MARC BRENNER, RESEARCH

The editorial team took to its task, compiling the first-ever Research magazine awards, with great relish. We felt that there was plenty of room within the awards mix to applaud those who have raised the profile of the industry, those who have commissioned high-profile projects and those who have excelled at boosting the bottom line, over the past year. Vivienne Wilson, Brian Tarran and myself scoured Research magazine for glowing examples in all three categories. We believe that our nominees and winners fully represent an industry at its most outward looking, adventurous and profitable.

RESEARCH PANEL: Brian Tarran, Vivienne Wilson

MICHAEL THOMAS, MRS

Sitting in judgement is not the most comfortable of postures. Panel members consider all entries in each category, placing them in rank order and explaining the basis of their support. In best Quaker tradition, a sense of the meeting usually emerges: we rarely have a real problem, and agreement is arrived at painlessly. The chemistry works. We remain friends. We are pleased for the winners, and hope that those who did not succeed will feel our system is just and worth testing again.

MRS PANEL: Sue Brooker, Martin Callingham, Sally Ford-Hutchinson, Barry Leventhal, David Smith, Leslie Sopp, Nick Southgate

JOHN SAMUELS, MRS CONFERENCE

The awards panel members are selected to give a wide coverage of expertise: agency, client, qual and quant. Every member reads and comments on every paper, and every conference session is attended by a minimum of two judges. Most years there are two or three exceptional papers and contributions that stand out from the rest. This year there were some that merited making the shortlist for more than one award. We shall see on the night whether anyone has managed a double!

MRS CONFERENCE PANEL: Louise Cretton, Jonathan Fletcher, Sarah Fryer, Penny Mesure

ANNE HASTINGS, AQR

What particularly inspired us when judging this year’s Prosper Riley-Smith Award was the diversity of the entries in relation to the subjects, methodologies and techniques applied. Methodologies ranged from group discussions to ethnography, weblogs and video diaries, with one set of video diaries being recorded by insomniacs using night-vision cameras, which we felt was a truly inspiring way to document their real behaviour patterns. Putting the entries side-by-side, we had an excellent snapshot of the breadth, depth and quality of the qualitative research industry in 2005.

AQR PANEL: Darren Hanley, Fiona Jack, Dan O’Donoghue, Karen Saunders

TIM MACER, ASC

Unlike many technology awards, this one places equal emphasis on innovation and demonstrated effectiveness – we seek a brilliant idea which is not only well executed but works in someone else’s hands. It is as if we are in the concert hall, judging the composer through the performer. It makes it a difficult one to judge but, we know, an even more difficult one to enter. This year, the quality has been especially high, giving us a real cliff-hanger of a decision. I truly salute all the finalists and thank the judges for their extraordinary diligence.

ASC PANEL: Laurance Gerrard, Keith Morris, Mike Trottman

CLAIRE LABRUM, BIG

As this is the first time that BIG has sponsored an award, the judging panel was excited to have the opportunity to review all of the papers submitted. We were looking for a paper which had true b2b relevance and demonstrated new thinking or innovative application of research in the b2b environment. The process itself was very enlightening, and reminded us all how much good work and thought leadership there is among b2b researchers. Promoting and enhancing the professionalism and specialism of b2b research practitioners is one of the pillars of BIG and the high standards more than demonstrated the quality of researchers there are working in the industry.

BIG PANEL: Sonja Graneek, Gailynn Nicks, Damon Thomas, Nick Thomas, Helen Wanford, Trevor Wilkinson

RICHARD SHELDRAKE, BMRA

The BMRA awards are designed to acknowledge best practice amongst member companies in the development and management of the business of research, to promote confidence in market research amongst research buyers and to recognise the professionalism of research companies. The awards are competed for by agencies of all sizes, working for clients in all sectors. The judges award those agencies that demonstrate excellence in the category of entry and, as has been the case in previous years, the standard of entries was extremely high.

BMRA PANEL: Alison Henderson, Janet Miles, Ivor Stocker