Winning vendors included:

• Vendors of the year: Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc. (Pacoima, Calif.), ORA (Fort Pierce, Fla.), PetCare Pet Insurance Programs (Rolling Meadows, Ill.), S&M NuTec L.L.C. (North Kansas City, Mo.).
• Strategic alliance vendor of the year: Doskocil Manufacturing/Petmate Pet Products (Arlington, Texas).
• Pet services vendor of the year: Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc. (Topeka, Kan.).
• Vendor innovation: North American Pet (Corona, Calif.).
• Supply chain award: Aspen Pet Products Holdings Inc. (Denver).
• Best in-store support: Nutro Products Inc. (City of Industry, Calif.). It was Nutro’s third award in this category.
• Individual Partnership Awards: Bob Thomas of Bio2 Petlabs (Coeur d’alene, Idaho), Chuck Latham of Chuck Latham Associates Inc. (Parker, Colo.).
• Vendor representatives of the year: Tim Taft of Doskocil Manufacturing/Petmate Pet Products, Mark Teixeira of Pro Plan/Nestle Purina PetCare Co. (St. Louis).
• Petco Foundation Award: Pro Plan.
• Best new or improved product: Iams Savory Sauce & Pouches by The Iams Co. (Dayton, Ohio).
• Best new or improved product packaging or display: PetSafe Pet Door Display by PetSafe/Radio Systems Corp. (Knoxville, Tenn.). It was Radio Systems’ second consecutive award in this category.

Store winners included:

• District manager of the year: Jim Fochs for District 8-Sacramento, Calif.
• Store of the year: Santa Monica, Calif., managed by Carolyn Gold.
• Store of the year-animal care: Matt Everding (Union Square, N.Y.).
• Store of the year-community involvement: Donna Rigg (Palm Desert, Calif.).
• Store of the year-customer engagement: Kerry Marsh (Spring, Texas).
• Store of the year-grooming services: Stephen Charles (West Hollywood, Calif.).
• Store of the year-P.A.L.S. Tammy Fitzgerald (Omaha, Neb.).
• Petco Foundation Store of the Year: Carey Levy (Wheaton, Ill.).