AND THE WINNER IS………

While property industry awards are of course worthy of discussion as an issue – although not sure it deserves the billing of ‘great taboo’ - where Graham Norwood’s blog falls down is in failing to name and shame the sham artists.
I have personally been involved in the What House? Awards for 20 years and the Awards themselves are now in their 29th year and hugely respected. Obviously our Awards sit in the ‘scrupulously fair’ camp – not the ‘make every effort to be scrupulously fair’ camp Graham, the ‘scrupulously fair’ camp.
Whether it be awards, developers, estate agents, architects or, heaven forbid, property journalists, there are good and bad ones. The very nature of a blog is to attract readers and provoke comment and Graham’s blogs are invariably a good read. But this scatter gun attack does not work and does collateral damage to the good guys.
Expose the charlatans Graham. Fair comment will protect you in a libel court. Surely we cannot allow naïve property companies to be sucked into this abuse. It would be nice if awards were free to enter; ceremonies free to eat and drink at. They would be held at the Nirvana, not the Grosvenor. If a profit is earned so be it; if a loss is made likewise. It’s called business.
One measure of the integrity of an awards scheme is to look at the judges. What House? is proud to have leading architects, journalists and other property experts with mileage and sandwich receipts to sustain them on the road.
There is also, believe it or not, a higher cause than a shiny rosette, a marketing opportunity and the envy of your peers. I sincerely believe, and many judges will concur, that the standard of entries in the What House? Awards, although subject to fluctuations, has over the years risen significantly. That has to be good news for the industry and the homebuying public.
When I come off stage after having the huge crowds in raptures and fight my way through women desperate just for a touch of my lapel, there is always one builder, usually large, usually pissed, staggering towards me with murder in his eyes.
He will drag me to the bar (which is an upside) and chew my ear off about how on earth his apartment/development/renovation failed to win an award. Invariably by the end of the evening, he is saying “the judges were right. It was crap, but boy are we going to come back next year and win it.” And several do, having reminded me of such conversations. If awards can help drive up industry standards then let them thrive.
It is all very well Graham reiterating “some award ceremonies are conducted scrupulously with entrants properly selected and subject to genuine competition.
But some are not. And to a casual observer (let alone the public) it is impossible to differentiate between them.”
It is very possible to differentiate between them if you name the good ones and shame the shysters.

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