The 2014 PlanPlus Global Financial Planning Awards winners were recently announced during the Financial Planning Association’s annual conference in Seattle.

Winners received an all-expense paid trip to the conference where the awards were presented.

The first place winner for the Americas region is Rose Swanger, from Knoxville, Tennessee, and the first place winner for Asia is Gavin Teoh Hock Geh from Malaysia. Lovaii Navlakhi from India was chosen as the first runner-up for Asia.

Sponsored by Lindsay, Ont.-based financial planning software developer PlanPlus Inc., the awards recognize top financial planners based on their demonstration of providing outstanding financial planning advice clearly focusing on the best interests of the client.

Advisors from all over the world submitted entries based on actual financial plans they had completed, with the permission of their client. Five judges adjudicated the submissions for each region, then shortlisted the entries down to the two best plans that reflected the ideals of the profession. Two finalists for each region were asked to present their plans to the judges virtually in order to determine the winners. If submissions did not meet high enough standards, winners were not declared for that region.

“I am very excited about the growing success of the awards” said John Page, competition chairman, in a release. “The number of registrations and submissions doubled from last year, specifically for Asia. Next year we are looking forward to having winners from all three regions. We hope to join forces with several financial planning associations around the world in order to increase awareness and to work towards developing country specific awards” said Page.