2023 CATEGORIES & CRITERIA
- Categories are FREE to enter
- ONE entry PER CATEGORY only. Multiple entries in the same category are not allowed and WILL BE DISQUALIFIED with the judges picking just one entry.
- Please keep the entry relevant to the UK market and include facts, figures and testimonials to strengthen your entry. Entries that focus on another market outside the UK will be marked down or disqualified.
- The period covered for the awards entries is between July 2022 and July 2023.
- CRN reserves the right to move an entry to another category if the judges see fit, and also to drop categories that are not adequately entered.
- DO NOT go over the 1,000 word count (judges’ discretion does count).
- WE ARE ACTIVELY ENCOURAGING ALTERNATIVE STYLE ENTRIES to the standard block of text – this can be in the form of a video or PDF to really make your entry stand out. Feel free to use pictures, these do not count towards the word count.
- Video entries – please do not go over FIVE MINUTES.
- You can still submit text entries, you won’t be penalised for doing so, but the option is there to be more creative with your entry if you so wish. But please try not to submit just a huge block of text – it makes reading very difficult for the judges.
- Also do not feel you have to address the criteria in a formulaic manner, you can include them in any order you like and you don’t have to divide the entry into a Q&A style entry either.
- Entries are actively encouraged to include hard facts and figures – all of which will be kept strictly confidential and used for judging purposes only. All programmes and initiatives must have been new or further developed in 2023 to qualify. We are actively encourage you to enter for more than one award if you so wish, and if the category is relevant to the business. But every entry MUST be different.
- The deadline for entries is Friday 30 June 2023.
Please click 'view criteria' button to view the specific criteria for each category.
Reseller Categories
Best ESG project/initiative– Reseller – NEW FOR 2023
Having a proper ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy in place is fast becoming a must for all technology companies, as firms prioritise their people and pledge to follow a more ethical and sustainable business model.
This category is aimed at showcasing a particular ESG project that a company has worked on during the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Cloud Services Provider of the Year
This category is open to channel players with a specific focus on providing cloud-based services to their end user customers. This can be in any vertical sector with any relevant cloud technology set, whether it is security, storage, infrastructure, datacentre services or a mix of the above and others.
NOTE: Resellers/MSPs entering this category should derive at least 40 per cent of their business from the provision of cloud products and services. Please address this point in your entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.
Managed Services Provider of the Year
This award is ONLY open to companies that can truly call themselves a managed service provider (MSP). Vendors or support companies DO NOT qualify for this award and will be removed from the category. Business has to consist primarily of managed services TO END USER CUSTOMERS, this can be any or as many of the ‘as-a-service’ disciplines as you like – although bear in mind there are separate cloud and security categories, so non-cloud/security entries will be given priority.
Entries can cover managed services to enterprise, mid-market or SMB level customers. We would ask that at least 75 per cent of your business is through managed services to qualify for entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.
MSSP/Security Reseller of the Year
With security a top concern for end user customers, this category is aimed at VARs/security service providers that can demonstrate excellence in cybersecurity services and solutions. This category is open to all VARs/MSSPs/integrators that specialise in security solutions and services to customers of any size, whether this is SMB, mid-market or enterprise, or to those that have a strong security flavour to their portfolio of services. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.
Public Sector VAR Award of the Year
This category is open to VARs/MSPs that have a strong specialism in the public sector. Customers can range from education to healthcare, from local government to government, and emergency services, plus other public sector-based organisations. AT LEAST 40 per cent of your business must be public sector-based to qualify for entry. The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.
Reseller of the Year (up to £30m turnover) – NEW FOR 2023
Please note this award is revenue based to give a more diverse range of players in the market a chance to showcase their abilities. According to CRN’s Top VARs report, 70 per cent of the UK’s Top 500 VARs have a turnover of £30m and below, which means this bracket more than deserves its own category.
The timeframe covered for this award is between July 2022 and July 2023.
Reseller of the Year (£31m - £200m turnover) – REVISED FOR 2023
This year we have revised our revenue bands to better reflect the current reseller landscape. Roughly 22 per cent of the CRN Top 500 list fall into this revenue band, so we are expecting quite a battle on our hands.
