Pipeline's Innovation Awards
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Official Rules & Submission Process
Official Rules & Submission Process
- Companies can nominate themselves, their customers, vendors, or partners at any time prior to the submission deadline. Companies may also be nominated by Pipeline.
- To nominate a company, the nomination form and process must be completed online, here: click here
- All applicable fees must be received before any nomination can be approved.
- The entrance fee includes the Editor’s Choice award category at no additional cost. The entrance fee for Pipeline nominees includes the category in which they are nominated by Pipeline and includes Editor’s Choice. Additional categories may be added for a nominal fee.
- The deadline for nominations is four months prior to the Red Carpet Reception of the current Awards year. However, extensions may be granted by Pipeline up and to the Submission Deadline if requested and available. Official nomination forms are encouraged to be received as soon as possible to provide ample opportunity to receive and complete the submission packages before the submission deadline. All applicable fees must be received with the nomination form and any contestant whose fees are not received with their nomination may be subject to disqualification unless an extension is requested and granted.
- All other nominations must be received prior to the submission deadline. Official nomination forms are encouraged to be received as soon as possible to provide ample opportunity to receive and complete the submission packages before the submission deadline. All applicable fees must be received with the nomination form and any contestant whose fees are not received by the Nomination Deadline may be subject to disqualification unless an extension is requested and granted.
- Submission questionnaires for each category will be sent to contestants after the close of nominations and the receipt, review, and approval of their official nomination forms and receipt of the applicable fees.
- The deadline for completed submission questionnaires is one month prior to the Red Carpet Reception of the current Awards year. Submission packages must be received from contestant for each of the categories in which they are nominated by the submission deadline or they risk disqualification for each category for which a submission package was not received if an extension was not previously granted.
- The winner of the Most Innovative Technology Provider will be awarded a prize worth approximately $50,000 USD comprised of advertising services in Pipeline magazine. There is no cash value for this prize and it cannot be exchanged for any other service or transferred to any other person or entity. The prize must be used within one calendar year from the date of winning the award or it will be forfeited, including any unused portion of the prize that has not been used within one calendar year of winning the prize.
- The official Innovation Award Nominee logos will be sent to contestants once their official nomination forms have been received and approved by Pipeline.
- Semi-finalists will be announced two months prior to the Red Carpet Reception and they will receive their semi-finalist logos the week following the announcement.
- Finalists will be announced one month prior to the Red Carpet Reception and they will receive their finalist logos the week following the announcement.
- Winners will be announced at the Innovation Awards Red Carpet Reception, in Nice, France, on May 13th at Le Negresco in conjunction with the Digital Transformation World (formerly TM Forum Live! event) and they will receive their logos the following week.
- RSVPs for the awards reception must be received no less than one month prior to the Red Carpet Reception. All contestants, judges and sponsors receive a number of free tickets to the event but must complete the RSVP form online at: click here. Additional tickets are available for purchase.
- Pipeline reserves the right to cancel or merge categories based on a lack of participation, i.e., three (3) or fewer contestants. Any contestants in the affected categories will be given the opportunity to move into another category at that time. Pipeline also reserves the right to change any and all deadline and submission dates at their discretion.
- Once nomination forms have been submitted, contestants are prohibited from dropping or changing their selected categories unless a category is removed by Pipeline.
- Pipeline reserves the right to add new categories if established ones have more than five (5) contestants. New categories will group similar contestants into a new category related to their similarity.
- Contestants can add additional categories to their nomination at any time prior to the submission deadline.
- Supporting material such as demonstrations, case studies, presentations, white papers, videos, and industry recognition can be included with submission packages and is encouraged.
- Submissions that include customer examples and references will be weighted more favorably.
- All submissions and supporting material will be considered confidential and made known only to those involved in the submission, evaluation and selection processes. Submissions may be redacted at the request of the submitter prior to being submitted to the Judge’s Panel provided that the request is included in the submission forms and the information to be redacted is noted as such throughout. Submissions may also be redacted by the contestant prior to submission to remove any sensitive or confidential information before it is sent to the judging panel.
- Each category is eligible to have one winner and one runner-up selected from the finalists of each respective category. Only service providers are able to compete in the Most Innovative Operator category.
- The esteemed Judging Pane is comprised of key executives from top service providers from around the world, influential industry analysts and Pipeline editors. During the evaluation period any member of the panel may reach out to contestants for interviews, demonstrations or site visits or to gather additional information.
- All category submissions will be provided to the Judges Panel for voting, with the exception of Editor’s Choice and Most Innovative Operator. The Most Innovative Operator will be voted on by an analyst subgroup of the Judging Panel and the Editor’s Choice category will be voted on exclusively by Pipeline.
- Editorial coverage of the awards program and event will be provided in Pipeline’s Support Systems and Innovation issues.
