EVENT RECAP: MEET THE CATEGORIES

This week the Sport Industry Group team hosted two ‘Meet the Categories’ events in London and Manchester.

With the first event held at the SIG offices in central London on Wednesday 11th, followed by a repeat event at Ear to the Ground’s offices in Manchester the next day, the events served as a chance for organisations across the industry to learn about the changes to this year’s FEVO Sport Industry Awards.

As well as the introduction of new categories – Specialist Agency of the Year, Professional Services Team of the Year and Sport Team of the Year – there have also been some name changes and mergers to existing categories.

View all 18 prestigious categories here.

For example, the UK Campaign of the Year and International Campaign of the Year have been merged, although entrants must still either be based in the UK or a significant amount of the work has to have taken place here, while the Tech Innovation of the Year Award has been renamed as Tech in Sport.

The events also explored some of the new sustainability criteria included in this year’s entry form. Led by a representative from social impact and sustainability consultancy thinkBeyond, the session gave some detail as to what the judges will be expecting to see in the entries and some further reassurance that, given it’s the first year of the sustainability section’s inclusion, there will be a some leniency for organisations who may not be completed buttoned up in this area yet.

SUSTAINABILITY FAQs

Will we be penalised for not having these sustainability practices in place?

This is the first year that sustainability criteria have been included in the entry form so there will be a degree of understanding from the judges. That said, it would be difficult to imagine the winner of Sport Organisation of the Year not having a sustainability or social impact plan in place.

Similarly, if there were two pieces of work of equal merit and one had considered its sustainability goals and the other had not, the choice would be clear.

We do not have any of what you’re asking – what should we do?

Make sure to find and check with the relevant person in your organisation and confirm if the organisation is in the process of developing these and whether you can disclose what you are in the process of doing (the ambition).

We don’t have links to share to these initiatives, but we do have them/ they are not public.

Please describe them or share copies (confidentially).

We have an ESG strategy but not a ‘sustainability plan’ – is this allowed?

An ESG strategy is focussed on sustainability so will cover these elements. Please share the details of your ESG strategy.

What happens if we are in the process of doing this, but it’s not ready/ not implemented?

That’s ok. Share with us where you are and what the intention is. The fact you’ve started the journey is useful for us to know.

DOWNLOAD THE DECK

The slides that were presented at both events can be downloaded using the link below, with further guides on best practice for both the general entry process and the sustainability section specifically, set to be released next week.