The culmination of a week of seminars and training, OPI’s January 19 awards banquet in Universal City, Calif., recognized performance and artistic excellence in a number of nail design categories.  The evening, which was hosted by OPI president/CEO George Schaeffer and executive vice president/artistic director Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, also honored nail professionals from all over the world for their contributions to the company’s success.  Before the awards portion of the program, representatives of Cosmopolitan and Allure, both of which singled out OPI lacquers in their annual beauty award issues, presented their awards in a short video.

Among the nail professionals honored that evening were Educators of the Year Jennifer Konek, Sheila Klev, and Paola Fernandez.  Shelly Torniainen took the grand prize for Best Sculpted Nails, while Cheryl McCowan won the grand prize in the Nail Art category.  Mary Ann Bolognese was named Technical Wizard of the Year.

Celebrating 15 years with OPI are international spokesperson/director of sales Joey Brown (second from left) and account executive/education Audry Michaiski (third from left).

Educators of the Year Paola Fernandez, Jennifer Konek, and Sheila Klev were honored at OPI’s International Educational Symposium 2002 in January.

Allure west coast editor Kelly Bryon (center) congratulates George Schaeffer and Suzi Weiss-Fischmann on winning a “Best of Beauty” award from her magazine.

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