Applications are not made public and are only distributed to judges in the category you enter. The only persons who will see your application are the judges, and Technology Managers Forum's directors.
The only information made public is the name of the company or companies that have won, with a brief summary of why the project won that is included in the October conference booklet and on our website. Companies that are concerned about the summary content can ask to vet the content beforehand, or we can leave it out of you wish.
While don't ask for confidential information, we do ask about best practices for solving certain kinds of generic technical problems. Also, we do not announce the entrants, except for the winners, and we do not keep any of the applications, once the winners have been decided.
Judges or Technology Managers Forum directors may contact any or all contacts listed on your application (nominees, business references, IT managers) for more information about the project you have entered.
No, entering is free.
Yes.
Deadlines extensions may be granted on a case by case basis. If the deadline is extended for all applicants in a category, this will be announced on our website and by email. Contact us at 212-787-1122 or fill out or contact forum online if you wish to have an extension.
Our judges are all IT managers, and look for answers that are specific and concrete, such as examples of what you did, problems encountered and the results obtained. The more specific you are, the better. Keep in mind that every question we ask on the form carries equal weight and each counts for 10 points maximum on the judge´s scale. So any question that is not answered, or answered incompletely would knock a candidate down a notch especially in a field with many candidates (such as Business Process Improvement or Technology Innovation).
Judges look for a competitive advantage and statements that are supported with data. They want to see how goals are validated with actual data. Simply writing down your goals on paper without evidence to support them is not sufficient. Emphasize the business advantage the technology provides - not just how great the technology is.
No. To ensure only timely and tested projects have been nominated, the project or major phases of the project nominated for the current year of the Best Practice Awards must have been funded in or after January of the prior year, and before April of the current year.
Winners will be announced at Technology Managers Forum's annual fall conference, Security Forum, held each October in New York City. Winners will be invited to send one representative to the event for free. Winners and judges are invited to a dinner the night before the Security Forum event. We do publicize the winners and why they won and issue a press release through the business wires and encourage winners to issue their own press releases. Any inquires we receive about winners we refer to our website, or we have them contact the winners directly or the designated person to accept calls from the press, if they want more information than is on our website.
Each winner in each category will get ONE award-currently a fine crystal award in a velvet lined box engraved with the winning companies' name (s) and category. If there is a shared award between a vendor and an IT manager, the vendor and IT manager will get ONE award each. If you wish to order more awards, you may, though the ordering process and payment will be up to you. You will be given instructions after the official event for ordering more awards directly from the manufacturer. Currently they have agreed to offer extra awards for about $150 each.
Winners will be notified as soon as all judges have made their decisions. Usually this is before Sept. 15th. There are first place winners, and frequently honorable mention winners. When all the winners have been notified, those on our mailing list will receive notification.
Award winners will be notified by September 15th. The official pres release and announcement of winners will be made the week of our fall conference, in early October. Award winners are listed online after the conference. The Best Practice Awards are presented at TechForum's Security Forum conference, held in October at 11 Fulton Street in New York City. One company representative from the winning firm(s) in each category will be invited to attend to accept its award. If you entered the awards, you will kept advised via email about your category's progress.
