rules of entry

1. Entry is FREE and made by nomination or self application. Self applications should be made or approved by someone within the organisation who has authority to do so. Please include suitable contact information for verification stage should you reach the short list.

2. Organisations are not eligible to apply for awards they have sponsored.

3. Judges are not eligible to enter any award nor are they eligible to sit on judging panels for awards entered or nominated by employees or directors from any organisation for whom they work. Judges must declare any knowledge they have of any nominee.

4. Judges may reallocate an entry to a different category if they feel this is appropriate.

5. Entrants can apply or be nominated for more than one award category.

6. Entrants must be prepared to cooperate fully with the judges or their representatives where necessary, in response to enquiries seeking additional information from finalists or their nominators.

7. The decision of the judges is final and no further correspondence will be considered.

8. Entrants must be prepared to cooperate with Credit Today magazine, which may wish to publicise the entries. (Commercial sensitivity will be respected).

9. Credit Today magazine and the sponsoring organisations will take no responsibility for incidental costs incurred by entrants.

10. To uphold the credibility of the Insolvency and Rescue scheme no entries may be withdrawn once they are shortlisted.

the do's

Follow in order the descriptive paragraphs provided under the particular category/ies as the basis for describing the merits of each nominee.

Use subheadings, based upon the descriptive paragraphs detailed, to present the case for each nominee.

Ensure the information supplied is fact not fiction and ensure the necessary evidence is supplied when requested.

Ensure the language used in the nomination is succinct and relevant to the nomination.

Try and provide some quality about the nominee that is exceptional and outstanding.

Remember, the judges will be looking for achievements over and above the nominee's normal duties because this is the why someone should be an award winner.

Make very certain that your nomination is for the correct category. Once again check the descriptive paragraphs to ensure you are nominating for the appropriate category.

Make your nomination stand out. If an individual/team/organisation is nominated more than once, make sure that the nominations are different and are supported by documentation related to each specific category.

the don'ts

Do not assume that the judges know of the nominee's organisation. In the majority of cases the judges will certainly not know the nominees themselves and may know little about the organisation they work for.

Do not assume the judges will know what the nominee's job title encompasses; explain exactly what they do in a clear and succinct way.

Do not oversell yourself if the application is a self-nomination. The judges may be more critical of the self-nominee.

Do not use gimmicks to attract the judges attention. The awards are a serious undertaking and they make every effort to assess every nominee in a considered and professional manner.

Do not waffle.

Do not provide marketing or sales material or press releases of a company that in reality has no bearing on the nomination.

Do not miss the deadline for submitting the nomination/s. Judges will not be able to consider any nomination after the closing date.

Do not fall at the last fence!