Entrance qualifications.(International Information Industry Awards,)

Byline: Bobby pickering

Entrance qualifications

Nominations are about to close for this year's International Information Industry Awards, the glittering highlight of the year for UK info pros. Do you know a team or an individual who deserves recognition this year? If so, you have only a few days left to support them with a free nomination

Few who were there, and still sober, can forget the sight of Hoovers Online marketing manager Raife Watson on the dancefloor of the Royal Lancaster Hotel's ballroom.

His incomparable air guitar solo was heartfelt, and the exuberance was justified -- Hoovers had just won the award for Best Business Information Product against stiff competition, and Raife was raising the roof! As were all the other contenders -- the awards are, first and foremost, the top industry party of the year.

The International Information Industry Awards is an unmissable event for many reasons. It takes place on the Wednesday of the Online Information Show (this year, 30 November). That means there are a lot of folk in town -- such as top US brass coming to London to meet customers and colleagues from Europe and further afield -- adding to the international dimension of the event.

Nominees (and winners) are also emerging from further afield, and the organisers are eager to encourage more entries from overseas. In 2004, winners included Norwegian vendor FAST Search and Transfer (Joint Winner, Best Search Product) and the South Australian Health Services Libraries Consortium, whose Chasing the Sun project, in conjunction with the NHS South Wales Information for Clinical Effectiveness, won the award for Best Team in a Public Sector Environment.