Tough decisions await judges

Entries for this year's Channel Awards are in and now the judges have the task of drawing up shortlists

This year could be the toughest yet for the judges as the number of entries for the 14th Channel Awards is set to exceed all previous years. It also appears the standard is higher than it has ever been before.
"The number of entries we receive gets better every year and, glancing at some of the entries we've received so far, it looks like the quality is better than ever, said CRN editor and head of the judging panel Sara Driscoll. " It's going to be more difficult this year to identify which of the companies should go on to the shortlist," she said.
The judges will receive their awards packs this week and will have just under a month to scrutinise them before meeting to decide on the shortlisted companies. These will be published on the awards website on 17 September and then in CRN on Monday 24 September. Readers will be able to vote straightaway and the firms that make it this far will need to start canvassing for votes.
As usual, past winners and major players will start out as the favourites, but every company that is shortlisted has a real chance, Driscoll said. "The voting counts for a lot, of course, but this year we are going to be making an extra effort to weigh up the different sizes and scales of the companies we are judging," she said. "For example, if a small software vendor that works with 500 resellers attracts 250 votes, that is much more potent than a vendor with 10,000 resellers getting 1,000 votes. We'll be looking at the votes, at the standard of entries and at the reputation and achievements of the contenders over the course of the year."
It is also important for contenders to understand that they are still being judged, even after the shortlists have been decided. "It's what a company does and how it performs over the whole year that we look at," explained Driscoll.
However, the first hurdle to clear is to make it on to the shortlists and those that do will be required to perform a little extra work this year. A few words from each shortlisted company will be placed on the voting website to give resellers and other voters the opportunity to make a more objective assessment of who they should vote for – a move that has been welcomed by the contenders.
"Giving everyone more visibility of why companies have been shortlisted is a good move," said Gary Fowle, marketing director at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. 'We hope – and fully expect – that everyone who votes bases their decision on their own experience, and votes for their elected choice because they feel that they deserve the award. Having some justification there as well will be helpful. It will give the selections more weight and credibility."
Netgear has claimed the Network Vendor award for two years in a row. Peter Airs, VAR channel manager for the UK and Ireland at Netgear, thinks the company is quite capable of pulling off a third successive win.
"I think we can win it again, provided it is still voted for by resellers," said Airs. "Over the past year we've had great relationships with more resellers than ever before. We've gone to great pains to try to create a level playing field for all resellers; big and small. This year, more than ever, I think it's worked and helped us grow our channel sales by over 40 per cent."
Competition in the Distribution categories will be strong again with Ingram and Bell Micro pressing hard to take the main award from Computer 2000 for the first time in nine years, while in the reseller categories, Kelway stole the show last year by taking the Corporate award and the main Reseller of the Year accolade, so Equanet, winner of both awards in the preceding two years, could fight back this year.
However, a number of strong contenders have entered for the first time this year so there could be a new name or two on the role of honour.
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