AV Awards 2008
Click here to view the shortlist
When will the entries be judged?
Judging will take place in the middle of August 2008, as soon as all entries have been processed and the folders of submissions read by the judges.
Who will judge the entries?
The judging panels will consist of senior representatives from user companies and key industry players. The judges will have the knowledge and experience to assess each entry according to its objectives and available budget. The judges will ensure that success goes to effectiveness rather than big budgets. Any judge who has been involved with a project is not allowed to lobby the other judges, or vote for that project. An average based on all the other judges’ marks will be awarded to the project concerned. The judges will have the right to move entries between categories if they feel they have been entered into a less appropriate category.
What the judges will look for?
Overall, the judges will be looking for entries which meet the following criteria, as appropriate to the entry categories:
• Demonstrable commitment to, and pursuit of, the future
development of a-v communications
• Achievements that benefit a-v sector clients and users as
well as the entering organisation
• Proof of market development initiatives
• Proof of company performance in terms of market share,
turnover or margin increases
• Proof of benefit to clients
• Evidence of technical innovation and of creative solutions to
communication problems.
How will the entries be judged?
The judges will study all the submissions received, looking for examples of excellence that counted towards the overall success of an activity. They will then vote for those that will form the short-list of finalists, scoring them each out of 100.
Hints and Tips
Bear in mind the judging process.
The AV Awards are judged by two panels of judges over two separate days. One panel judges the UK and European company awards (manufacturer of the year etc). Another panel judges the product innovation and project-based awards. The judges are totally independent industry representatives. They cannot be
sponsors or organisers of the awards competition (AV’s editor chairs the sessions but cannot vote), and we make sure that they judge on the evidence in front of them, not hearsay or prior knowledge coming from outside the judging room.
The judging criteria include the following points:
• Demonstrable commitment to, and pursuit of, the future development of a-v communications
• Achievements that benefit a-v sector clients and users as well as the entering organisation
• Proof of market development initiatives
• Proof of company performance in terms of market share, turnover and/or margin increases
• Proof of benefit to clients
• Evidence of technical innovation and of creative solutions to communication problems
So another rule is: Bear in mind what the judges are looking for when you are putting your submission together.
It’s vitally important to state your case clearly and unambiguously, and important to avoid any confusion about market or company data.
Remember that the first thing the judges read is the management summary. We ask for a management summary so that judges can quickly see what an entrant has to offer, before they go on to read or watch the supporting material.
The format of that supporting material should be as clear as possible (gimmicky formats like mock newspapers tend not to work). But the support material must also be deep enough to strengthen the case.
The idea is (say) that the management summary might include a bullet point saying that ‘new marketing plans put in place during the year showed good results’. The support material should then have a section that describes what those marketing plans were, what results were achieved etc. Points made in the management summary should be backed up in the full submission. Exactly what all those points are will depend on the entry and the category entered.
In the entry pack, the categories are listed describing what they apply to, who should enter, what form the entry should take, and the most important criteria that should be taken into account. So please read the category descriptions with care!
