Channel Awards 2023 - Reseller Criteria

Rising Star Award

This category is open any reseller/VAR/MSP/Integrator that is seeing phenomenal growth in their field and has been in business for a MAXIMUM of five years and MINIMUM of 18 months in their current form. If you can demonstrate strong growth over the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023), feel you are a disruptive force and can give some example of your potential growth in the future, then you are the ideal candidate for this award.

Entry Criteria: Use the below criteria as a guide on what to include in your entry. Please do not address each point separately and just base the entry on these points alone -try to add some colour/personality and remember to include at least one customer testimonial. Multi-media or PDF entries are encouraged, but plain text entries are accepted as long as they are well spaced and easy to read. Please do not just copy and paste blocks of text with no spacing.

Outline why you are entering this category, and convince the judges why your entry should be considered in this category - give examples of customer demographics and include some information about your business to set the scene - size, staff, how long company been in business, what exactly you do etc.
Provide evidence of your growth over the past year and why you should be considered as a rising star in your field - what will you achieve in the coming year and how will you make an impact on the market? Use stats and figures to back up your points. Include any investment in new systems/vendor accreditations/services for example. Or if you have made an acquisition to further bolster your offerings, please elaborate. Why do you stand out from the competition in this category? Why are you a valuable player and a one to watch in this space?
Pick a particularly successful case study from the past year that has contributed to your amazing growth and explain to the judges why it was such a success and perhaps what different skills you brought to the table. A customer testimonial must be used to back up the study and again use stats.
People - how do you keep your staff happy and motivated? Do you offer anything different from the norm?
Company image - describe any marketing activities you undertake to raise awareness of your company to customers, and how you go the extra mile to keep customers happy and ensure you continue to grow.

Entries MUST include hard facts and figures - all of which will be kept strictly confidential and used for judging purposes only. All campaigns and initiatives must have been new or further developed in 2023 to qualify. Resellers are actively encouraged to enter for more than one award if they so wish, and if the category is relevant to their business. But every entry MUST be different.

Maximum word count: 1,000.

MSSP/Security VAR of the Year

With security a top concern for end user customers, this category is aimed at VARs/security service providers that can demonstrate excellence in cybersecurity services and solutions. This category is open to all VARs/MSSPs/integrators that specialise in security solutions and services to customers of any size, whether this is SMB, mid-market or enterprise, or to those that have a strong security flavour to their portfolio of services. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.

Outline why you are entering this category and why you should be considered as a contender for this award. How much of your business is security based? Why is security such a vital part of your service to customers?
Provide evidence of the value provided to your customers. Include any investment in new technologies/vendor accreditations/services for example. Or if you have made an acquisition to further bolster your offerings, please elaborate. Why do you stand out from the competition in this category? Why are you a valuable partner for vendors in this space?
Pick a particularly successful customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success, how you helped that customer overcome particular security concerns/beat hackers/cybercriminals, or protect against further security breaches. A customer testimonial must be used to back up the study and do use stats.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they are fully trained to provide the best possible security-based service to your customers? Do you invest in training/team-building exercises to keep your staff happy?
Company image - describe any marketing activities you undertake to raise awareness of your company to customers, and how you go the extra mile to keep customers happy/why they keep coming back to you for all their security needs.

Maximum word count: 1,000.

Public Sector VAR/MSP of the Year

This category is open to VARs/MSPs that have a strong specialism in the public sector. Customers can range from education to healthcare, from local government to government, and emergency services, plus other public sector-based organisations.

AT LEAST 40 per cent of your business must be public sector-based to qualify for entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.

Outline why you are entering this category and convince the judges why your entry should be considered in this category.
Set the scene and describe in detail the percentage of your business that is public sector as per requirements, using stats and figures where possible, and explain which part/parts of the public sector you serve and what exactly you specialise in.
Provide evidence of the value provided to your public sector clients over the past year- use stats and growth figures to back up points. Include any investment in new systems/vendor accreditations/services for example. Or if you have made an acquisition to further bolster your public sector offerings, please elaborate. Why do you stand out from the competition in this category? Why are you a valuable partner for vendors in this space?
Pick a particularly successful public sector customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success, how you helped that customer save money/streamline their business/improve their service. A customer testimonial must be used to back up the study and again use stats.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible service and expertise to your customers?
Company image - describe any marketing activities you undertake to raise awareness of your company to public sector customers, and how you go the extra mile to keep those customers happy.

