750 Guests dinind in style in the luxurious surroundings of the Grand Ballroom at London’s Hilton Hotel on Park Lane. BBC Television and radio presenter Jeremy Vine offering many a funny anecdote to enthral the audience. A Charity Casino that raised GB pound 10,000 in aid of Hear4U (to the delight of The Company of Security Professionals’ current Master John Purnell)… and who can forget sharing a drink or two with friends and then dancing into the small hours in front of our house DJ!
The Security Excellence Awards 2006 will live long in the memory for all in attendance as a truly fabulous occasion. Now into its eighth year, the industry’s ‘Oscars’ rightly carried a Hollywood theme and attracted more entries and sponsors 15, in fact! than ever before
(with the BT redcare Group, Skills for Security, the British Security Industry Association, Over-C, MITIE Security and Kings Security joining our now well-established supporters Southern and Northern Monitoring Services, ACPO CPI, G4S Security Services (UK), Dedicated Micros, Panasonic (UK), Prima Corporate Wear, the Security Industry Authority, Total Workplace Management and IFSEC/CMP Information).
As always, the Black Tie event maintained a serious purpose namely honouring the very best companies and individuals in the business but there was also more than a hint of fun to proceedings! This is as much a social occasion for the readers and supporters of event organisers Security Management Today, Security Installer and Platform as it is an important ceremony to honour the top practitioners in the industry.
Much deliberation on the part of the Judging Panel had whittled down a substantially increased number of entries on the 2005 event, enabling the assembled masses to congratulate the Best Security Manager, the Best Guarding Company, the Best Security Manufacturer, the winners of the Best Customer Care Initiative and the Best IT Initiative recipients (to name but a few of our categories).
This year’s Judging Panel covered a broad spectrum of the industry, with all of the individuals concerned rightly seen as experts in their field.
Sitting on the Panel for 2006
Professor Martin Gill (director of Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International), Stefan Hay (business development director at Skills for Security), Richard Kemp (director of security for the Canary Wharf Group), Alex Carmichael (the BSIA’s technical director), Lincolnshire Police assistant chief constable Peter Davies, Chet Patel (chief executive at the BT redcare Group), Bill Wyllie (chairman of The Security Institute), Michael Jasper (principal consultant, Michael Jasper Security and Training Consultancy), SSAIB chief executive Geoff Tate, Patrick Somerville (chairman of the International Professional Security Association), John Allan (chief executive of the International Institute of Security), Ian Fowler (formerly with Norbain and now a security consultant at Buro Happold), Ray Ashby (integrated systems product manager with Gardiner Security) and Peter French, the managing director of SSR Personnel Services.
As always, the Panel was completed by Security Management Today’s Editor Brian Sims, Alan Hyder (Editor of Security Installer) and Platform’s Editor Ron Alalouff.
The Government and the SIA: supporting the Awards With a Keynote Address by Vernon Coaker (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Policing, Security and Community Safety at The Home Office) and a response courtesy of Security Industry Authority chief executive John Saunders, guests could easily reconcile the fact that the Security Excellence Awards are without question the premier awards strand in the private security industry.
SMT, Security Installer and Platform wish to convey their sincere congratulations to all of this year’s winners and finalists!
For our part, we are already looking ahead to the 2007 judging sessions. And remember… Next time it could well be you or your organisation being honoured! Look out for details of how to enter the 2007 Security Excellence Awards in forthcoming editions of SMT.
