SEATTLE-(Business Wire)-July 13, 2007 – Sixty-five different companies across the state have made the grade as Washington’s Best Workplaces, the Puget Sound Business Journal announced today.

The Washington’s Best Workplaces program – to include a special publication on Aug. 10 and a festive public event at Safeco Field Aug. 8 – was launched this year by the Business Journal to identify and recognize best practices in the hiring and retention of great people. After an extensive and rigorous process, which included more than 200 nominees and the completion of surveys by nominee-company employees across the state, workplaces in four different categories have been identified as Washington’s best.

The finalists – 20 small companies, 20 medium-sized companies, 20 large companies, and five nonprofits – will be celebrated at a one-of-a-kind awards event at Safeco Field on Aug. 8. Finalists and the public alike are invited to come cheer for the workplace accomplishments that will be on display there from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The celebration will include ballpark food and drink, a home run challenge, caricatures by award-winning Business Journal cartoonist Milt Priggee, speed pitching, tours of Safeco Field, and an awards presentation. The company with the greatest number of employees present will win a suite at a future Seattle Mariners game.

“Work force development has never been more important – or more difficult – than it is in today’s global economy,” said Emory Thomas Jr., publisher of the Business Journal. “We believe the Business Journal, as the Puget Sound area’s top source of business information, has an important role to play in drawing attention to innovations and excellence in the management of our region’s No. 1 resource: its people.”

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