good, by creating healthy communities and a healthy environment, achieves long-term financial value and commercial success as a result.

The Awards are presented in a variety of categories covering all major areas of CSR. Contest is open to the companies of all sizes from around the country, that have found responsible ways of making an enduring difference to the wellbeing of their workers, customers and suppliers, to the communities, and to the environment.

By sharing the most prominent examples in all spheres of sustainable and responsible business, the Contest aims to drive the change stressing that this is not just a big business but also a small and medium-sized enterprises, who could equally benefit environment and society through adoption of responsible business approach and using their relative scale within their appropriate areas of operation.

The independent jury consisting of the leading Georgian and international experts would evaluate nominees based on the consistency and effectiveness of their efforts, sustainability of the results and proper design of the initiatives. Amount of the invested funds would not be in no way decisive factor in evaluation process.