With the goal of revitalising the established awards ceremony for 2024, Mondiale Media, which oversees the TPi Awards as well as TPi Magazine, is excited to announce some major changes to the voting process which will come into effect for next year’s event.
There have been various voting processes over the years, but since 2018 it has operated on a single industry-wide vote, with all members of the live touring community given two weeks to nominate their favourite individuals and service providers. These submissions were then compiled and counted, and the individuals and companies with the most votes were the winners.
“For a long time, this one-stage voting process seemed like the most democratic and fair way for the industry to collectively choose a winner in each of our categories. However, we recognise that it was never a foolproof system,” stated Stew Hume, Editor of TPi Magazine.
“Aside from potentially being prone to bias, we have also long grappled with the issue that our shortlist for the awards has never shown the greatest degree of diversity, and we no longer feel that it truly represents the live events sector as it is today,” added Fran Begaj, Commercial Director at TPi Magazine.
It is for these reasons that the TPi Awards is changing its voting process for both its individual and business-based awards.
In the case of individual awards, a collective of past TPi Award winners, along with representatives from numerous associations in the live events industry will, as a group, determine a shortlist for each category. The shortlist will then be put to the industry for a community vote to obtain the winners.
As for the business-based categories, companies will put themselves forward based on their demonstrable work within the industry in the past 12 months. Those that fit the category requirements will then be compiled into a longlist, which will be voted on by the industry at a large. Our judging panel will also cast their votes to offset the advantage held by larger companies with more employees.
“As we’ve seen in more mainstream events, there is no perfect system when it comes to voting and awards ceremonies,” commented Hume. “However, we are committed to making the TPi Awards ‘the’ ceremony for the live touring sector and as such it is imperative that we try everything we can to keep shining a light on the wide pool of talented individuals as well as giving equal opportunities to award all the companies that are at the beating heart of this industry.”
The TPi Awards 2023 takes place at Evolution London on 27 February.
