The first-ever Zappy Awards have wrapped! The results have left us endlessly inspired by the unique, creative ways people are reimagining the way they work.
We’re excited to announce the winners of the 2024 Zappy Awards and share what they’ve been able to build with Zapier.
Outstanding Customer Impact
Tony Adams, President at Daddy’s Chicken Shack
The winner of the Outstanding Customer Impact award is Tony Adams, President at Daddy’s Chicken Shack.
Tony used Zapier to give his order emails a makeover, making them more dynamic and tailoring them to each customer. Every email now features personalized videos, loyalty app details, and a link to the nearest store. The results: three times more Google reviews and twice as many app downloads.
Marketing Innovator of the Year
Nicholas Johnson, Marketing Director at Drivers1st
The winner of the Marketing Innovator of the Year award is Nicholas Johnson, Marketing Director at Drivers1st.
Nicholas used Zapier and AI to automate hundreds of sponsored job postings and lead generation on Indeed for his recruitment company. These two automated workflows have saved hundreds of work hours, generated thousands of qualified sales leads, and driven $500,000+ in revenue growth this year.
Top Sales Professional of the Year
Amber Sharp, Business Development Executive at Tivly
The winner of the Top Sales Professional of the Year award is Amber Sharp, Business Development Executive at Tivly.
Amber has used Zapier to streamline critical prospecting and onboarding processes, along with other repetitive day-to-day tasks. She's automated everything from drip campaigns to personalized prospecting emails and referrals. Her workflows increased units purchased by 30% in the last year—and she now has more time to focus on growing in her role.
Tech Innovator of the Year
Nasim Obeid, Director of Engineering and Data Analytics at Upfront
The winner of the Tech Innovator of the Year award is Nasim Obeid, Director of Engineering and Data Analytics at Upfront.
Upfront's admissions reps were struggling to easily access call transcripts within their current tech stack. So Nasim created a workflow using Zapier, ChatGPT, and UiPath to extract and display call transcripts in TigerConnect, the company’s preferred communication platform. Now, empowered with the info they need, Upfront's reps can provide quicker service.
Operations Trailblazer of the Year
Ryan Goodman, Founder at DataTools Pro
The winner of the Operations Trailblazer of the Year award is Ryan Goodman, Founder at DataTools Pro.
Ryan used Zapier Canvas to map his company’s entire customer life cycle, from lead generation to onboarding. This created a single view of all the Zaps powering these crucial processes. Now, Ryan can simply and quickly explain the end-to-end life cycle to customers.
AI Innovator of the Year
Aaron Watkins, President at Can It Be Automated?
The winner of the AI Innovator of the Year award is Aaron Watkins, President at Can It Be Automated?
Aaron combined Zapier and AI to launch a seasonal business—called Visit Real Santa—which sends personalized, handwritten letters to children from Santa. Zapier and OpenAI handle everything in the backend from form submissions to letter writing to billing.
The business has been such a success that it's expanding its offerings this holiday season to include personalized videos. Automation and AI will play a key role by helping generate custom video scripts.
Automation Hero of the Year
Andrew Lovell, Senior Operations Manager at Scribe Media
The winner of the Automation Hero of the Year award is Andrew Lovell, Senior Operations Manager at Scribe Media.
Andrew has transformed how Scribe operates by using Zapier to embed automation into every process. He's automated everything from sending freelancer payments to building a custom CRM after budgets were cut. Andrew has become well-known at Scribe for his automation-first mindset! The workflows he's automated have reduced errors, sped up processes, and saved the publishing company money.
Best Use of Zapier New Products
Nate Hamill, Director of Content Strategy at Point Loma Nazarene University
The winner of the Best Use of Zapier New Products award is Nate Hamill, Director of Content Strategy at Point Loma Nazarene University.
Nate uses Zapier Tables as a source of truth and a dashboard to update the university's Zaps when the data fields change each semester. This makes the process fast and simple and removes hiccups from their Salesforce data syncing. Tables has significantly cut down on the time the university spends making updates and fixing errors.
Nonprofit Automator of the Year
Tom Georges, Tech Support at Special Needs Respite
The winner of the Nonprofit Automator of the Year award is Tom Georges, Tech Support at Special Needs Respite.
Tom used Zapier to streamline many operations for the small nonprofit. He automated everything from caregiver invoicing to scholarship applications to donation management. This not only won back hundreds of hours for the nonprofit, but also helped them cut operational costs by 10% and save more than $18,000 annually.
Founder of the Year
Angela Ferrante, Founder and CEO at Laudable
The winner of the Founder of the Year award is Angela Ferrante, Founder and CEO at Laudable.
Angela used Zapier to prototype new AI features for her company’s product. Most recently, she used notes from customer success managers (CSMs) to source advocates for case studies. Her 15-step Zap adds new CSM notes to the system, uses AI to extract structured data, then drafts a customer story. This has become a core part of the value Laudable delivers to one of its customers. Even more amazing? Angela built this automation in one-tenth of the time it would've taken her engineering team.
Thank you to the winners and to everyone who applied this year. Keep creating automation magic! We can't wait to see you next year.
