Time to party

It’s the 10^th anniversary of the awards so we’re stepping up to the occasion with a new format.

Instead of the usual sit-down lunch, we’ll be celebrating in style at a fun and informal evening at the Hilton London Bankside on September 15. Tickets are now on sale with discounts for tickets booked by June 30.

The awards will be a fitting finale to The Business Travel Conference, which takes place at the same venue on September 14-15.

The fabulous ballroom of the London Hilton Bankside will be transformed into a glittering party space where we can catch up with friends and colleagues and enjoy top entertainment.

“We are mindful of time and budget restraints at this time, especially with more of us now working outside of the capital, so we decided to coincide the awards and the conference this year,” says Kirsty Hicks, Publisher of The Business Travel Magazine, which organises both events.

“After all this time apart, we all want to make the most of seeing each other face-to-face again and our new party-style ceremony is designed to ensure maximum networking.

“It’s set to be a night to remember. We can’t wait to see you there.”

More chances to shine

In recognition of the significant changes taking place in business travel and the challenges the people in our industry are working hard to overcome, we’ve refreshed our award categories for 2021.

Six new awards have been introduced to reflect major trends and to give as many people as possible – even those who have been furloughed or displaced – the credit they deserve.

This year, more of our awards are open to both individuals and teams, including teams where some of the key players might not currently be in full-time employment or might no longer be with the company.

Four of the awards are dedicated to efforts and achievements relating to specific initiatives – duty of care, Covid-19 support, customer wellbeing and business transformation.

A special award will go to a Change Champion Leader who has made significant and impactful change within their business, sector or in the wider industry. In addition, a new Industry Contribution Award will be given to an outstanding leader, innovator, and influencer whose contribution, throughout their career, has bought real and positive change to the business travel industry.

All of the awards will acknowledge outstanding individuals and teams whose professionalism and business excellence make them stand out from their industry peers.

For the first time, we’ve opened up the majority of categories to all sectors of the industry too, so it doesn’t matter which area of the supply chain you work in. As long as your achievements are related to business travel, you could win one of our prestigious awards.

Nominations have come in thick and fast and, as always, competition is fierce.

Join us on September 15 to celebrate with the worthy winners, and watch this space because closer to the date we will be giving away free tickets to the awards ceremony to some of those who have sadly been displaced.

Introducing the judges

As always, entries for The Business Travel People Awards will be judged by a panel of esteemed industry experts.

For the second year, the panel will be led by Chair Leigh Cowlishaw, Joint Managing Partner of Black Box Partnerships, Global Supplier Partnership Director for the Advantage Travel Partnership and former Chair of the HBAA.

“It was an honour and a pleasure to chair the judging panel for last year’s People Awards and I jumped at the chance to take the chair for the second time, especially in this special 10th anniversary year,” she says.

“Once again, we have chosen astute and highly-respected individuals to form our team of independent and impartial judges. Selecting the right mix of judges has been hugely important to us, ensuring the panel represents a range of knowledge, expertise and skills from across the sector.”

Joining the panel this year is Clive Wratten, CEO of the BTA, who was the winner of a special award in 2020 for individual excellence in approach and actions during Covid-19.

“I’m delighted to be part of the judging panel for the People Awards,” says Wratten. “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the best in the business. Our industry is driven by our people, today more than ever, and their work and passion for travel deserves to be recognised.”

New judges in 2021 also include James Foice, Chief Executive of ASAP, Sonia Michaels, Head of Business Travel Services and Events at the Advantage Travel Partnership, and Juliet Price, Consultant Executive Director at the HBAA.

Joining the panel to represent the buyer community is Carol Fergus, Director Global Travel, Meetings and Ground Transportation at Fidelity International, Ian Blackie, EMEA Travel Manager at Bloomberg, and Rod Richardson, Deputy Head of Travel EMEA at UBS.

Following tradition, the winner of the previous year’s Rising Star award is also invited to be a judge and we’re delighted that Peter Snowdon, who was recently promoted to Director of Commercial UK for TAG, will be joining the panel this year.

“I feel very honoured to be joining the judging panel and look forward, in what has been such a difficult period for the industry, to take time to celebrate and recognise all the positive achievements of the past 12-18 months,” he said.

“I’m excited to see what creative things the nominees have been doing to support each other, clients and suppliers during these unimaginable times for travel. Having won an award last year I know how much these awards mean and the effort that goes into each and every nomination, so I am looking forward to hearing the passion in the nominations and to reminding ourselves what a fantastic industry we’re part of.”

Alongside these new additions, we’re pleased to welcome back on to the judging panel Cilla Goldberger, Managing Director at ABT-UK; Emma Lamb, Global Travel Safety and Security Specialist at Milestone Tech @ Facebook; Elizabeth Anderson, Manager Global Travel Operations at Inmarsat; Consultant Jan Jacobsen; Lee Whiteing, Commercial Director at Global Secure Accreditation, and Nikki Rogan, Global Travel Director at Fujitsu.

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