Once again we are putting the onus onto your channel partners to nominate their vendor channel chief of choice. If you don't even get nominated, you won't stand a chance of winning
Are you a leader in your field when it comes to the channel and managing your indirect strategy?
Have your partners put you forward for CRN's ONLY nominated award yet? If not, why not?
The Channel Awards are constantly evolving to keep up with the fast pace of industry change, and this always includes the categories which are tweaked every year based on feedback.
It is fairly impossible to come up with a set of categories that pleases everyone, but each year we do try our best to be as all-encompassing as possible.
Years ago, the judging process was fairly different to how it is today, and all the categories were voted on once they were shortlisted, with those garnering the most votes being crowned the winners.
This of course, led to those with the biggest marketing budgets gaining an unfair advantage, as they ‘encouraged' their partners and customers to vote for them. Also, some of the votes were definitely a little shaky in their origin, so it was decided that the awards would be fully decided by a judging panel.
This judging panel - and you can hear from some of them in our video here - is comprised of people with years of experience in the channel. They have seen and heard it all and they know what they are talking about. They are scrupulously fair and pride themselves on their independence when it comes to the awards.
They are not swayed by advertising spend, and they judge purely on quality of entry. This is the case, despite some still claiming the awards are a fix. They really are not.
However, we at CRN can never be accused of not listening - and some people still want a voted for style of awards.
As a compromise last year, we launched the ‘Channel Chief of the Year' award. This is voted for ENTIRELY by the channel. The judges have nothing to do with it.
Vendors need to encourage their partners to nominate their favourite channel chief and give a reason as to why they deserve the award.
Last year we had a good few entries - but this industry can definitely do better. If you claim to be a true channel vendor, then prove it to us by getting your channel boss nominated by your partners.
All the details on how to submit nominations are here under the 'Editor's Choice' headline at the bottom. We await your submissions with much anticipation!
