This award will recognise your shining star – someone who has gone over and above the call of duty to enhance the smooth running of the operation. Finalists in this category will not have to attend panel judging as the winner will be selected from the written entry.

Open to individuals who have been managing personnel within a contact centre for a minimum of six months, this category looks to reward exceptional leadership, innovation, broad management skills and vocational competence in either a full or part-time capacity. The winner demonstrates exceptional leadership, ensures consistently high performance of the centre, communicates and shares the company’s vision/mission, and combines a commitment to the delivery of organisational objectives with an efficient and effective service. The winner will have successfully implemented innovative strategies that impact positively on the wider organisation and have a commitment to the continuous improvement of centre, staff and self.

This category is seeking a professional trainer or coach who applies best practice in learning theory to deliver training and development that achieves organisational objectives. The winner will take their role extremely seriously, training is meticulously planned and learning theory is applied with precision in order to get the best out of the people. Activity is tailored to the individual’s needs but also helps achieve departmental group objectives. This person’s training programmes have made a difference not only to individuals’ career objectives and the organisation, but also the participants’ quality of life and outlook. The winner is not averse to trying innovative new techniques to train and coach employees in a controlled environment.

This category is open to individuals who have been employed in the role for a minimum of six months and who demonstrate exceptional leadership, first-line management skills and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The Team Leader of the Year is a professional and inspirational person who leads by example and takes responsibility for the team. They ensure their colleagues’ experience of work is always a positive one. Entrants must demonstrate strong leadership, be results oriented, with a commitment to staff development, and have evidence of guiding their team to consistently high performance.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade who have demonstrated exceptional levels of service and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. The winner will be someone who goes above and beyond his or her day-to-day responsibilities to provide excellent customer service and support to their colleagues. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an adviser, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is for individuals working at advisor grade in a sales capacity. It is appropriate for agents/advisors who have demonstrated exceptional levels of sales and vocational competence, in either a full or part time capacity. Entrants must demonstrate consistently high performance as an agent/advisor, achieve consistently strong results and make a real difference to their organisation.

This category is open to non-managers employed in a support role within the contact centre in any function, for example: IT, Resource planning, administration, operations, logistics, facilities management, human resources, catering. When completing the entry consideration should be given to professionalism, performance, initiative and personal development. The support person of the year will be a shining example and entries will demonstrate how the contact centre would not the same without this person.

This award will recognise non-managers working in a frontline role within a contact centre, who has been in post for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months. The judges will be looking for evidence of exceptional vocational competence, achieving great results and making a difference within a short period of time, plus excellent interpersonal skills.