Organized by the Human Resources Development Management Committee of The Hong Kong Management Association since 1990, the Award for Excellence in Training 2006 is now open for entries.

It is the only Award of its kind in the Territory giving public recognition of achievements in training and development to individuals as well as companies, whether large or small and whatever the nature of their backgrounds or services.

There are two categories for the Award as follows:

Campaign Award

The Campaign Award recognizes those outstanding training programmes that are not only the best executed but that also clearly fulfill a key business need in a cost effective manner.

Gold, Silver and Bronze Prizes as well as three Certificates of Merit will be granted to the top six training entries. In addition, a number of special awards including the Best Presentation Award, Recruit Most Innovative Award and Special Awards for SMEs, will also be granted to training programmes with excellent performance.

Selection of Campaign Award winners is based on a simple but comprehensive judging process which includes shortlisting interview, written submission and final presentation seminar.

At the shortlisting interview, all participating companies will give a simple 20-minute verbal description (either in English or Cantonese) of the training they have given, covering all award criteria, to a Board of Examiners comprising members of the Training Awards Organizing Committee.

Shortlisted entries will be invited to submit a five-page summary of their training programmes in English. The best six finalists will be selected and presented their training programmes at the final presentation seminar, which is a half-day experience sharing seminar, before the Panel of Adjudicators.

Individual Award

The Individual Award, which includes two categories namely Distinguished Trainer Awards and Outstanding New Trainer Awards, aims to recognize the outstanding achievement of trainers who have made significant contribution to the human resources development of their companies as well as the whole community. An Award will also be given to the best trainer of the year.

All entrants of Individual Award need their company`s nomination to enter the judging process, which includes three stages: written submission, delivery and interview as well as final presentation seminar.

At the first stage, all entrants will be required to submit a four-page written submission in English explaining their achievements in human resource development, a learning process designed by entrants and the evaluation data from a training event delivered by entrants in the year 2005.

Shortlisted entrants will be given an opportunity to design and deliver a short training session followed by an interview in either English or Cantonese to the Board of Examiners. This is to allow the Examiners to see evidence of the entrant`s ability to deliver content and manage a training process, as well as to gain evidence of the entrant`s contribution to human resources development of his or her own organization.

Winners of the Distinguished Trainer Awards and Outstanding New Trainer Awards will be selected by the Board of Examiners. The top three Distinguished Trainer Awardees will be invited to compete for the Trainer of the Year Award by the Panel of Adjudicators at the final presentation seminar.

All winners will be presented with trophies or certificates at the annual Susan Yuen Memorial Lecture and Dinner, which is one of Association`s most important events in its annual calendar.

Participating in the Award has been beneficial to both the companies and the HRD professionals and trainers. In addition to an excellent opportunity for publicity for the winning companies, the Award offers HRD professionals and trainers the opportunity to have their efforts better recognized by their organizations, peer professionals and the community. Moreover, the Award provides additional motivation to HRD and training professionals to extend their efforts.

The Award this year is proudly sponsored by the following companies: