WJA Announces 2013 Awards For Excellence Honorees and Nominees

WJA’s 2013 Awards For Excellence Honorees and Nominees Announced

Deserving Women and Men in our Industry to be Honored at Annual Gala

The Women’s Jewelry Association named its Hall of Fame honorees for the association’s annual Awards of Excellence gala, to be held Monday, July 29, 2013, at Pier 60 on the
Chelsea Piers in New York City.

The three honorees are:
* Hall of Fame Award: Candy Udell, London Jewelers.
Candy Udell, who serves as president of London Jewelers, began her career there in 1973, the same year she married Mark Udell, son of Fran and Mayer Udell and grandson of Charles London, founder of the family business in 1926. London Jewelers is a Long Island, NY-based jewelry and watch retailer.

Through the years, Udell has been the recipient of numerous awards, including WJA’s Award for Excellence/Retail, Jeweler of the Year by the New York State Jewelers Association, and AGS Triple Zero Award.


* Ben Kaiser Award: Darwin Copeman, Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company.
Darwin Copeman is the president and CEO of Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company.
Headquartered in Neenah, WI, Jewelers Mutual is the only insurance company in the U.S. and Canada that specializes exclusively in protecting the jewelry industry and individuals’ jewelry.

Copeman joined Jewelers Mutual in May 2009, bringing more than 30 years of insurance experience to the company. A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Copeman has continued his education, earning the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation.

* Corporate Award: Standard Chartered Bank.

Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational banking and financial services company
headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Despite its UK base, around 90% of its profits come from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Standard Chartered has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has secondary listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

“WJA is honored to have the opportunity to recognize three deserving recipients,” says Tryna Kochanek, president of the Women’s Jewelry Association.“These individuals and organizations have made substantial contributions to the jewelry industry, and they also embody WJA’s mission as an organization to empower women to reach their greatest potential.”

At the July 29th event, WJA also will present Awards for Excellence in retail, design, manufacturing/supplier, sales, marketing and communications,  editorial/reporting/publishing, and special services. 

The 2013 Nominees are:


CATEGORY I. DESIGN– Fine Jewelry & Watches 
1. Coomi –Coomi
2. Pamela Froman –Pamela Froman Fine Jewelry
3. Irene Neuwirth –Irene Neuwirth, Inc.
4. Alex Woo –Alex Woo

CATEGORY II. MANUFACTURER/DEALER/SUPPLIER for FINE JEWELRY/GEMSTONES/METALS/WATCHES
1. Lita Asscher –Royal Asscher
2. Danielle Ingwer Cohen –Leo Ingwer, Inc.
3. Laurie Watt –Mayer & Watt

CATEGORY III. RETAIL –15 Doors or More 1. Linda Bridgewater –Fred Meyer
2. Vida Farwana –Saks Fifth Avenue
3. Patricia Watkins—Western Stone/Shane

CATEGORY IV. RETAIL –Fewer than 15 Doors 
1. Shannon Daly –Robbins Bros.
2. Cynthia Gould –Gould’s Diamonds and Jewelry
3. Ellen Lacy –Lacy’s
4. Joanne Teichman –Ylang23

CATEGORY V. RETAIL –Non-Traditional
1. Jessica Herrin –Stella & Dot
2. Angelina Chen –Circa
3. Amy Jain & Daniella Yacobovsky –Bauble Bar
4. Aslaug Magnusdottir –Moda Operandi

CATEGORY VI. SALES & MERCHANDISING 
1. Candace Edelman –Alex Sepkus, Inc.

2. Andrea Galella –Hermes of Paris   

 3. Amy Jackson –Fragments 

 4. Jennifer O. Calleri –MJ Christensen  

CATERGORY VII. MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS 

 1. Caryl Capeci –Hearts On Fire   

 2. Amanda Gizzi –Jewelers of America  

 3. Rebecca Moskal –Communique  

CATEGORY VIII. MEDIA 

 1. Melissa Colgan –Martha Stewart Weddings  

 2. Michelle Graff –National Jeweler  

 3. Claudia Mata –W Magazine  

 4. Monica Stephenson –idazzle  

CATEGORY IX. SPECIAL SERVICES 

 1. Brenda Gamba –Jewelers Board of Trade  

 2. Debbie Hiss –Training Consultant  

 3. Kristie Nicolosi –The Kingswood Company  

Established in 1984, the WJA Annual Awards for Excellence dinner is one of the most well attended and highly anticipated events in the jewelry industry each year.

SF Bay Area: "Sustainability - Creating Eco- Conscious Business"

Claudia Endler Named WJA's 2010 "Shining Star"

The Women’s Jewelry Association, Los Angeles Chapter has chosen to honor jewelry designer Claudia Endler as the 2010 winner of the Shining Star Award.

Claudia has been an active member of WJA for over 14 years first serving on the board as Secretary, then as President of the Los Angeles Chapter 1999-2000. Claudia also serves on the DIVA Design Competition committee and the Southern California Women-In-The-Know conference committee.

Co-presidents Becka Johnson Kibby and Lisa Schoening state, “She not only gave a lot of her time in 2010, but has also helped this Chapter continue to grow throughout the years. The chapter appreciates all that Claudia does to support members, as well as the chapter.”

The WJA Shining Star Award was created to give recognition to a chapter member who has been of extraordinary service to their chapter throughout the year. In appreciation, each yearly recipient receives a ticket to the Women-In-The-Know conference, as well as national recognition.

ABOUT CLAUDIA ENDLER
Claudia Endler is passionate about modern jewelry, art, architecture, design, and self-expression. “Ever since I was little you could not drag me away from jewelry store windows.” After a successful career as a designer representative in the fashion industry, Claudia’s passions and talents collided, culminating in the formation of Claudia Endler Designs in 2000: one of Los Angeles’ leading contemporary jewelry design enterprises. By combining elements from graphic design, art, and architecture, the essence of Claudia’s jewelry designs is to illuminate the unique qualities that define each person, individually. Claudia’s designs offer distinctive alternatives to the traditional matrimonial fare. Claudia was awarded the 2009 Phyllis Morris Award in Design and her designs have received critical acclaim, including other prestigious design awards and nominations. Additionally, she has been featured on My Fox L.A.’s Jewelry Designer Hot List and Colored Stone magazine’s Favorite Designer. Her designs occupy the private collections of some of L.A.’s top cultural leaders, including museum curators, architects, gallery directors, artists, and other jewelry designers. For more information on Claudia Endler Designs, please visit http://www.claudiaendler.com or call (323)-225-5925.

ABOUT WOMEN’S JEWELRY ASSOCIATION
The Women’s Jewelry Association, founded in the United States in 1983, is the preeminent association of professional women in the jewelry, watch and related businesses. WJA, which operates through the national office in New York City, comprises a network of 12 regional chapters in the United States and international affiliate chapters in India and Italy. Members benefit from educational and networking opportunities, scholarships, grants, design competitions, annual business conferences, and recognition programs, such as its annual Awards for Excellence gala. For more information about WJA and sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.womensjewelryassociation.com or call the national office at (212) 687-2722.

JCK Industry Fund Awards Diamond Development Initiative

Diamond Development Initiative, Jewelers of America, Womens Jewelry Association, American Gem Society, Jewelers Vigilance Committee and the Jewelers Security Alliance received part of the $400,000 that is granted every year to individuals, groups, or associations who work towards the betterment of the overall industry.

The JCK Industry Fund aims to address problems and challenges facing the jewelry industry, and to assist organizations and associations in developing training materials for its membership and the industry at large.

"We are thrilled that the JCK Fund has supported the initiative. The positive impact at the source of the diamond pipeline will, in time, be enormous." said DDII Board Chair Ian Smillie following the announcement that they have been awarded a grant from the JCK Industry Fund.

The JCK award will assist DDII in its effort to develop and create ‘Development Diamond Standards’, a verifiable certification system for artisanally mined diamonds. DDS will be a tool for addressing development issues and formalizing the artisanal diamond mining sector, and will be a foundation for enhancing the effectiveness of the Kimberley Process regulatory mechanism.

The standards will enable artisanal diamond miners to play an active role as change agents in their own communities, changing a legacy of chaos and victimization with a proactive tool for positive development. The grant will also help DDII tell the development diamond story to the wider jewelry industry.

Dorothee Gizenga, DDII’s Executive Director, said, "The confidence that the JCK Fund is showing in DDII is an important signal to the people we work with at the grass roots, that the industry is concerned about them. It is also an important signal to the governments and civil society organizations that we work with – and the others we hope to attract to our aims and objectives – that the industry is a valued and necessary player in this joint approach to some of the most basic problems in the alluvial diamond fields of Africa and South America."

There are an estimated 1.3 million artisanal diamond diggers across Africa, serving as the primary breadwinner for families that total as many as 10 million people. These diggers earn, on average, about a dollar a day, and there are tens of thousands like them in South America. Historically, governments have treated them as criminals and have attempted to drive them away. After 75 years, this is clearly not the solution.

Regulation and the rule of law are important, but DDII believes that economic problems and the poverty that lures people to the diamond fields also require economic and development solutions. The creation of verifiable standards for ‘development diamonds’ is one step in this direction.

Diamond Development Initiative International

Mission Statement

To gather all interested parties into a process that will address, in a comprehensive way, the political, social and economic challenges facing the artisanal diamond mining sector in order to optimize the beneficial development impact of artisanal diamond mining to miners and their communities within the countries in which the diamonds are mined.