Guidance to Award Entrants

If there’s one thing that the engineering profession needs, it is more proud achievers standing up to be recognised. The New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards aim to recognise and celebrate our engineers who are far too often reticent and humble. So get those entries in!

Before you get started however, here are a few words of advice from the adjudicators that will ultimately judge your submission.
Firstly, keep in mind that the judges are unlikely to have any independent knowledge of a project that has been entered. Even if they did, they can’t let it influence their decision.  The awards are initially judged on the written submission made to the NZEE Awards. Do not relay on your referees or key engineers on the project being able to verbally supply more information to the judges or answer questions.
It is therefore crucial that Project and Product Awards entries provide sufficient technical information regarding the project(s), similarly for Awards Recognising People entries, if relevant. The judges will not be impressed with an aesthetically pleasing document if the information it contains is inadequate.

Here are some pointers if you’re thinking about a submission:

• The page limit is 20 pages. The judges will be put off reading your submission if it exceeds this.
  
• Use a spelling/grammar/copy editor to check your submission.
  
• If you’re submitting a Project and Product Award entry, show what has been done in sufficient depth so that the judges can judge its quality. If specialist technical writers are used, then their output and the final entry document should be checked carefully by an engineer.
• Communicate who the parties are that are entering a Project and Product Award, what role they played in the project(s), and why they deserve the award.
  
• If a Project and Product Award entry is only for a part of a total project, communicate what part the award entrants played in it.
  Similarly, Awards Recognising People applicants should to be specific about what they actually did in a project and the part that others played.
  
• For the Young Engineer of the Year "contribution to professional, community or other activities outside employment" is an important part of the judging criteria, don't forget to address it! It accounts for 15 per cent of your mark! We encourage you to write the submission in your own words. Use first person statements, it is quite alright to say ‘I did this’.

• If you make a statement back it up with evidence. Saying the project was ‘Innovative and the first time the technology was used’ just doesn’t cut it. Provide evidence of what was innovative about it and that it was the first time the technology was used.
  Most importantly, these are Engineering Excellence awards. Show the judges the excellent engineering involved. Why is your project excellent?

Good luck with your submission!  The judges look forward to reviewing it.