It only seems like yesterday that we were hob-nobbing with our flamboyant guest speaker, TV designer Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, at the last TTJ Awards and now we’re preparing for this year’s event.
As I’m sure all those who were there will agree, the 2002 Awards will be a tough act to follow, not least for Mr Llewelyn-Bowen’s simultaneously thought-provoking and entertaining speech. However, we are planning several developments to maintain the momentum of the event, which we see as the major opportunity of the year to celebrate the professional job being done by the UK timber trade and to recognise good service in the industry.
A key innovation this year will be the launch of the Trainee of the Year Award, sponsored by SCA and backed by the Institute of Wood Science. The aim of this is to both highlight the importance of training and to underline the good work in the field that is increasingly being done across the industry. We’ll give more details shortly, but broadly, companies will be asked to nominate trainees and say why they should be considered based on criteria such as their commitment, industry and product knowledge and achievement in training courses. Like our Marketing Award, this will be judged by an independent panel, including a representative of the IWSc.
Another significant move is the introduction of Electoral Reform Services to undertake the telephone vote canvassing for the main TTJ trader awards. ERS is an independent monitoring operation and is used extensively by businesses and other organisations to ensure voting procedures are impartial and transparent. TTJ readers can expect a call for their votes from the ERS canvassers over the coming weeks.
This year we aim too to invite leading figures from the worlds of architecture, construction and engineering so that the TTJ Awards also act as a showcase for the timber trade to decision makers in key markets.
And the next challenge will be to select a worthy star guest speaker. We’re now at the shortlist stage – so watch this space.
