By Rieva Lesonsky

87793546I had the pleasure to judge the YouSendIt Business Heroes contest recently. Sponsored by secure digital file delivery company YouSendIt, this contest recognized ways that businesspeople used YouSendIt to “save the day.” The contest got more than 500 entries. Here’s a look at the winners:

The grand-prize-winning entry and the People’s Choice winner was “YouSendIt….Part of the Medical Team for the Tiniest Babies,” submitted by April Ingram, in which a group of physicians who developed a protocol to screen premature babies for a potentially blinding condition used YouSendIt to send large folders containing images of babies’ eyes for screening to determine if surgical intervention was needed to save their sight. By using YouSendIt they could securely, quickly and easily send these critical files to the specialist in a matter of minutes.

Second prize – “Hurricane Katrina & YouSendIt,” submitted by Sandra Denisuk — helped to reunite lost pets with their owners by using YouSendIt to send large lists with owner information, description of the pets and addresses.

Third prize – “YouSendIt Instrumental in Forest Fire Suppression,” submitted by Rod Moniuk –helped to save a significant amount of forest, wildlife and homes from out-of-control wildfires. Unable to use the government servers because of firewall issues, he used YouSendIt to send maps so people living in the affected areas could evacuate their homes safely.

“Each submission showcased a sense of achievement, reliability and trustworthiness,” said Ranjith Kumaran, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of YouSendIt.

I found it inspiring to see how businesses of all sizes and in all industries used YouSendIt to do some really amazing things. And on a more day-to-day basis, I was impressed with how incorporating YouSendIt tools can help entrepreneurs get more done more efficiently.