Following the success of the digital ceremony for the Hire Awards of Excellence last September and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, organiser Hire Association Europe Event Hire Association (HAE EHA) has taken the decision to deliver the awards virtually again in 2021.
Returning to its traditional timeline of late Spring, the virtual awards ceremony will be live streamed at 4.30pm, Thursday 20th May. Entries for the 2021 edition of the awards are now open.
Alongside the regular categories that acknowledge hire and supply companies, and individual achievements across the UK’s plant, tool, equipment and event hire industry, there are two new categories, Best HAE Member Covid-19 Response and Best EHA Member Covid-19 Response. These new categories will recognise the companies who adapted their business to meet the immediate challenges faced at the outset of the pandemic, those who implemented longer-term changes to working practices and those with new products and services specifically launched to tackle Covid-19.
Commenting on the decision to return to a virtual ceremony for the Hire Awards of Excellence 2021, HAE EHA’s group marketing and communications manager, Ann Harrison said: “The entry and judging processes will remain the same for the Hire Awards of Excellence 2021. Entries will be expected to be of a similar standard as previous years. Given the turbulent year that we’ve all faced we’re expecting to see some real innovation coming through.
“Whilst we would love to bring our members and wider hire industry together to celebrate, with so much uncertainty still surrounding live events and large gatherings, we feel that holding the awards 2021 virtually is the most sensible decision at this stage. We’re confident that given the positive feedback we received for our first virtual awards in September where all our finalists engaged with the digital format that we can deliver another fantastic event. We had more than 50 companies watching online, plenty of attendee interaction during the live stream and the video of the ceremony has been viewed over 500 times via the link on our website.”
Full details of the Hire Awards of Excellence categories can be found on hae.org.uk/awards. Details of how to view the virtual awards ceremony will be announced in due course.
