Can you keep a secret?

Awards winners have been decided after a lot of hard work by judges

Far be it from me to enjoy being in on a secret and to rub everyone’s noses in it. But I am. The biggest secret in CRN’s calendar, in fact.

Yes, I know who the winners of the 2011 Channel Awards are. We held our second-stage judging event last week, where those that made the shortlists were once again discussed and examined by a fresh panel of judges, before the winners were decided.

It was no mean feat and there was a lot of deliberation throughout the day. I also took a huge step back and left the judging panel to it, so it was a true industry decision.

The battle for the ‘Big Three’ awards was fantastic to watch. We had some real bake-offs going on in all three categories - reseller, distributor and vendor of the year - and a great deal of effort was clearly put into their presentations. I never thought gold lame jackets could be put to such good use.

Seriously though, many thanks go to all the judges and well done to all who entered and presented - it is clear the Awards mean even more to the industry than ever before, which is great to see.

It is now all systems go for the main event on 17 November at Battersea Park. Our compere is sorted (another secret) and tickets are selling fast.

And separately, as you will be able to see from the front cover, we have a real scoop in this week’s issue - CRN’s deputy editor Doug Woodburn met with Michael Dell this month. We were one of just a handful of UK titles to be selected - so do read the full interview on page 9.

As always we are keen to get feedback, so feel free to visit ChannelWeb and comment on our stories, or drop me a line via email or Twitter.