It's been a year of striving and surviving since Treasury & Risk last recognized excellence and innovation in corporate treasury and finance with its Alexander Hamilton Best Practices Awards.

Coping with the unexpected as political upheaval swept through the Mideast quickly segued into confronting the unthinkable when triple disasters of tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown devastated Japan. Political risk, supply chain risk and contingency planning joined the conversation dominated by liquidity management and cash forecasting.

Spring brought a new wave of criminal hacking as Lockheed Martin, Sony and EMC Corp.'s security-systems unit RSA were hit. In May, T&R reported a glimmer of economic confidence, which bloomed into cautious optimism in June only to wilt in August when fear of a double-dip recession set in.