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Now that the tax return season has almost ended it’s time to concentrate on completing your entries for the 2020 Taxation Awards. As a reminder, the closing date for these is 21 February.
Our website – www.taxationawards.co.uk – gives full details of the award categories and how to enter, but I want to draw readers’ attention to two categories in particular.
An outstanding contribution
The first is the ‘outstanding contribution to tax’ award. We introduced this last year, with Keith Gordon as our inaugural winner. This award differs from the other categories because nominations are made by the tax community and the winner is decided by an online vote. Anybody in the tax profession can put forward names to be considered – it is not necessary to have permission from the person you nominate.
The judges will choose a shortlist of individuals from the nominations and will seek permission from the nominees to include them in the online vote. We had a good list of nominees last year and hope that this year’s list is equally strong: early indications are that it will be. Who do you think has made a major contribution to tax in the past year? Why not put them forward for consideration?
The best employer
The second is a new award, for the ‘best employer in tax’. We have introduced this to recognise the fact that the tax profession, in its various different strands, is now a major UK employer. The award is open to all employers of tax professionals, whatever their size, business structure or specialisation.
Full details of the award requirements are on the website, but it is worth stressing that the entries must include the voice of employees themselves. It is up to individual employers to decide how best to reflect this and there is no prescriptive form that must be used. We hope this new award will be popular and that organisations will be proud to call themselves the best employer in tax.
Some hints and tips
To finish with, here are a few additional tips which, whatever category you are entering, will help give you the best possible chance of making that all important shortlist.
- Our judges are only human and prefer nominations that are well presented and a pleasure to read. Lists of achievements, however impressive, tend not to go down too well. But, equally, don’t spend huge amounts of time just on presentation – there has to be substance as well as style to the entry.
- Don’t write a textbook. Remember the word limit and stick to it. Everything that’s relevant can be said in 3,000 words.
- Most of the awards recognise teams rather than individuals. The best entries paint a picture of the business, how it operates, its culture and ethos and give a real insight into what makes it tick.
- Do provide testimonials, but make them integral to the nomination. It is very powerful when an entry describes a particular piece of work and includes positive feedback from a client. Letters of testimonial added as an appendix to an entry have much less impact.
- Don’t just send us marketing blurb. The judges are not buying your services, but are looking for a rounded picture of what the business does and where it’s going. The best entries are those which are honest and acknowledge that sometimes not everything works out first time. The judges enjoy reading about challenges and how a business overcame these.
- When the entry has been drafted, why not let somebody in the firm who has not been involved in putting it together read it and provide honest feedback. After all, if they don’t enjoy reading it the judges are not likely to either.
The next step
The judges are looking forward to reading entries for outstanding contribution and best employer in tax as well as the other awards, so don’t delay and do remember the 21 February deadline. If you have any questions about any aspect of the awards please contact Annabel McQuillan by email: annabel.mcquillan@reedbusiness.com or tel: 020 8652 2180.
