Network Rail Partnership Awards 2010

This is the second year of these awards which provide an occasion for us to reward and recognise excellence and best practice among organisations that have worked with us and helped us to achieve our aims and objectives over the past year.

Who is eligible to enter?

These awards will be open to organisations and individuals (excluding Network Rail and its employees) who have worked with us from January 2009 until April 2010.

The judging process

Entries should be submitted via email or as a hard copy and will be judged through a two stage process. In the first instance, they will be short-listed by a team of specialists from Network Rail. A final judging panel that includes Iain Coucher, Chief Executive, and other senior directors from Network Rail, will judge the short-listed entries and choose the winners.

The awards dinner

All those short-listed will be invited to a complimentary awards dinner that will take place on 15 July 2010 in Birmingham. The winners will be announced on the night.

The categories

1. Best Project Award (small, medium and large)

This is to recognise a project delivered by a supplier that has brought benefits to Britain’s railways. The judges will look for measurable results that demonstrate the effectiveness of the project and the benefits it has brought and will also look for evidence of an impeccably planned and delivered project.

Three awards will be given within this category:

(i) small (for projects valued at under £3m)
(ii) medium (for projects valued between £3m and £20m)
(iii) large (for projects valued over £20m)

Please specify on your entry form which of the above three your entry fits into.

2. Community Engagement Award

This award is to recognise company community or charitable giving programmes that are improving local communities in Britain. It may also include groups of two or more companies that are having an impact on society and the local community through collaborative action. The key here is to show not only the inputs (resources, time, money spent or donated etc.) but also the outputs (what the business and social benefits were).

3. Environmental Sustainability Award

This category is to reward organisations that have displayed exemplary behaviour in making sure that environmental considerations have played an important part when undertaking projects or general work practices on or near the railway. Entries should clearly demonstrate benefits to the environment.

4. Good Lineside Neighbour Award

This award is to recognise an organisation or individual that has worked hard to go above and beyond normal customer service to be a good lineside neighbour. The judges will also look for the benefits this has brought to Network Rail and the railway industry.

5. Heritage Award

This is to recognise a project or an organisation that has improved, restored or conserved any Network Rail buildings and structures of national importance in an effort to restore the heritage of Britain’s railways.

6. Information Technology Award

This award is to reward organisations that have used information technology to mitigate or solve a problem that Network Rail faces or those that have used information technology to streamline processes. Judges will look for measurable results that show the benefits that this technology has created.

7. Innovation Award

This award is to reward organisations or individuals who have created new approaches for mitigating or solving a problem that Network Rail faces. Judges will look for genuine innovation and for measurable results as to how these new products or new ways of working have brought benefits.

8. Investing in People Award

This award is to recognise an organisation that has demonstrated excellence in investing in people; for example in talent, skills, apprenticeship schemes, training, leadership and development. Judges will look for evidence on how these have created benefits for the organisation and Network Rail as well as the railway industry.

9. Safety Award

This award is to recognise organisations that have improved safety within the workplace and on or near the railway and the benefits this has brought to the organisation and the railway industry. The judges will look for a continued and sustained effort to improve safety.

10. Team Contribution Award

This category is to reward teamwork between different companies and organisations or between teams within the same organisation who have made a difference to the railway and brought benefits to Network Rail. Judges will be looking for evidence to demonstrate the benefits that their contribution has made.

11. Supplier of the Year

Only the winners from the above categories will be eligible for consideration into this award. Judges will give this award to the supplier that has demonstrated excellence and best practice in all work areas. They may also take Network Rail supplier KPI’s into account, where appropriate, in formulating their decision.