Don't shoot me!

The Channel Awards shortlist is out and I'm bracing for the usual barrage of questions over the shortlist

So that time is here at last.

The Channel Awards shortlist has been released and can be found here.

We had a record number of entries, and as the article points out - some of the shortlists are quite long. This is because there were so many entries for those particular categories that we felt cutting them by two-thirds was more than enough.

Also I know a lot of companies will be disappointed that they haven't made it this year.

Please don't despair and don't give up. The standard was extremely high, and the judges were forced to be extremely harsh on all the entries - any that didn't meet the criteria were simply not included in the running.

I cannot stress enough the importance of getting to the point, including hard facts and figures and actually explaining WHY a particular company is entering a certain category - setting the scene may seem basic, but it really does help. Demonstrate growth and investment - it can only work in your favour.

Also with vendors, too much talking about product and not enough about what it actually does for its channel partners will also lose it points.

As I've said before I am not giving individual feedback for every entry as no other awards ceremony does that - but I hope the above has been helpful.

I spend a long time writing out the criteria and top tips for entry - but it seems a few people haven't read those before writing their entries - they are only there as a guide and I will be adding bits for next year that will hopefully make them even more helpful.

Congratulations to all our shortlisters and I look forward to seeing all those that didn't make it this year harden their resolve and go for it again next year.