Now that treasurers, the masters of liquidity, have earned their seat at the table, the challenge is to prove their strategic worth as their companies, which have stockpiled cash and cut expenses down to the bone, seek to grow in an uncertain environment. It won't come easy. But treasury seems up to the task, as evidenced by the entries in Treasury & Risk's 15th annual Alexander Hamilton Best Practices Awards, which honor excellence in finance and treasury management. The competition was fierce, and all our judges commented on the impressive level of sophistication and complexity reached in this year's field of projects.

Many thanks to our distinguished panel: Mike Gallanis, partner at Treasury Strategies; Jean-Francois Heitz, former deputy CFO and treasurer at Microsoft; Marie Hollein, CEO of Financial Executives International; Craig Jeffery, managing director of Strategic Treasurer, and, new this year, Charles Kane, formerly CFO at several technology companies, including RSA Security. Each selected his or her top three picks in each of the 10 categories after spending hours poring over a record 82 entries. A comprehensive discussion of the merits of these contenders determined the category winners, and the judges then evaluated these candidates to determine the Overall Excellence winner.

Organizing the AHA awards during the years when treasury has become such a strategic partner in the business has been an honor and vicariously satisfying. It makes sense to move T&R's Strategic Treasury Survey to this issue. Look for the Women in Finance list in the February issue. Thanks to all who submitted entries for the 2010 Alexander Hamilton Awards. We truly look forward to seeing what you come up with next year.