The award is open to all VARs/MSPs/Integrators with a turnover between £31m and £200m, that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job over the past 12 months (between July 2022 and July 2023). Any IT supplier, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award and your turnover threshold must qualify to enter.
Reseller of the Year (£200m+ turnover) - REVISED FOR 2023
We have revised the revenue brackets of this category to make this a battle between the titans of the reseller world that make up the top eight per cent of the CRN Top 500 UK VARs.
It is open to all VARs/MSPs/Integrators with a turnover above £200m, that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job over the past 12 months (between July 2022 and July 2023). Any IT supplier, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award, but your turnover threshold MUST qualify to enter.
Rising Star Award
This category is open any reseller/VAR/MSP/Integrator that is seeing phenomenal growth in their field and has been in business for a MAXIMUM of five years and MINIMUM of 18 months in their current form. If you can demonstrate strong growth over the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023), feel you are a disruptive force and can give some example of your potential growth in the future, then you are the ideal candidate for this award.
Vendor Categories
Best ESG project/initiative of the Year – Vendor – NEW FOR 2023
Having a proper ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy in place is fast becoming a must for all technology companies, as firms prioritise their people and pledge to follow a more ethical and sustainable business model. This category is aimed at showcasing a particular ESG project that a company has worked on during the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Channel Chief of the Year
The aim of this award is to discover a UK channel boss that the industry feels has gone above and beyond the call of duty over the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023) to ensure their partners are well looked after, listened to and supported.
Cloud Services Vendor of the Year
This category is open to all cloud services vendors, whether they sell a physical product or a virtual one. This includes cloud-based software manufacturers/developers and providers of any type of cloud service/product TO the channel. The vendors entering must be able to show that they have helped their channel partners to build and grow a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Emerging Vendor of the Year
This category is open to all manufacturers/vendors that would class themselves as a relative newcomer to the channel, having worked with channel partners IN THE UK for a minimum of one and MAXIMUM of seven years to qualify. The manufacturers must be able to show that they have helped their UK channel partners to build and grow a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023), and also demonstrate what they think makes them eligible to be classed as an emerging vendor.
Infrastructure and Storage Vendor of the Year – REVISED FOR 2023
The award is open to all vendors operating that have an Infrastructure and/or Storage flavour to their business. This includes manufacturers of servers, networking equipment, software, components or peripherals that are relevant to the infrastructure and storage market. The manufacturers must be able to show that they have helped their channel partners to build and grow a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Security Vendor of the Year
This category is for all vendors that manufacture/develop software, hardware, systems or peripherals for the security market. The manufacturers must be able to show that they have helped their channel partners to build and grow a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Software Vendor of the Year
The award is open to all vendors that manufacture and sell a software product or who have a software development unit as part of their business. Please do bear in mind that there are separate vendor categories for security and cloud focused vendors, so this category is more of a catch-all for vendors that may specialise in other software such as PSA/RMM, datacentre software, BI, storage, virtualisation, CRM or network management software, plus more. Preference will be given to those vendors who are not eligible for the security or cloud categories. Entrants must be able to show that they have helped their channel partners to build and grow a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Specialist Vendor of the Year
This category is open to vendors that manufacture (and/or market) particular ‘specialist’ offerings. This includes both specialist products which a vendor may develop and/or a service that the vendor may offer. It must be a finished product and/or service, not component i.e. a product or service that a distributor or reseller can stock and/or sell. This will include audio-visual vendors, printer vendors, internet services, hosting or broadband services, WAN infrastructure and managed services or hosted applications. Please note that because there are cloud services, software, datacentre and security categories as well, preference will be given to entries outside those three areas. Vendors must show that they have helped their channel partners grow and build a profitable business in 2022/2023 (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Vendor of the Year
This category is open to all vendors that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job in the UK channel over the past 12 months that deserves the top vendor accolade at the CRN awards. Any vendor, regardless of size, specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award but the entry must be UK focussed.
