Each judge is a security and/or safety expert with key experience and vast knowledge in the area of entrepreneurialism. Judges are nominated by partner organisations working with the SSEAs and then independently reviewed by the SSEAs team, and key experts approached and invited to judge by adhering to our ethical approach. The judges mark – entries against the criteria set out in the category requirements (viewable on the ‘Enter’ page), and the highest scoring entry – in that category will be the winner. Entries are assigned to judges randomly, however, they are reviewed prior to distribution and not assigned to judges where there may be a conflict of interest or any association between entrant and judge. In the case something still makes it past the review, judges agree to mark any conflict of interest(s) on every single marksheet. All judges follow a strict code of conduct, which can be found below. The judges’ shortlist is announced prior to the awards event, however the winner of each category will remain confidential until the awards presentation.

The SSEAs represents best practice in entrepreneurial performance and as such we are committed to recruiting the best possible panel to review the entries and decide upon category winners.  As such, the criteria for the judging panel have been set out. The panel must include individuals:

• With experience, knowledge, and business expertise in security and/or safety and/or some aspect of entrepreneurship
• Who adhere to the Judges’ Code of Ethics

The Judges Code of Ethics is set out to define the standards required of a judge. This is in order to maintain the core values of integrity and impartiality. There is an obligation on all parties to observe the highest standards of integrity and all judges and officials who act on behalf of the SSEAs must accept the importance of establishing and maintaining appropriate ethical behaviour. By becoming a judge that person has agreed to the Code of Ethics.

Judicial Independence – Judges must uphold and exemplify independence. Their decisions must not be based on extraneous influences, and they must reject any attempt to influence their decisions.

Integrity – Judges are an integral part of the SSEAs scheme and therefore must conduct themselves with integrity to ensure they are above reproach in their own business in the view of fair minded, informed people.

Diligence – Judges must commit to providing time to ensure that all entries they receive are judged fairly and are considered equally.

Equality – Judges should carry out their review without discrimination.

Impartiality – Judges should aim to remain impartial in the judging process, and review entries purely based only on the quality of the evidence provided to them.

If you have any concerns regarding one of our judges, then please contact us.

The ‘Entrants’ Code of Ethics’ is set out to define the standards required of a participant. This is to maintain the values of integrity and impartiality within the awards scheme. Before submitting an entry to the awards the conditions of entry must be read and accepted.

Conditions of entry

• Entrants must meet the eligibility criteria specified above.
• Entries must be submitted through the official form on the website or through procedures set down by the SSEAs or an official SSEAs partnership organisation.
• Entrants must complete the entry form to the best of their ability and must use accurate and honest information. If any information is found to be inaccurate the entrant will be disqualified.
• A company or individual can enter more than one award category, providing all the requirements are met. The evidence presented in each award category needs to show outstanding performance in that category.
• Any attempt to gain unfair advantage at any point during the process will result in immediate disqualification.
• The SSEAs judging panel are responsible for awarding the winners of each category. Their decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. The decision of the judges must be respected and, by entering the SSEAs, entrants accept this condition.
• We do not anonymise the entries. Our experience with other schemes has led us to let the judges see the entry in full so that they can help ensure that no award is given to anyone disreputable. That stated, please be assured that judges will mark the entry based only on the information that has been provided. By limiting the entry to short text-based answers the SSEAs aim to create a level playing field where small and large companies can compete fairly. Moreover, we have found that long answers are not necessarily good ones and being required to think about and focus on the information most relevant to the judges can be helpful; it is quality not quantity that we value. 
• Entrants must not exceed the permitted wordcount per question and include links to websites/videos or outside sources.
• All entries to the SSEAs must be received before the deadline. Entries received after this time may be disqualified.

• Entrants accept that by entering the SSEAs their entry is subject to scrutiny by our team and the judging panel.
• Entrants must be prepared to submit additional evidence or provide reasonable support for any relevant points raised or answers to any queries that may arise.
• All entrants must accept that all those shortlisted for an award will be published and company or individual details may be used in pre-event and post-event publicity to recognise the awards.
• All those shortlisted are expected to attend the awards ceremony, or send a representative on their behalf that can collect the award if they become a winner.
• The SSEAs reserves the right to use all or part of the material entered in the competition for promotion of the awards. Under no circumstances shall the organisers be held responsible for the payment of royalties or other charges for the use of materials provided in support of the awards.
• All entries become the property of the SSEAs on submission. No entries will be changed or returned.
• Entrants accept that our team reserves the right to not award a category if circumstances deem that necessary.