>strong>Nominations for the 2021 Awards Programme are now closed. Many thanks for all of the excellent nominations that we have received. Our judges are now hard at work scrutinising all of the submissions and reaching their decisions. Watch out for news.
The "INCA Golds" Awards are back! Following a pandemic-induced hiatus last year we are extremely pleased to announce that our awards programme is back for 2021, and we are open for nominations.
We've changed things a little for this year's awards, in keeping with the times, introducing three new Awards that we hope will help to throw a spotlight on some of the fantastic work that has been going on in our industry. The three new awards – in no particular order:
- The Scaling Up Award, which aims to recognise outstanding achievement by an organisation in tackling the challenges and making the most of the opportunities that scaling up offers. Scaling up is a big theme for us in 2021, and our programme this year has in plarge part been designed to support our members as they step up to address the ambitious targets that have been set. We've seen a lot of growth and new investment coming into our sector over the last twelve months, and long may it continue. The race is on, and it brings with it a whole raft of complex challenges. Rapidly scaling any organisation is not simply a matter of throwing money at the problem. The companies that can scale most effectively and efficiently will be able to go further faster and be in a stronger position in the future. Which organisation has really stood out for you over the last year or so? Where the shining lights? What lessons can we leanr about how to scale well?
- The Low Carbon Award is launched this year as part INCA's strategy for supporting our sector to move quickly to Net Zero. The challenge of the climate emergency is huge, and something that affects all of us. We firmly believe that through collaborative action we can accelerate our progress on carbon reduction, and this award aims to identify and recognise those organisations in our sector that are leading the way, developing good practice, creating a roadmap that we can follow.
- The Covid Hero Award speaks for itself. The COVID-19 pandemic has presented major challenges for all of us both personally and professionally over the last year or more. This award is designed to enable us to reflect on the events of the last year or so, recognise the impact that the pandemic has had, and celebrate the resilience and achievements of the organisations and people around us. Our industry has largely kept working throughout, indeed the services that are enabled by the infrastructure and connectivity that INCA members deliver has proved to be critically important for many people and businesses through the lockdown, and This award is open to both individual and organisational nominees. Who has really stood out for you? Who has gone above and beyond the call of duty?
Alongside these three new awards we are also looking to make awards in the following categories.
- Technical Innovation: Designed in part to enable hardware and software providers in membership of INCA to engage with the awards programme, often in partnership with our operator members and others, this award focusses on the key role that innovations play in our industry. As the pace of construction of new networks accelerates and the size of networks under manangement scales up, innovations can be game-changing in terms of streamlining all aspects of the design, build and operation of those networks. What are the innovations that have proved crucial for your organisation? Who has been delivering the ground-breaking work?
- Best Rural/Hard-to-reach initiative: Many INCA members specialise in working in more rural and/or hard to reach locations, and this award focusses on the innovation, collaboration and sheer hard work that drives success in these contexts. Who has been delivering outstanding projects in this space? Who deserves recognition for their excellent work?
- Best Public Sector Project: INCA has always been of the view that local authorities and other public bodies play a crucial role in the delivery of world class connectivity for their communities. Often working in collaboration with communities and private sector partners, balancing needs and priorities in order to deliver successful outcomes requires skill and judgement. This award recognises that expertise and celebrates outstanding achievement in a public sector project.
- Best Community Project: Designed to highlight often smaller community-led connectivity projects that might otherwise go under the radar and not get the recognition they deserve for their often innovative approaches in commonly challenging circumstances. Where are communities doing it for themselves? what are the projects that deserve to be in the spotlight?
- Outstanding Contribution (individual and/or organisation): The Outstanding Contribution Award is an opportunity to recognise the particular achievements of an individual or an organisation in our industry. The players that have gone above and beyond in order to make truly distinctive things happen. In the case of individuals, their achievement may be over a longer timeframe – perhaps even their whole career, whilst in the case of organisational nominees, the judges will be looking at achievements in the last year or so. Subject to the submissions we receive, the judges may choose to make two awards in this category, i.e. one for an individual, and one for an organisation.
How to Submit an Entry
Nominations for the 2021 Awards programme are now closed.
To submit a nomination for an award you should first understand what the judges are looking for, as described above. Then make sure that you are clear on the rules of the programme, and lastly take a little time to craft your entry. You need to be succinct and effective with your submission in order to catch the attention of our judges. We are particularly keen to see some short videos (2 or 3 minutes is ideal) as part of submissions, although we won't mark down any submission for not including one. When you're ready you can make your nomination/s (yes you are welcome to make more than one) using our simple form.
The 2019 INCA Awards ceremony