The Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence is the Admin Awards’ highest honor and the pinnacle of recognition in the Administrative Profession. This award is reserved for the Administrative Professionals who best embody the extraordinary qualities that defined Colleen Barrett’s own journey, from legal secretary to President and Chief Operating Officer of Southwest Airlines.

Colleen’s influence not only transformed her own career but helped shape Southwest’s legendary culture and unprecedented success. The recipient of this award will exemplify those same qualities - qualities that elevate leaders, strengthen organizations, and leave a lasting impact.

These qualities form the very foundation of the Colleen Barrett Award for Administrative Excellence, the guiding criteria by which nominees are measured. They include:

• High proficiency
• Values that reflect those of your organization 
• Passionately committed to your organization’s cause or purpose
• Deeply committed to legendary customer service both internally and externally 
• The heart for employee advocacy — making sure the company always does right by its employees