Maximum word count: 1,000.

Reseller of the Year (up to £30m turnover) - NEW for 2023

Please note this award is revenue based to give a more diverse range of players in the market a chance to showcase their abilities. According to CRN's Top VARs report, 70 per cent of the UK's Top 500 VARs have a turnover of £30m and below, which means this bracket more than deserves its own category. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.

Demonstrate why you feel you should win the Reseller of the Year (up to £30m turnover) award (this can be staff happiness/retention, impressive achievements, vendor accolades etc) and remember to use stats/figures to show growth and back up claims. You must also let the judges know your turnover to qualify.
What has your business achieved in the past 12 months that makes it stand out from the competition - this can be either significant revenue growth (both organic and through acquisition), a large number of vendor accreditations in a year, significant amount of major contract wins or just punching above your weight in a challenging economic climate. Use stats and figures.
What has been your company's most impressive achievement this year? Why are you proud of it, how did your people help achieve it? Back up with stats and figures.
Pick a particularly successful case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success and why it should help you win the award. Remember to include stats and testimonials.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible service to your customers? Do you do anything unusual for your staff that the competition doesn't?

Maximum word count: 1,000.

MSP of the Year

This award is ONLY open to companies that can truly call themselves a managed service provider (MSP). Vendors or support companies DO NOT qualify for this award and will be removed from the category. Business has to consist primarily of managed services TO END USER CUSTOMERS, this can be any or as many of the ‘as-a-service' disciplines as you like - although bear in mind there are separate cloud and security categories, so non-cloud/security entries will be given priority. Entries can cover managed services to enterprise, mid-market or SMB level customers. We would ask that at least 75 per cent of your business is through managed services to qualify for entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.

Entry Criteria: Use the below criteria as a guide on what to include in your entry. Please do not address each point separately and just base the entry on these points alone - try to add some colour/personality and remember to include at least one customer testimonial. Multi-media or PDF entries are encouraged, but plain text entries are accepted as long as they are well spaced and easy to read. Please do not just copy and paste blocks of text with no spacing.

Outline why you are entering this category and convince the judges why your entry should be considered in this category - explain the managed services part of your business, using figures and stats to demonstrate the size of that business, and ensure it meets the criteria requirements.
Provide evidence of the value provided to your customers over the past year through your services - use stats and growth figures to back up points. Include any investment in new systems/vendor accreditations/services for example. Or if you have made an acquisition to further bolster your offerings, please elaborate. Why do you stand out from the competition in this category? Why are you a valuable partner for vendors in this space?
Pick a particularly successful corporate customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success, how you helped that customer save money/streamline their business/improve their service to their own customers. A customer testimonial must be used to back up the study and again use stats.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible services to your customers? Do you invest in training- if so what type and how often?

Maximum word count: 1,000.

Cloud Services Provider of the Year

This category is open to channel players with a specific focus on providing cloud-based services to their end user customers. This can be in any vertical sector with any relevant cloud technology set, whether it is security, storage, infrastructure, datacentre services or a mix of the above and others.

NOTE: Resellers/MSPs entering this category should derive at least 40 per cent of their business from the provision of cloud products and services. Please address this point in your entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.

Outline why you are entering this category and convince the judges why your entry should be considered in this category. Are you a true cloud provider? If you have been on a journey to the cloud, or are a born in the cloud player, please include a full but brief outline.
Explain your cloud business - the services and products you offer and what customer demographic you serve with your offerings. Please include stats and figures to help set the scene and ensure you meet for criteria cut off point for entry.
Provide evidence of the value your cloud offerings provide to your clients over the past year- use stats and growth figures to back up points. Include any investment in new systems/vendor accreditations/services for example. Or if you have made an acquisition to further bolster your offerings, please elaborate. Why do you stand out from the competition in this category? Why are you a valuable partner for vendors in this space?
Pick a particularly successful customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success, how your cloud solutions helped that customer save money/streamline their business/improve their service. A customer testimonial must be used to back up the study and again use stats.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible service to your customers? Do you invest in training to ensure your teams are always up to date with the latest cloud technology?

Maximum word count: 1,000.

Best ESG project/initiative- Reseller - NEW FOR 2023!

