This month marks the third anniversary of the Security Excellence Awards. Organised by SMT and Security Installer, the glittering ceremony takes place at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. Brian Sims previews the 2001 finalists, and profiles the sponsors.
After just two short years – during which time the event has moved from a lunch-time dinner to a fully-fledged black tie evening ceremony – the Security Excellence Awards have become known as the British security industry's equivalent of the 'Oscars'.

Once again this annual event – held in The Ballroom of London's revered Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane – has attracted the attention of hundreds of security figureheads, be they managers, installers, consultants or members of the leading trade associations or inspection bodies. Why? Simple. The Excellence Awards are designed to recognise and reward those teams, companies and individuals who've made professionalism their byword.

The Judging Panel
Judging for this year's event took place on Monday 2 October, the distinguished panel including Richard Flenley (group security manager at Canary Wharf), Mike Welply (chief executive of the Joint Security Industry Council), Richard Norburn of NACOSS, David Profitt (SSAIB), Geoff Rendall (of the Electrical Contractors' Association), Geoff Whitfield (security manager at GlaxoSmithKline) and Peter French of SSR Personnel. The panel was completed by SMT Editor Brian Sims and Alan Hyder, Editor of sister title Security Installer.

Following a day of deliberation (not to mention many hours spent reading and re-reading the plethora of entry forms and supporting documents), the judges eventually came to a decision on who to shortlist in each category. Not an easy task, as the standard of this year's entries was, once again, of the very highest quality.

Depending on the category concerned, the judges were looking to see concrete evidence

that those companies and individuals who had submitted entries for the 2002 Awards actually met the strict criteria laid down. For example, submissions for the Best Guarding Company Award had to show a commitment to training, the effective integration of manpower with technology to provide an integrated security solution and examples of success with current and newly-won contracts.

Entrants for the Best Security Manager Award, meanwhile, were asked to demonstrate

The Categories and the Shortlisted Finalists for 2001
The categories in this year's Security Excellence Awards (with their respective finalists, in no particular order) are as follows:

Best Customer Care Initiative

  • Glevum Security
  • Reliance High-Tech
  • Pearl Fire and Security
  • The Natural History Museum

Best Guarding Company

  • The Shield Guarding Company
  • Galago
  • Noble Security Services
  • Securiplan
  • Whitehall Security Services

Best IT Initiative

  • West Midlands Police
  • Farsight
  • Securiplan
  • Shell Real Estate

Best Partnership Initiative

  • British Transport Police
  • id technology group
  • Security Support Services

Best Security Consultant

  • Gordon Wilson Associates
  • TPS Consult Security
  • The Paul Elliot Consultancy
  • Buckingham Consultancy

Best Security Innovation

  • Cambridge Neurodynamics
  • aSeCo Electronics
  • Pyronix
  • West Midlands Police

Best Security Installer

  • Reliance High-Tech
  • Pearl Fire and Security
  • Universal Security Systems
  • ADT Fire and Security
  • id technology group

Best Security Manager

  • Meirion Thomas (Safer Merthyr Tydfil)
  • John Rosul (Lockhart Security Services)
  • Paul Fullicks (Securitas UK)
  • Peter Vorberg (Selfridges & Co)

Best Security Training Initiative

  • The Oracle
  • Tavcom Training
  • Group 4 Total Security
  • Gardiner Technology

Readers' votes have also been cast for the Best Security Manufacturer Award, but you'll have to wait until the ceremony itself to find out details of the finalists and the overall winner.

Source

SMT