(FORTUNE Magazine) – BEST NEW ARTIST AWARD

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, a Houston-based pipeline company co-founded by former Enron executive Richard Kinder, makes its first appearance on our Most Admired list--and with the highest industry score ever recorded: a 9.36.

THANKS ANYWAY AWARD

Wal-Mart gets kudos for coming in at the No. 4 spot on our top ten. Unfortunately, it was less popular last year among shareholders: The stock returned just 0.5% in 2004, lagging behind the S&P by more than ten points.

DUDE! YOU'RE GETTING AN AWARD AWARD

Dell, this year's grand-prize winner, wasn't always the class achiever. As recently as 2002, the company ranked 31st overall--way off our top ten. Soaring "management" scores in 2005 helped propel the company to the summit.

CAL RIPKEN JR. IRONMAN AWARD--TIE

Northwestern Mutual has collected top honors from its brethren in the insurance sector for 22 years, including this one. The Milwaukee firm is the only company to place first every year it was ranked--and would have the most gold ribbons ever were it not for ...

Alcoa. The aluminum maker has also spent 22 years atop its peer group--and had the misfortune to miss once, in 1995. Were the duel to be decided based on this year alone, Alcoa could claim sneering rights, however: Its industry score of 8.48 (on a scale of 10) beats Northwestern Mutual's by a point.

SOFTWARE GLITCH AWARD

Microsoft had a bit of a systems crash--at least when it comes to the views of software rivals. It dropped from first place to fourth in its peer-group ranking. Broader corporate America didn't notice, though. It still voted Big Softie to the top ten overall.

EXTREME MAKEOVER AWARD

Dow Chemical sharply boosted its image among industry peers, jumping a whopping seven places this year. Management finesse and strong ratings for "community work" lifted its score. Who knows? The improvements may have even helped profits, which were up 62% last year.

KEN JENNINGS FINAL JEOPARDY AWARD

UPS's impressive 20-year streak atop its peer group ended this year. Rival FedEx squeaks ahead to finish first--by a paper-thin margin of 0.02 point. Brown is blue.

"WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, JOE DIMAGGIO?" AWARD

Merck ruled our top ten from 1987 to 1993--with seven straight years at No. 1. This year, thanks in part to the Vioxx mess, the drug giant has settled into the bottom half of its industry peer group. The once steady-Eddie also got the lowest score for "long-term investment."

WE TOLD YOU SO AWARD

General Electric ranked ninth on FORTUNE's debut list of Most Admired Companies in 1983. Since then the company's shareholders have enjoyed total returns of more than 3,100%. We wish we could take some credit for that.