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8 | 11th - 17th July 2014 | utIlIty WEEK Interview Event T he 2014 Utility Week Achievement Awards are now open for entries. The awards are recognised as the hallmark of success in the energy and water indus- tries, and competition is always fierce. As last year's winners testify (see right), win- ning a Utility Week Achievement Award is a wonderful morale boost and celebration of the hard work that goes into the business of utilities day in, day out. This year, we look forward to hearing your success stories once again, and know our expert panel of judges will have some difficult decisions ahead. The categories are: • Capital Project Management Award. This award aims to identify best practice through the effective management of a utility capital project that was completed during 2013/14. • Community Initiative Award. This award aims to recognise the significant effort and care that goes into this oen unpublicised work, which benefits the recipients far more than the image of the company. • Customer Care Award. Judges will be looking for evidence of something more than "business as usual" or mere compliance with industry codes of practice. • Environment Award. This award is for a company or a specific project that demon- strates a clear and conscious commitment to good environmental management, going fur- ther than legal or regulatory compliance. of a marketing initiative completed or con- tinuing in 2013/14. • Staff Development Award. Entries should demonstrate a sound, thoughtful approach to staff development that meets the organisa- tion's skills requirements and provides long- term career development. • Supply Chain Excellence. This award is for the utility company that can demonstrate making step-changes in managing the sup- ply chain, or creating a partnership that is more than the sum of its members. • Team of the Year. Any utility is only as good as its people, and this award is for the team that went the extra mile in 2013/14 to deliver a defined project for the company or one of its stakeholders. • Digital Utilities Award. This award seeks companies large or small that have embraced the digital revolution and used it to achieve genuine and demonstrable busi- ness transformation. • Utility of the Year. Our Utility of the Year will have been successful in all aspects of utility business. It will be rewarded espe- cially for demonstrating outperformance. Entries close on 5 September. The win- ners will be announced at the industry's Christmas party, the Utility Week Achieve- ment Awards, on 8 December at the Gros- venor House Hotel on London's Park Lane. You've got to be in it to win it, so enter now at: www.utilityweekawards.co.uk Eyes on the prize With entries now open for the Utility Week Achievement Awards 2014, we hear from some of last year's winners about what the awards means for them, and what it takes to win a coveted trophy. Heidi Mottram, NWL chief executive One utility eclipsed the proceedings on the night at a packed London Grosvenor Hotel on 9 December 2013. Northumbrian Water (NWL) stormed to success, scooping five awards as well as the coveted Utility of the Year accolade, a er judges said it had "consistently outper- formed its peers". "We were all on a high for weeks a erwards – I wish you could bottle that feeling," says Heidi Mottram NWL chief executive. Utility of the Year • IT Initiative of the Year. Entries to the IT Initiative award should demonstrate the use of modern – not necessarily cutting edge – IT systems to help the business achieve its aims. • Marketing Initiative of the Year. This award will be judged on strategy, targeting, creativity and most importantly: the results