(NIST: Gaithersburg, MD) -- For the first time in the 25-year history of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, high-performing organizations that are candidates for the award will be eligible for recognition of their best practices in six of the seven Baldrige Criteria categories, even if they are not selected as a winner.

The 39 applicants for the 2012 Baldrige Award are currently being rigorously evaluated by an independent board of 478 examiners in the seven categories of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence: leadership; strategic planning; customer focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; operations focus; and results. Late this summer, organizations that distinguish themselves during the initial screening will be site-visited by teams of examiners to verify information in the application and to clarify questions that come up during the review.

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