Deals Awards: Your FAQs get answered
FAQs
The Deals Awards are deal-led. Therefore the nomination form starts with the details of the Deal and then contains fields relating to advisers, funding etc. If you are nominating for a category such as Bank or Law Firm, you still need to fill in the details of the Deal or Deals – and then under Category(ies) state which categories you want to enter, and under Reasons for Nominating, give details of why you are nominating a particular person or firm for that deal.
Q: Can I submit a nomination in any category?
A: Yes. But please remember these are deals awards, so every nomination should include details of a deal or deals. In categories like bank, law firm etc the judges look for deal-related nominations and excellence in specific deals – rather than whether a firm has, say, strength across all its disciplines.
Q: What steps are taken to ensure confidentiality of information submitted ?
A: Please state clearly where information is confidential. Any confidential information will be available to judges but not announced at the awards event, published by The Business Magazine, or distributed to other media.
Q: How many nominations per deal can I submit?
A: Multiple nominations by different firms involved in a deal are allowed – but judges will not necessarily give extra weight to the number of nominations. Third parties can nominate you too.
Q: Who are the judges and what is the judging process?
A: The judging panel will meet in March 2012 and sift through all the nominations. The panel includes representatives of all the sponsors, and is independently chaired by The Business Magazine. The judges will decide on the shortlist for each category – such as Corporate Finance Team, or Law Firm of the Year – based on the nominations. If a deal or firm hasn’t been nominated, it cannot be considered. Sponsors cannot judge in the area in which they are commercially active – and they leave the room during this process.
Q: What are the judging criteria?
A: Judges are not just looking at size of deal. They will take into account deal complexity, who led the deal, mix of advisers, whether cross-border, completed to tight timeframe, and a number of other criteria. It is therefore important to include as much supporting information as you can under the relevant heading. The judges’ decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Q: What timeframe do the deals have to have taken place?
A: The Qualifying Period is for deal activity between January 1, 2011, and February 28, 2012.
Q: How do I submit a nomination?
A: Nominations can be submitted via this website at: www.dealsawards.co.uk by completing the Word format nomination form and emailing this to event coordinator Linda Morse at linda@elcot.co.uk. Additional material that you want to submit should be scanned and emailed in pdf format to linda@elcot.co.uk.
If you have questions about what to include or exclude on the nomination form, please email David Murray at david@elcot.co.uk.
Q: What is the closing date for submissions?
A: Closing date for entries is March 5 2012.
Q: When will I know if I have been shortlisted?
A: Judging will take place in March and all finalists will be notified by March 30. Depending on the quality of entries, usually three/four finalists will be chosen per category.
Q: When will the winners be announced?
A: No winners will be announced until the event itself on April 26. The winners of Dealmaker and Deal categories will be chosen at the event by audience keypad voting. The judges’ decision will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.
Q: What geographical area must the deal have taken place in?
A: The deal(s) must be geographically relevant to either the Thames Valley or Solent/South Central areas (please email linda@elcot.co.uk if you would like a map emailed to you). Either the target, acquirer, funder, law firm or adviser must be located in this region.
