The 2009 Inspire Awards for Internal and Employee Communications winners were just announced. According to their website, the competition drew one of the largest number of submissions ever. It’s encouraging to see so many companies make an effort to engage employees. Submissions came from all over the globe, so it’s a great snapshot of what’s happening in the world of internal communications.

The winners are facing the same issues that many companies deal with. For instance, American Express was recognized for engagement around an experiential promotion to “rebuild organizational trust at American Express.” Many top companies are facing this very same issue as they come out of the recession. Tribe’s research has revealed that there is often a gap between leadership’s vision and employee understanding of how that vision plays out on a day-to-day (or project by project) basis.

Qualcomm, Inc. won an award for most inspirational piece for their 2008 Annual Report about People. This is a separate piece from their corporate annual report and centers on celebrating and connecting employees. It’s one more step towards giving employees the recognition they crave, and employees who feel unappreciated are likely to be disengaged from their work.

Unfortunately, the site itself doesn’t give in-depth information on many of the pieces described. But you are able to browse images of many of the award winners, so it’s definitely worth a look.

We’re hearing from many companies that attracting top talent will be a huge issue as the recession comes to an end. One manager for a global brand said that when recruiting became an issue, leadership realized that they had to invest time and energy into improving their culture. While many people right now are just happy to have a job, that won’t last forever. Some companies are starting to worry that employees that have just been waiting it out will leave once more companies are hiring again. If so, companies like the Inspire Awards winners are probably positioned to capture that top talent down the road.