In this month’s edition of Editor’s Note I would like to take the time to remind everyone of the upcoming third annual Payload Asia Awards & Conference 2014 to be held once again in Singapore on 29 October. The annual event has seen two highly successful instalments which kicked off in 2012 and have grown substantially in that short time frame. This year we’ve got another exciting line-up for the one day conference and of course the Cocktail and Gala Awards Dinner in the evening which promises to be yet another enjoyable evening of fine wine and dining, camaraderie and networking. It is above all else a celebration of this industry and all the great companies and people that make it happen, every single day.
At this point nominations are open for the Awards portion, so do please submit a nomination either on behalf of your own company or for a business partner or even just a company you admire. The process is absolutely free of charge and we encourage all of you out there to participate and make this awards programme an even greater event.
In a bid to meet our stated goal of providing the most honest, transparent and legitimate awards programme in the industry we have continued to refine the Awards with each new year as we edge closer to perfection. Last year we tightened up the online voting process, aimed at cutting down on the possibility of repeat votes and added a new category of Innovation Awards that allowed the Payload Asia team to recognise outstanding organisations based on their assessment of the particular company’s merit.
This year we have taken a bold step in further differentiating our awards programme from that of the rest of the market in a move we hope will garner even greater respect for the awards. This year we will feature a ‘dual track’ awards programme which will feature two separate but equally valuable ways of assessing the best company in each category. The first track is the Customer Choice Awards which will follow the same procedure as previous years in which readers, customers and business partners vote online for their preferred candidate for each of the categories. This year, however, there will be no short-listing of candidates, so that all companies that are nominated will go up online for the vote.
The second, new track, is the Industry Choice Awards which will see a panel of industry experts drawn from across the various air cargo industry sectors and also from across the globe, to assess candidates for the various awards. These candidates will be the same companies nominated in the Customer Choice Awards, plus any company that the esteemed judging panel feels is worthy of being considered for a particular award. The awards categories will mirror those of the Customer Choice Awards.
We see the two track awards as a way of illuminating excellence in the industry in two equally valuable and complementary, but different manners. An analogy from the US entertainment industry would be the People’s Choice Awards and Academy Awards – one popular choice, the other considered industry opinion.
As for the conference we have three roundtable sessions which will be preceded by presentations. The roundtable sessions will cover: Cold chain, the ‘new’ payload – Food, fish, flowers and pharma; The rise of the intra-Asia trade – Asian economies power a new tradelane, and; A shifting industry paradigm – New challenges and opportunities in air cargo. For more information please refer to the Payload Asia website which contains two microsites covering both the Awards and Conference as well as contact information for any queries. So sign up now and do please get involved with these exciting industry events. On behalf of the entire Payload Asia team, we look forward to seeing you in Singapore this coming October!
