A big headache over short lists

I have to admit I was shocked by this year's Channel Awards entries.

At the risk of repeating myself, the standard of entrants this year has been astounding. I know that I said this last year and, if memory serves me well, the year before that too. But this year it was as if somebody had put a rocket in an improper place in lots of channel marketing executives.

Judging became something I wanted to avoid because deciding who should make the grade was more difficult than deciding between the two pairs of shoes you want to buy (always get both, just in case you were wondering).

Not only did we have the most entries ever recorded, but virtually every entrant had upped their game. For some of the awards we had more entries than others, and cutting more than 25 entries for one single award down to a mere five was challenging to say the least. This goes some way to explaining why some categories have a higher number of companies on their short list than others.

The lasting impression from reading all 190 or so entries is that channel players are not only passionate about what they do, but that vendors and distributors are still heavily courting resellers. The high standard of entries also shows how tough the industry has become and how one differentiator, such as winning an independent award, can change the odds between gaining and losing a customer.

A big congratulations to everyone who did make the short lists, and commiserations to those who didn’t make it this year. As the saying goes, there is always next time.

So now is the moment for you to have your say and vote to decide exactly who deserves to win one of the channel’s equivalent of the Oscars. Is there a company that has been truly outstanding this year? Is there a vendor, distributor or reseller that has gone beyond the call of duty to help your business? If so, it’s time that they were rewarded with a CRN Channel Award.

To vote, go to www.channelawards.co.uk