Having a proper ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy in place is fast becoming a must for all technology companies, as firms prioritise their people and pledge to follow a more ethical and sustainable business model.

This category is aimed at showcasing a particular ESG project that a company has worked on during the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023).

We want these entries to be personal, yet fun, and really give some good examples of how IT resellers are making the world a better place, whether this is for their own employees and customers, or their wider community.

The reach for this award is deliberately broad to give every company a chance to pick an area of ESG that is most relevant to them.

Projects can range from a newly developed recycling strategy for example, to any environmental/circular economy-related initiative, or it can be a charity fundraising project that the whole company has been involved in. It can also cover any projects centred around STEM education, mentoring, mental health, and diversity, plus much more.

Following the Coronavirus pandemic, everyone has realised that there is much more to running a business than profit and loss. It is all about people and community, and making a difference.

This award is to recognise the work that so many firms are doing behind the scenes to address the vital issues addressed above (and others) and give some much-deserved recognition to the people and teams behind that crucially important work.

Entry Criteria: Please use these criteria as a rough guide to shaping your entry - but feel free to make it as personal as possible, including photographs.

Outline what project you are entering in this category and explain how it came about. Tell us why this project is so important to your company and your employees.
Explain the benefits of the project - who it was aimed at, what kind of a difference it has made/is making - get comments from those involved.
The personal touch - how did your teams pull together to get this project off the ground? How much did they go above and beyond to make it a success?
Testimonial - ask those who have benefitted to provide a short explanation of how your project has made a difference and why it is so important to them.
Any figures/facts you can share to demonstrate the achievements of the project will be welcomed by the judges.

Entries can be anything between 500 and 1,000 words - please include as much relevant information as possible and make it as personal as you like.

Reseller of the Year (£31m - £200m turnover) - REVISED for 2023

This year we have revised our revenue bands to better reflect the current reseller landscape. Roughly 22 per cent of the CRN Top 500 list fall into this revenue band, so we are expecting quite a battle on our hands.

The award is open to all VARs/MSPs/Integrators with a turnover between £31m and £200m, that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job over the past 12 months (between July 2022 and July 2023). Any IT supplier, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award and your turnover threshold must qualify to enter.

Demonstrate why you feel you should win the Reseller of the Year (£31m - £200m turnover) award (this can be staff happiness/retention, impressive achievements, vendor accolades etc) and remember to use stats/figures to show growth and back up claims. You must also let the judges know your turnover to qualify.
What has your business achieved in the past 12 months that makes it stand out from the competition - this can be either significant revenue growth (both organic and through acquisition), a large number of vendor accreditations in one year, significant amount of major contract wins or just punching above your weight in a challenging economic climate. Again use stats and figures.
What has been your company's most impressive achievement this year? Why are you proud of it, how did your people help achieve it? Again back up with stats and figures.
Pick a particularly successful corporate customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success and why it should help you win the award. Remember to include stats and testimonials.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible service to your customers? Do you do anything unusual for your staff that the competition doesn't?

Maximum word count: 1,000.

Reseller of the Year (£200m+ turnover)

We have revised the revenue brackets of this category to make this a battle between the titans of the reseller world that make up the top eight per cent of the CRN Top 500 UK VARs. It is open to all VARs/MSPs/Integrators with a turnover above £200m, that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job over the past 12 months (between July 2022 and July 2023). Any IT supplier, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award, but your turnover threshold must qualify to enter.

Demonstrate why you feel you qualify for the Reseller of the Year (£200m+ turnover) award (this can be staff happiness/retention, impressive achievements, vendor accolades etc) and remember to use stats/figures to show growth and back up claims.
What has your business achieved in the past 12 months that makes it stand out from the competition - this can be either significant revenue growth (both organic and through acquisition), a large number of vendor accreditations in one year, significant amount of major contract wins or just punching above your weight in a challenging economic climate. Again use stats and figures.
What has been your company's most impressive achievement this year? Why are you proud of it, how did your people help achieve it? Again back up with stats and figures.
Pick a particularly successful corporate customer case study from the past year and explain to the judges why it was such a success and why it should help you win the award. Remember to include stats and testimonials.
People - How have you invested in your people to ensure they provide the best possible service to your customers? Do you do anything unusual for your staff that the competition doesn't?

Maximum word count: 1,000.