SBC Summit Barcelona will return on September 19—21 to the Fira Barcelona Montjuïc bringing along its main SBC Awards ceremony, which will take place on September 21.
SBC Summit Barcelona is the flagship event of SBC, doubling year on year: 10,000 people, 40,000 sqm of the show floor. Last year it was the first time SBC ran its awards ceremony alongside the event itself thus moving it from its regular December date.
The globally reaching awards program has over 900 entries submitted each year from operators, affiliates, suppliers, companies both small and large. This year is going to be the 10th edition of the SBC Awards, so in the latest episode of iGaming Daily podcast SBC’s Head of Events (Europe) Stuart Duff tells stand-in host and SBC Managing Director Andrew McCarron exactly what the process is to get on that ticket and how to make sure you get seen among an estimated 1,000 entries for this year’s SBC Awards.
“Something really special planned there. We look forward to announcing in the next couple of weeks. But for the entry period that we’re in at the moment, we’re working through 40 categories. We listened to some of the feedback from the market and compressed a few of our categories, combining a couple of categories and extending the criteria within those to make sure that we were still reaching everyone within our community,” Stuart Duff mentioned.
At SBC, a rigorous process is followed to optimize the success of participants. Notably, the organization has implemented changes this year in the criteria for each category. The addition of tips and bullet points to the criteria provides valuable guidance to participants, offering a deeper understanding of what the judges expect in each category and therefore enhancing the chances of success.
To begin the entry process, participants are advised to carefully review the categories and assess where their project, initiative, or company aligns best. All entries are submitted through the organization’s virtual platform, allowing participants to conveniently write and refine their submissions while constantly consulting the site and categories for relevance.
Duff advised when entering multiple categories, it is strongly recommended that participants take the time to rewrite or modify their entries to match the unique characteristics of each category.
“Judges don’t tend to look that favorably on categories that just have the same entry submitted multiple times over. So do rewrite those and make sure they’re fit for purpose in the exact category. There’s a supporting documents section, so add that supporting media, a little video, and an advert, always add some extra spice to those entries. When the judges are reviewing lots, anything that you can do to make yourself stand out from the crowd is definitely warranted.”
After the entries close, the SBC proceeds to shortlist and determine the winners, with the assistance of industry judges and respected professionals from the sports, betting, and iGaming sectors. Emphasizing the importance of expertise, judges are carefully selected based on their professional backgrounds and allocated to relevant categories. In cases where there is ambiguity, additional judges with relevant expertise are incorporated to establish a definitive winner.
Andrew McCarron, referring to past experience, added that very often applicants do not pay enough attention to their submissions. And after the awards, many people on LinkedIn complained saying why they should have won.
“You’re thinking that they have a really strong argument, they should have won. You go back and have a look and realize that all the points that they’ve made in their LinkedIn post they didn’t actually put in their own submission,” he mentioned.
To avoid mistakes, SBC built out all these categories and criteria a little bit further. Thus, now you have a checklist of things that you should include to have the best chance of winning. All these criteria can find sbcevents.com. Additionally, you can watch the SBC’s webinar from a few years back on entry writing.
The deadline for submissions was extended until this Friday, June 30.
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