The NME Innovation Awards are open to individuals, companies and organisations working in the Middle East. Nominations for all categories can be made via the awards website, up until the closing time of 18.00 on March 30, 2008.
Nominations are made by completing a nomination form and submitting it with the appropriate material (see details below). Each application will then be assessed and judged by a panel of judges, selected from within the network industry by the Network Middle East editorial team.
General criteria and conditions
٠ All nominations must be submitted by e-mail to nme@itp.com
٠ Nominations must be submitted on the official nomination form, in either Word .doc or Rich Text Format (.rtf). No other submission formats will be accepted. Supporting documents can be in any common electronic format
٠ Nominations must be in English
٠ Nominations must be clearly and succinctly written, and remain within the submission guidelines described below
٠ Nominations should deal in grounded and supported statements, preferably with supporting facts and figures; not hyperbole and platitudes
٠ Nominations should be for recent projects, releases or achievements – anything put forward older than 18 months is unlikely to be successful
٠ Nominations should relate to projects, releases or people within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For the purposes of these awards, this includes: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen
٠ The organisers will not be responsible for nominations, which may be damaged, lost or mislaid
٠ Network Middle East shall have the right to verify the information provided in each submission if required
٠ Nominations will be accepted in good faith and, notwithstanding any attempts to verify claims made in nominations, will be treated as true and accurate
٠ Submission of an application form indicates acceptance of the conditions of entry
٠ In the event of any disputes or issues, the decision of the Editor of Network Middle East shall be deemed final. The organisers will not be obliged to justify their decisions or enter into any correspondence.
Implementation awards
Who can nominate?
Anyone involved in a project – end user, integrator, consultant, vendor, etc – can send in a nomination.
What projects are suitable for nomination?
Any projects which would wholly or mainly fall under one of the five implementation categories. If there is uncertainty over a particular project, contact sathya.ashok@itp.com for clarification and guidance.
What information is required?
Nominations need to include a 500-1000 word synopsis of the project, including the following information:
· Product, system or solution implemented
· Business requirements behind the project
· Selection criteria and decision process for choosing system
· Specific reasons behind choice of final system
· Start date and length of implementation
· Details of the implementation, including planning and delivery
· Details of any problems or challenges, and how they were overcome or avoided
· Details of how the final result compared to original project scope
· Details of how the new system fits into existing IT infrastructure
· Return on investment of final project
· Future plans involving new system
Nominations should also include a short synopsis of end user details, including:
· Size of company/organisation (personnel, sites, customers/users, etc)
· Size of IT department, including contractors
· Outline of existing IT infrastructure
· Brief outline of any other recent IT projects
What other details are required?
Judges will also need access to personnel involved in the project at the customer organisation, integrator and vendor, in case of follow-up questions. If the judges are unable to put relevant follow-up questions to relevant parties they may, at their sole discretion, reject the nomination.
How will the information in the nomination be used?
Nominations will be circulated to the judging panel, which will consist of senior network and IT managers and industry analysts. It may also be used in Network Middle East – in print, online or both – as the basis of a case study, as a standalone article, or as part of an awards feature.
Product/company awards
Who can nominate?
Companies or individuals can nominate themselves or their products (including products resold by them). Nominations for these categories can also come from a party other than the nominee. More weight will be given to nominations from end-users or disinterested parties.
Which companies/products can be nominated?
Any companies operating in the MENA region, and any products generally available in the MENA region (direct or through resellers).
What information is required?
Nominations must include a 300-500 word description and justification of why the product or organisation should receive the award. It should include the following information, as applicable to the various categories:
· Details of the product/company
· Specific features, characteristics, etc which elevate its status
· How it is in use in the region (sites, customers, etc)
· Success the company/product has had in the region
What other details are required?
Contact details for the vendor concerned, and the facility to ask followup questions.
Individual awards
Who can nominate?
Nominations for these categories must come from a party other than the nominee –individuals cannot nominate themselves. More weight will be given to nominations from peers or disinterested parties.
Who can be nominated?
Any individuals working as networking professionals, or IT professionals with substantial networking responsibility, in the MENA region.
What information is required?
Nominations must include a 300-500 word description and justification of why the individual should receive the award. It should include the following information:
· Details of the nominee’s current position and responsibility
· Brief outline of their main achievements
· Brief outline of their career history
What other details are required?
Contact details for the nominee, in order to check facts, positions, details etc if necessary.
|
