Awards ceremonies in the technology industry have become something of cliche: black ties, bottles of champagne, expensive tables, long speeches and lots of them. At the end, an exhausted list of marketing directors are left to ponder what use, if any, to make of their latest gong. Sometimes they are of real value; but just as often, they add little or nothing.

Nabarro Nathanson, a leading UK law firm, and Infoconomist, have joined forces to create a new series of awards for technology companies active in the UK. These awards, endorsed by the CSSA, will be different from any other.

There will be just eight awards, selected from a large field of entrants by an elite panel of IT and business leaders. Infoconomist journalists will thoroughly research potential award winners, applying our highly independent and critical editorial standards throughout the process, and will ensure that all participants and observers can see that this is the case.

On the awards night at the Royal Berkshire Conference Centre on the 19th November, an invitation only (and non-fee paying) audience of technology industry executives will be shown a short series of critical, documentary style videos covering the issues raised during the awards selection. Infoconomist and Nabarro Nathanson intend to ensure that the evening event provides some genuine context and content, adding real value to each award. All award winners will be profiled by Infoconomy.

The awards event will be preceded by a one-day educational and networking conference for senior level executives in the UK's technology industry. This will cover finance, sales and marketing, and alliance strategy. Infoconomist will invite leading IT executives to discuss their technology strategies, their licensing and M&A strategies and their plans for the coming year. For further details, please contact Tim Langford (tlangford@information-age.com).

The eight awards:

• Best managed company
• Best M&A growth strategy
• Best sales or marketing campaign
• Most effective alliance
• Most effective use of technology in a project
• Most innovative use of technology in a project
• Hot prospect
• Most innovative product

For full details of how to participate, email Anna O'Kane at aokane@information-age.com. A web site with full details will be set up shortly.