SUMMARY
The objective of the article is to present twelve years of the National Quality Award of the Slovak Republic, survey results of the awarded organisations and their benefits for the success of the organisation. The basis is previous knowledge of recognition based on the EFQM Excellence Model and CAF Model in the Slovak Republic. The questionnaire survey has been used completed with respondent’s allegation. The aim of the survey was to gain proposals for improvements for the following annual sets of the National Quality Awards of the Slovak Republic to raise quality awareness and competitiveness of Slovak private and public organisations. The following findings were main conclusions. The most effective way of how to approach potential competition participants it to approach them with a direct email information. Expectations of most organisations entering the competition have been met. The quality model implementation and site visit based recommendations were main benefits of participating in the competition that resulted in success and added value in different areas of the organisation and its performance. Organisations that have an experience of at least one year participation in the competition claim its importance. It is also confirmed by the fact that organisations that became winners of its category in the past, backtrack to the competition after three and more years to benchmark their improvements and advancement. The competition is a strong tool that is able to assist an organisation on its journey to success and excellence.