And the HREA winners are...

Unilever Asia has done it again! After sweeping the big titles at last year's award, Unilever has once again grabbed the titles of both HR Team of the Year and HR Grand Winner at this year's Human Resources Excellence Awards. 

It was an incredibly close call for the HR Grand Winner - which is decided based on the total number of trophies received over the night - with National Environment Agency (NEA), SingTel, SATS, and Dell biting at Unilever's heels.

Winning a total of eight trophies - including bronze in Workplace Well-being, bronze in Excellence in Employer Branding, bronze in Excellence in Talent Management, silver in HR Social Media, gold in Recruitment and Retention Strategies and gold in Excellence in HR Technology - Unilever also won over the judges who named them HR Team of the Year.

The winners were decided by a strong panel of 18 HR judges, who spent weeks pouring over each and every entry in the lead-up to last night.

In front of a nearly 400-strong crowd at the Singapore Marriott Hotel, the who's who of Singapore's HR community also witnessed NEA take home five trophies, including a silver in CSR Practices and a gold in Mature Workforce Practices.

SingTel also hauled five trophies (two golds in Employee Engagement and Talent Management, two silvers in HR Technology and Graduate Development, a bronze in Employee Development), while Dell snagged four including three golds in HR Social Media, Employee Diversity Strategies and CSR Practices, and a silver in Employee Work-life Balance.

It was extremely exciting to present the first ever Small Employer of the Year Award, which was newly introduced this year, to Kadence International, who beat two other companies - Click2View and Metso Singapore - for the top spot.

The all-important HR Professional of the Year Award - the only award of the evening that is presented to an individual human resources practitioner - went to an extremely happy Sarojini Padmanathan from SINDA.

Padmanathan won over our panel of judges with her entry and during a face-to-face interview, with her enthusiasm for people and best HR practices and a proven track record in leadership, adaptability, business acumen and versatility.

[View the event photo gallery here]

Here is the full list of winners:

Excellence in Employee Engagement: Bronze – National Environment Agency Silver – eBay Asia Pacific Gold – SingTel

Excellence in HR Social Media: Bronze – The Hoffman Agency Singapore Silver – Unilever Asia Gold – Dell

Excellence in C&B Strategy: Bronze – Certis CISCO Security Silver – DBS Bank Gold – SMRT Corporation

Excellence in Employer Branding: Bronze – Unilever Asia Silver – SATS Gold – Deloitte & Touche LLP

Excellence in Employee Work-life Balance: Bronze – National Environment Agency Silver – Dell Gold – KPMG

Excellence in Recruitment & Retention Strategy: Bronze – Jurong Health Services Silver – SATS Gold – Unilever Asia

Excellence in Leadership Development: Bronze – ANZ Banking Group Silver – eBay Asia Pacific Gold – ACCOR Asia Pacific

Excellence in Cross-border HR Programmes: Bronze – Ericsson Silver – SilverNeedle Hospitality Gold – Deloitte & Touche LLP

Excellence in Employee Development: Bronze – SingTel Silver – Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts Gold – National Environment Agency

Excellence in Workplace Well-being: Bronze – Unilever Asia Silver – Certis CISCO Security Gold – Nanyang Polytechnic

Excellence in Employee Diversity Strategies: Bronze – Keppel Offshore & Marine Silver – Thomson Reuters Gold – Dell

Excellence in HR Technology: Bronze – SATS Silver – SingTel Gold – Unilever Asia

Excellence in CSR Practices: Bronze – ANZ Banking Group Silver – National Environment Agency Gold – Dell

Excellence in Talent Management: Bronze – Unilever Asia Silver – Singapore General Hospital Gold – SingTel

Excellence in Graduate Development: Bronze – Deloitte & Touche LLP Silver – SingTel Gold – Maybank

Excellence in Mature Workforce Practices: Bronze – SATS Silver – Singapore General Hospital Gold – National Environment Agency

Small Employer of the Year: Kadence International

HR Team of the Year: Unilever Asia

HR Professional of the Year: Sarojini Padmanathan

HR Grand Winner 2014: Unilever Asia

A huge congratulations to all our finalists and winners, and a huge thank you to our sponsors and partners: Power2Motivate, PageUp People, Forum Corporation, AsiaMedic Limited, Active Network, Freeflow Productions, Live!Studios, Band on the Run, CornerStone, Kronenbourg 1664, and Lawry’s the Prime Rib Singapore.