What does it take to be a fair and effective judge at one of the most prestigious business awards in the region? Charlotte Sloan, Legal Director in the Employment Team at Birketts, shares her insights into the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards , revealing the careful thought, rigorous preparation, and personal touch she brought to the judging process.
From devising a bespoke scoring matrix to celebrating the creative efforts of local businesses, Charlotte’s approach offers a fascinating glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes.
Birketts, a UK Top 50 law firm with a 160-year legacy, prides itself on its commitment to delivering exceptional client service across its four principal practice groups: real estate, corporate services, litigation, and private clients. With over 700 legal professionals and a strong ethos of community contribution, Birketts is not just a law firm but a trusted partner for organisations across the UK and beyond.
Join us as Charlotte shares her journey, the challenges of judging businesses across diverse sectors, and her tips for those aiming to impress the judges. A must-read for anyone curious about excellence in business and the stories behind the awards!
Hi Charlotte. Let’s start by telling me a little bit about Birketts
Birketts is a full-service law firm. We opened our South East office in April last year, and that was the first year we got involved in the Gatwick Diamond Awards. We are hugely proud to say that we won Professional Services Firm of the Year at the Gatwick Diamond Awards, which was a huge achievement in that first year of opening a new office.
What we’re all about is great client experience, advising clients on all kinds of complex legal matters, and providing that all-round service. We’ve got not just the employment team, but corporate lawyers, private client lawyers, tax lawyers, and agricultural lawyers.
What motivated you to be a Gatwick Diamond Business Awards judge?
We were headline sponsors of the awards last year, and we wanted to be more involved than just being the headline sponsors. What’s the best way to do that? It’s obviously to get involved as a judge. The judging was really important to us to get to know the businesses in the Gatwick Diamond community.
We didn’t just want to apply for an award or just be a sponsor. We wanted to take part in the full experience, and you definitely get that by judging. I think that’s a really important piece of this. If you can, and you’ve got the time, make the time and effort to judge a category. It’s well worth it.
Why are business awards like The Gatwick Diamond Awards important?
I think it’s that recognition, isn’t it? That what you’re doing is hitting the mark, it’s working. Peer recognition from really well-respected businesses and business people is really important.
How do the awards help the Gatwick Diamond region as a whole?
They help showcase the fantastic businesses in the region which are driving growth in the Gatwick Diamond economy and contributing to making the region a great place to live and work.
Are you excited about your first year as a judge?
Yes. I hadn’t judged anything like this before, although the day job, I guess, involves a little bit of judging and making assessments. So, I definitely drew upon that to help me with the judging process.
I’m an employment lawyer. In my assessment of the judging, I tried to take some of those elements that I use in the day job, like using selection criteria to draw up my shortlist. And, just trying to make sure that my decision-making process was well reasoned.
The important thing is to make sure that you’re fair and that you take everything into account. Obviously, take into account the applications from the applicants who put a lot of effort into those, and also take the time to meet with them and understand what they’re all about beyond just the paper application.
What kind of judge do you think you’ll be?
I hope I’m a fair judge, and I think I definitely tried to be fair in the way that I carried out the judging previously. I also had to consider the fact that the businesses I was judging were all quite different. There were different sectors and different types of businesses, from smaller owner-managed businesses and larger corporates.
So it’s very difficult to compare, but they all had some really great examples. I tried to take that into account and be consistent whilst recognising that I wasn’t comparing like for like.
What are you expecting from the judging experience?
Well, hopefully, everybody gets some enjoyment out of it. I think it’s an opportunity for the businesses involved just to showcase what they’re all about. And also important to take some enjoyment from it if you’re involved in the process this year.
What advice can you give shortlisted businesses before they are interviewed?
Make it easy for the judge to come and see you. That’s really important. And if you can, make sure that they can come and see you in person. I did a few meetings over Teams, and I still got lots of good information from those meetings, but it was so much better when I got to see people in person.
Also, think outside the box – be creative in terms of what you’re presenting in your applications and your presentations. One of the applicants I saw sent me a nice video before I came to see them, which told me what they were all about and just welcomed me to the business. They made sure I knew where I was going and the directions and that sort of thing. That was just a really nice personal touch.
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Charlotte’s advice to applicants – to showcase creativity, be authentic, and make it easy for judges to see what sets them apart – is a great tip. If you make it on the shortlist, look out for Charlotte’s meticulous and thoughtful approach to judging businesses across diverse sectors, from sole traders to large corporations.
The much-anticipated awards ceremony takes place on 25th March at The Grand in Brighton. It’s an unmissable opportunity to celebrate the very best of our business community and the people who drive it forward. We can’t wait to see which businesses will take home the honours this year!
Discover more on the Gatwick Diamond Business Awards website.