Nominating for the 2020 Annual Security Awards The NZSA is expecting a bumper number of nominations for this year’s awards, writes judging panellist Nicholas Dynon. Putting the effort into a compliant and high quality nomination is key. Awards season has officially started! Nominations are now open for the 2020 New Zealand Security Industry Awards, which this year will culminate in a live streamed virtual event in lieu of the traditional gala awards dinner. In addition to the Covid-induced change of format for the awards night this year sees several changes to the awards category line-up. The 18 categories featuring in the 2019 awards have been increased to 20 as the result of the culling of one category, the addition of two new categories, and the splitting of another category into two.
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New to 2020 The ‘Security Specialist of the Year’ award is no more. This catch-all category had recognised “excellence, commitment and professionalism within the industry sectors not already covered within the other award categories.” Assuming it doesn’t make a future comeback, 2019 winner Graeme McKenzie of Alarm Watch can lay claim to being this award’s last-ever recipient. Replacing that award are two new categories: ‘Cash Services Professional of the Year’ and ‘Customer Champion of the Year’. According to the NZSA website, the new Cash Services Professional category “recognises the excellence, commitment and professionalism of those working within the Cash Services sector and including those involved in providing cash-in-transit and cash-floor services.” The new Customer Champion category is focused squarely on Business Development Managers, Sales Consultants and Sales Managers, and its inclusion is perhaps intended to resolve previous concerns raised around individuals in these roles being nominated (and winning) in the Security Consultant category. If this is the intention, then the addition of this category may go only part-way to resolving what have been quite polarised debates around the Security Consultant category. Specifically, the criteria wording
for the consultant category doesn’t appear to preclude people who consult as part of their BDM/Sales role from being nominated in that category (in addition to the customer champion category). It might be useful if the wording of the Security Consultant category criteria were tightened to specify whether it captures only ‘independent’ security consultants or the broader range of roles for which one is required to hold a security consultant license/CoA. Ultimately, whether or not these new categories are an improvement will be determined by the number and quality of nominations received. The other category change in this year’s line-up is the splitting of the ‘Install and Service Electronic Sector – Technician of the Year’ into (i) a ‘Corporate’ category specific to employees of companies employing more than five technicians; and (ii) an ‘SME’ category specific to those from SMEs with five or less technicians in their employment. Given that awardees in the Install and Service category have in recent years tended to come from companies that fall into the ‘corporate’ group, increased recognition of smaller operators is probably a good thing. In terms of the judging panel there is no change from last year. The panel again includes esteemed members Ngaire Kelaher (ASIS New Zealand), David Tomoana (ANZ Bank) and Gary Morrison (NZSA), and myself.
June / July 2020
