Magic moments await

Now in their fifth year, the Security Excellence Awards have rightly become known as the security sector’s equivalent of the Hollywood Oscars.
The sparkling annual event – which this year moves to The Great Room of Le Meridien Grosvenor House Hotel on London’s Park Lane for the first time – has once again caught the imagination of hundreds of security figureheads (be they in-house or contract managers, installers, consultants or members of the leading Trade Associations).
Why? The Excellence Awards are specifically designed to recognise and reward those security teams, companies and individuals who’ve made ‘professionalism’ their byword.
To help us honour the very best people and systems that this industry of ours has to offer, we’ve enlisted the services of Paul Zenon – the celebrated magician and presenter who’ll be your compere for the evening. Paul will have plenty of tricks up his sleeve, ensuring that the evening turns into a night to remember for all those in attendance. We’ll have magicians performing card tricks in the foyer and at our guests’ tables for an evening packed full of fun.
For the second year in succession, we also have a Charity Casino in operation immediately following the main awards presentations. Sponsored by CCTV systems pioneer Dedicated Micros, all proceeds from what should be a really enjoyable part of the evening will be forwarded to a nominated charity of our choice (to be announced in a forthcoming edition of Security Management Today). Last year, the proceeds went to The Prince’s Trust.
If all of that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, we’ve also enlisted the services of a Blues Brotherss-tyle band to play a selection of your favourite numbers from the past few decades so that you can dance into the night.

The Judging Panel
Judging for this year’s event took place on Monday 2 June. Each member of the panel is rightly seen as an expert in their field.
Sitting on the Judging Panel for 2003 were:

• Professor Martin Gill (director, Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International)
  
• Stefan Hay (director and general manager, Security Industry Training Organisation)
  
• Peter French (managing director, SSR Personnel)
  
• Mike Bluestone (managing director, BSB Group)
  
• Alex Carmichael (technical manager, British Security Industry Association)
  
• Tom Mullarkey (chief executive, National Security Inspectorate)
  
• Richard Childs (chief constable, Lincolnshire Police)
  
• Nick van der Bijl (security manager, Southmeads NHS Trust Hospital)

As ever, the Judging Panel was completed by Brian Sims (Editor of Security Management Today) and Alan Hyder, the Editor of Security Installer.
Following a day of tough deliberation in the Grosvenor House Hotel’s Bourdon Suite (not to mention many long hours spent reading and re-reading the plethora of entry forms and supporting documents sent in this year), the Judges eventually came to a decision on whom to shortlist in each category.
Not an easy task. This black tie event – the only awards scheme that recognises every sector of the industry – has attracted an increasing number of entries with every year that it has been run. 2003 is no exception, with more entries than ever before, while the standard in each category was extremely high.
Depending on the category concerned, the Judges were again looking to see concrete evidence of real skill in the field.

Be part of the event
If you’d like to come along to this year’s event, table bookings are now being taken by our event organiser, CreatEvents (tel: 01252 728288). Alternatively, send a fax to: 01252 820222, or e-mail: [email protected]. Tables of ten cost GB pound 1,395 plus VAT ( GB pound 244.13). Single places are GB pound 139.50 plus VAT ( GB pound 24.41).
If your company is interested in sponsoring this or indeed next year’s event, contact SMT’s publisher Robbie Christie on (telephone) 020 7560 4111 for further information.
For those of you who do decide to attend the 2003 Security Excellence Awards, the editorial teams of SMT and Security Installer very much look forward to seeing you there.