The Supreme Court Justices and staff attended the eighth annual Professional Excellence Award ceremony in the courtroom.

During the ceremony, the Supreme Court also paid tribute to 36 long-time employees by noting their service of five, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years.

The 2011 Professional Excellence Award recipients included Anthony Joyce with Maintenance, Amy Stone with the Disciplinary Counsel, Lei Moore with the Office of Attorney Services, and Kelly Terry with the Office of Public Information.

"I wasn't expecting it at all," Terry said. "I'm up here by myself a lot. I don't get to see many people so I didn't think a lot of people knew what I did or recognize me so it's very, very humbling to have my coworkers and friends nominate me for this. It was wonderful."

Each year the Supreme Court honors exemplary employees who have distinguished themselves in one of the three categories.

Those categories include demonstrating superior achievement in the completion of a special project or assignment, consistently displaying professional excellence in the performance of their regularly assigned duties, or displaying a positive attitude toward one's work, fellow employees and the community of the Supreme Court.

Justice Paul Pfeifer spoke on behalf of the Court and said the Justices know they work with a great and diligent staff.

"While we may not know everything that each of you do, we know we are served by a great staff who works hard and who appreciates the fact that we all share this enterprise with very competent, high-minded and talented people," said Justice Pfeifer.

An awards committee of 10 Supreme Court staff members and managers reviewed eight nominations submitted by internal personnel and external colleagues and selected the honorees.

The Court started handing out the awards in 2005.

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