Methodology and Judging

ifa, in conjunction with the ifa Excellence Awards, has developed a robust awards methodology that recognises growth, business development, diversity, leadership, innovation and business excellence, using key benchmarks and performance indicators.

Any individual or group wishing to enter the ifa Excellence Awards 2021 will need to complete a detailed submission answering key category criteria and provide supporting evidence.

You are welcome to nominate a business partner, colleague, industry participant or business for an award. Nominating is easy and will take less than a minute; nominations across multiple categories can be done on one form. The nominee will need to undertake the submission process should they choose to participate in the awards program.

Submissions must be lodged via the online secure awards submission platform. All submissions must be received via the platform by Thursday, 29 July.

Our awards platform is safe and secure. It’s ISO/IEC 27001 certified, compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), PCI DSS, and more.

Submissions for all categories will be assessed against the specific category criteria, scored and then short-listed to determine award finalists. Finalists will then be announced.

Finalists (individuals and groups) will be contacted directly as well as published on ifa and the ifa Excellence Awards website. Finalists will be announced during the month of August.

Finalists’ submissions (across all categories) will be delivered to a panel of respected industry professionals and business leaders, who will assess each submission for the categories in which they are judging. Judges are drawn from the business community, academia, associations, not-for-profit, consulting and specific industry sectors – offering diversity in submission assessment.

A pool of judges will be allocated to judge each category to ensure a blended assessment of submissions. Judges will score each submission against the specific category criteria and assessment requirements, with the aggregate of the judges’ scores used to determine the category winner.

One winner will be announced per award category, with the awards presented at a gala black-tie dinner.

For additional details on the methodology and your submissions, please contact our team here.

*Submission categories are subject to change.