Every vote counts: The NACFB awards process
The NACFB runs two prestigious industry awards: the Commercial Broker Awards and the Commercial Lender Awards. The Commercial Broker Awards, now in their fifth year, celebrate the achievements of the trade body’s commercial finance broker Members. In contrast, the Commercial Lender Awards have been recognising excellence among commercial lenders and supplier partners for over a decade.
A proudly distinctive feature of both awards is their peer-voting process. Brokers cast votes for lenders, and lenders vote for brokers, ensuring that recognition comes directly from fellow industry contemporaries. This reciprocal voting system has been integral since the awards' inception, fostering a sense of community and mutual respect among the membership.
To maintain transparency and integrity in the awards process and address any concerns about fairness, the NACFB has developed a rigorous procedure to ensure accurate results that truly reflect the industry's landscape. Whilst the process is similar for both awards, the roles are reversed depending on which group is voting.
The process unfolds as follows:
The submissions - Each year, NACFB Member brokers, Patrons lenders, and suppliers Partners, are invited to submit entries in various award categories. Submissions are free and exclusive to NACFB affiliates.
Compilation of entries - After the submission deadline closes, all entries are collected, and judging packs are created for each category. This preparation ensures that every entry is carefully organised and ready for the evaluation process.
The judging panel - An independent panel, typically composed of two to three judges per category, is assigned to review the judging packs. These judges are selected for their industry expertise and must declare any potential conflicts of interest to ensure impartiality. Importantly, they are unpaid, underscoring the unbiased nature of the process. Judges evaluate each submission in their respective categories, rank them, and select the most deserving entries based on a predetermined set of criteria, resulting in a shortlist of candidates.
Online voting - The shortlisted candidates are then presented to the opposite membership cohort through an online voting platform - brokers vote on lender categories, while lenders and suppliers vote on broker categories. To maintain fairness, each organisation is limited in the number of votes it can cast. The online voting period typically lasts a few weeks, allowing ample time to participate.
Final selection - After the voting period concludes, the judges' scores and feedback are combined with the online voting results to determine the winners and those highly commended in each category. This dual input ensures that both expert judgment and peer recognition are factored into the outcome.
Weighting system - A bespoke weighting system is applied to balance the two sets of inputs. Since judges have reviewed the submissions in detail, whilst the broader membership has not, this system ensures that the judges' in-depth insights are fairly weighted against the broader reputational feedback from the membership.
The outcome - This comprehensive and balanced approach results in a robust and fair outcome that seeks to accurately reflect the industry's performance over the past year. The NACFB is confident that this methodology not only represents the true excellence within the sector but also ensures that the awards process can withstand scrutiny and challenge, providing a credible and respected recognition of achievement.
Through this detailed and transparent process, the NACFB ensures that its awards genuinely reflect the contributions and successes of the entire community, fostering a culture of excellence and continuous improvement across the intermediary-led commercial finance sector.
(Update: Entry deadline extended to 16th September 2024.)