EUROPEAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS AWARD 2016: THE JUDGES

Judges

• ADAM Ulrich: Secretary General of the European agricultural machinery industry association CEMA
• ADAMSON Paul: Chairman of Forum Europe and Founder and Editor of ESharp
• ALLA Albi: Alber & Geiger, EU Lobbying Law Firm
• ANGER Robert : FleishmanHillard
• BANDRY Jerôme: Jérôme Bandry is EU Government Affairs Director for Caterpillar in Brussels, Belgium
• BARROS-TASTETS Thomas : GPlus
• BERGER Alain: Executive Strategy Director at Hill & Knowlton
• BOUSSAGOL Claire : APCO Worldwide
• BURRELL Michael: Director of the European Centre for Public Affairs (ECPA). Former Vice Chairman, Public Affairs, Europe at APCO Worldwide and Vice Chairman, Europe at Edelman.
• BUSSCHER Esther : Edelman
• CHOKOUALE DATOU Laurent : Weber Shandwick
• COX Karl: Vice President of Global Public Affairs, Oracle
• CRAEN Hans : Vice President, Kellen
• CRAIG Jill: Managing Director, Brussels Hume Brophy
• DE VINCK Isabelle : Political Intelligence
• DEVOLDER Nele: Senior Association Manager, Kellen
• DOBER Mark: Managing Director (Brussels), Ellwood Atfield
• DUHME Kerstin : FTI Consulting
• FARIA DA CUNHA Rui: Director General of SEAP
• FORTESCUE Jamie: Managing Director, Starch Europe
• FREWEN Mella: ECPA officer and Director General of Food & Drink Europe
• GAISER Sebastian: ECPA officer and Director, Health Economics and Reimbursement, EMEA, at St Jude Medical
• GALANAKIS Andres: AmCham EU and Board Member, SEAP
• GEORGESCU Renatte: European External Affairs at Unilever and Vice President SEAP
• GIBBELS Patrick: Gibbels Public Affairs (GPA)
• GILBERT Muriel: Managing Director, Metaphore Agency
• GLOVER Mark: Chairman, Association of Professional Political Consultants & Chief Executive, Bellenden
• HIERHOLZER Christian: Managing Director of Hanover Brussels
• HOY Craig: Managing Director, Public Affairs Asia
• IAIN ANDERSON Iain: Chief Corporate Counsel at Cicero Group and Chairman at Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC)
• INGHAM Francis: Executive Director of ICCO
• ISAKSSON Karl: Managing Partner Brussels, Kreab; Chairman, European Public Affairs Consultancies’ Association
• JOHNSON Andrew : Rohde Public Policy
• LAROCHE Charles : Laroche Conseil
• LECUREUIL Christophe : Executive Director The European Centre for Public Affairs (The ECPA)
• LEONG Sonny: Chief Executive of Civil Service College and
  Executive Chairman of Academy for Parliamentary & Policy Studies
• LEVANTI Natasha: Co-Founder and Editor at EuropeanPublicAffairs.eu and former Director of Policy at European Citizens Abroad
• LIPTROT Martin : 98 Republic
• LYLE Dominic: Director-General of EACA, the European Association of Communications Agencies
• MARLETTA Giuseppe: Association Manager, International Association of Young Lawyers
• MASSIN Karen : Burson-Marsteller
• PAPADOPOULOS Marcus Dr: Publisher and Editor of Politics First
• PATTEN  Russell: CEO Grayling, Brussels
• PAVON LOSADA Juan Antonio: Founder of Euronautas.com and Co-Founder of European Public Affairs EU
• POISSON Gregoire : Interel
• PRINS Christiaan: Head of European External Affairs at Unilever
• RAYNSFORD Thomas: Director Policy-UK and Government Knowledge
• REYNAERT Thomas: ECPA officer and Managing Director of Airlines for Europe
• SFORZA Leonardo: Managing Director and Head of the Brussels office of MSLGROUP
• VELAZQUEZ Enrique: Head of Public Affairs, European Banking Federation
• WHEELER Adrian: Former CEO of GCI UK and chairman of GCI Europe
• WILK Katarzyna: Associate Director, White House Consulting
• ZETTER FPRCA Lionnel: Director of The European Azerbaijan Society and Publisher of Zetter’s Political Companion, which covers all of the institutions of the European Union

AALEP Comments

Awards are not supposed to be self-congratulatory in nature or between the same select few companies each year. Awards should be based on results, return or other metrics , after all, that's what PA professionals are getting paid to accomplish.  Let's celebrate the fact that we help build businesses and accomplish business goals.  Winning that kind of an award would be very meaningful to PA professionals as they look to differentiate themselves and find new clients. It shouldn't be about popularity or notoriety -- it should about being good at our craft, which is supporting our clients' goals.

• A clear vision of what we’re looking to reward: Awards need to be extremely clear on what sort of good practice we want to celebrate, and why.
• A fair, transparent judging process: There is a need for transparency on the factors being judged. Similarly, there needs to be a clear understanding of why specific judges have been selected, aligned with what the awards want to celebrate. 
• Details of what made the winners successful - when nominees or winners are announced, it'd be great to understand why their entry specifically won. Beyond platitudes like "a strong strategy well-executed", what specifically impressed the judges? What can we learn from them? This would help to escape the feeling that "it's all about the entry" by giving a better understanding of how the winners really stood out.
• Follow-up after the awards - Further work should be undertaken with awards winners after the ceremony itself. Maybe an in-depth case study, offering up some mentoring or support to other professionals, or simply further information on them and their work. Awards are supposed to be inspiring, and they should really capitalise on the opportunity to inspire good practice in others as well as celebrating those who already do a good job.