Distributor Categories
Best ESG project/initiative of the Year - Distributor - NEW FOR 2023
Having a proper ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy in place is fast becoming a must for all technology companies, as firms prioritise their people and pledge to follow a more ethical and sustainable business model. This category is aimed at showcasing a particular ESG project that a company has worked on during the past year (between July 2022 and July 2023).
Cloud Distributor of the Year
This award is open to distributors that either operate a cloud-based business unit or are fully cloud-based, and are helping resellers either get into cloud services, or further develop their existing cloud offerings. Entrants must prove that they have assisted their reseller and vendor partners to build a profitable business between July 2022 and July 2023, and are really adding value around cloud services.
Distributor of the Year – (up to £50m turnover) – NEW FOR 2023
This year we have revised all our distribution revenue brackets after a market re-evaluation. This category will give the ‘smaller’ distribution players in the market a category in their own right to compete on a more level playing field. This category is open to all distributors with turnover up to £50m. Any Distributor, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award. Divisions of larger organisations CANNOT be entered in this category unless they are totally standalone from the parent company.
Distributor of the Year – (£51- £300m turnover) – REVISED FOR 2023
CRN has revised the revenue brackets for its distribution categories, and noted a significant number of distribution players fall into this bracket that have perhaps struggled to compete with the behemoths of distribution in the past. This category is open to all distributors with between £51 and £300m turnover that feel they have done a particularly outstanding job over the past 12 months. Any distributor, regardless of specialisation or focus is eligible to enter this award. Divisions of larger organisations CANNOT be entered in this category unless they are totally standalone from the parent company.
Distributor of the Year - (£300m+ turnover) - REVISED FOR 2023
Following a revision of the distribution revenue brackets, this category has been renamed to give those at the very top end of the market their own category to compete in like-for-like. Any distributor, with a turnover of £300m+, regardless of specialisation or focus, is eligible to enter this award. Please DO NOT enter if you turnover is below £300m.
Most Innovative Distributor Award – NEW FOR 2023
This award is new for 2023 and is all about showcasing the many examples of innovation that distributors show during the year. We have combined this category with the Technology Incubator Award category so it covers every aspect of innovation from finding new and exciting technologies for the channel to adopt, to a particularly innovative event, platform, project or team that has been launched during the past year (July 2022 – July 2023) that has really made a difference. Please note there is a separate category for ESG-related projects this year.
Networking/Comms Distributor of the Year
The award is open to all distributors that operate within the networking/comms marketplace, be that SDN, UC, WiFi, AV, network infrastructure or peripherals and related services. Distributors must show how they have helped reseller and vendor partners grow and maintain profitable business between July 2022 and July 2023. Entrants can be a full networking/comms specialist or have a division dedicated to networking/comms technology within their overall business.
Security Distributor of the Year
The category is aimed at distributors offering cybersecurity solutions, including hardware, software, peripherals or related services within the cybersecurity arena. Entrants must prove how they have assisted their reseller and vendor partners to build a profitable business between July 2022 and July 2023. Entrants can either be fully dedicated to Security, or have a Security division within their overall business.
Storage Distributor of the Year
The award is open to all distributors that operate within the storage marketplace, be that software, hardware or peripherals or cloud-based/datacentre storage and related services. Distributors must show how they have helped reseller and vendor partners grow and maintain profitable business between July 2022 and July 2023. Entrants can be fully dedicated to storage, or have a storage division within their overall business – but this needs to be explained fully in the entry.
General Categories
Channel Service Provider of the Year - Support
This award is aimed at independent firms (NOT IT VENDORS) that provide a service TO the UK channel. IT vendors entering this category will be moved by the judges to a more appropriate category if possible. For this category, we are looking for support services around marketing, training, recruitment, product/price sourcing and finance that have been provided over the past year (July 2022 – July 2023) – NOT TECHNICAL SERVICES – there is a whole new category for that this year.
Channel Service Provider of the Year - Technical
Is this the Award for you?
This award is aimed at independent firms (NOT IT VENDORS) that provide a service TO the UK channel. IT vendors entering this category will be moved by the judges to a more appropriate category if possible. For this category, we are looking at firms that provide TECHNICAL/TECHNOLOGY-BASED services to the channel ONLY.