Excellent night out

Nearly 300 guests enjoyed a glittering and fun-filled evening with a serious purpose … to honour the industry's high achievers.

Organised by Security Installer and its sister magazine Security Management Today, the awards – now in their third year – recognised excellence in all sectors of the industry … from installation to security training, from security management to security guarding.

The event had five sponsors this year: Southern Monitoring Services, the market leader in the provision of remote monitoring services; Id technology group, providers of a single source contact for CCTV, EAS and source tagging; Third Millennium, a leading manufacturer of cost effective access control readers and security solutions; ADE, leading supplier of security alarm control panels and PIRs; and Prima Corporate Wear, leading supplier of corporate clothing to the security industry.

Compere for the evening was stand-up comedian Dominic Holland who had guests in stitches with his ad-libbing and irreverent comments about the entries.

Said one finalist in the manufacturing category: "His comments were all in good fun. The people on our table were in stitches. I missed this event last year. I didn't realise how enjoyable it would be".

The awards got off to an unprecedented start with Reliance High-Tech taking both trophies in the first two awards (Best Installer and Customer Care). It culminated in the award for Best Manufacturer (voted by readers of Security Installer and SMT magazines) going to Pyronix.

On stage to present the winners with their trophies were Steve Kimber (SMS); Dave Solomon and Mark Hodgens (ADE); Pete Jones (Third Millennium); Nick Atkinson and Michael Johnson (Prima Corporate Wear); and Ray Higgs and Brian Dunn (id technology group). They were accompanied by Alan Hyder, Editor, Security Installer and Brian Sims, Editor, SMT.