Apprenticeship of the Year
Road transport has traditionally been slow to take advantage of government apprentice training programmes, but this is changing with the launch of the National Skills Academy for Logistics. This will provide a One Stop Shop Service to help operators take full advantage of the range of apprenticeships for logistics developed by Skills for Logistics. This Award will be made in association with the National Skills Academy for Logistics to showcase some of the best examples of logistics apprentice training.

Judges will be looking for logistics apprenticeships that meet the needs of both the business and the apprentices. Success can be measured in several ways including the percentage of apprentices successfully completing the scheme and taking jobs with the employer; the percentage of employees who are home-grown through apprenticeships rather than recruited already qualified; the contribution made to the local economy by the employer's apprenticeship scheme, especially in taking on the long term unemployed; the overall contribution to the business' success made by the apprenticeship scheme.  This category is restricted to entries from mainstream logistics occupations.

Best Use of Technology
Judges will be looking for a project that used the latest technology (whether in vehicles, components, infrastructure or IT) to enhance your service and resulted in a clear benefit to your customers and/or improvement in efficiency. This is not about just using industry-standard products or software, but looking at your business and customer needs and developing a technology-based solution. The entry must be made by a CV operator, though it can include supporting material from suppliers.

The judges will want to know:

• The problem you were trying to solve or the service you were looking to enhance
• Details of the technology applied
• How the technology was successfully applied to your operation
• The specific outcomes for your operation and your customers' business

Customer Care Award
Excellent customer care is more than just delivering the goods on time and on budget or having a good complaints procedure. It means going out of your way to ensure that your whole operation is geared to consistently exceeding your customers’ expectations.

You need to tell us:
• How you monitor your levels of customer service
• How you benchmark your customer service  against the best in your and other industry sectors
• How you have gone above and beyond business as usual to delight your customers (or in many cases your customers' customers)

We want to see commitment from all levels of the company and, of course, testimonials from customers and the results of customer satisfaction surveys.

Dealer of the Year
To win this Award, a CV dealer will need to show high levels of customer satisfaction across all departments including sales, workshop and parts, as well as proving financial success. The judges will want to see:

• An overview of the dealer’s customer base and target market
• A summary of the dealer’s business strategy to serve this market
• Success in increasing market share in new and used vehicle sales, parts, workshop and other services
• Evidence of high levels of customer satisfaction
• Investment in staff training – and its outcome

You need to provide audited accounts for the past three years and customer testimonials (added weight will be given to unsolicited testimonials).

Fleet Driver of the Year
Fleet Driver of the Year is open to drivers employed by operators with 11 or more commercial vehicles (vans or trucks) nominated by a senior manager or director of the driver's employer.
The award will be presented to the driver who best demonstrates excellence in:
• Safety
• Fuel efficiency
• Customer care (added weight will be given to unsolicited testimonials)
• Vehicle presentation
• Mentoring of other drivers
• Punctuality
• Mechanical sympathy
• Commitment to continuous improvement

Where available, entrants should submit data from a driver performance monitoring system.

Fleet Engineer of the Year
To become Fleet Engineer of the Year, you will need to show not only exceptionally high professional standards, but also evidence of innovation to improve the running of your commercial vehicle  fleet.
High standards could be shown through industry-leading levels of vehicle reliability, availability, safety and first-time MoT passes. Innovation could involve reducing fuel consumption, being more efficient or using technology creatively to solve a specific fleet problem. The judges will be looking for a well-run fleet where the fleet engineer is at the heart of the operation. A fleet engineer could be directly employed by the operator or a full-service repair and maintenance contractor. Fleet size is immaterial – each entry will be judged on its own merits.

Your entry should cover:
• Cost control
• Legal compliance (include OCRS and MOT pass rates for all relevant sites)
• Acceptance of new initiatives by drivers and operational staff
• Evidence of applying or exceeding industry best practice
• Innovation
• Working as a team with operational and other senior managers

Fleet Truck of the Year
No submissions are required for this category. A long list of eligible vehicles will be drawn up by an independent panel of operators, which will then be voted on by registered readers of Motor Transport in an online poll. The shortlist will be announced at the CV Show on 24 April 2012.

Fleet Van of the Year
No submissions are required for this category. A long list of eligible vans will be drawn up by an independent panel of operators, which will then be voted on by registered readers of Motor Transport in an online poll. The shortlist will be announced at the CV Show on 24 April 2012.

Fleet Van Operator of the Year
This category is open to operators of 11 or more vans up to 7.5 tonnes GVW. To win the Fleet Van Operator of the Year, you will need to show our judges that you are achieving outstanding standards of performance in:
• Professionalism
• Productivity
• Customer service (added weight will be given to unsolicited testimonials)
• Health and safety
• Training
• Environment

Whether own account or hire and reward, the winning operator will demonstrate the highest levels of commitment to running a safe, efficient and high performing fleet.

Entries must include evidence of:
• High levels of customer satisfaction – including testimonials from the end users of your service
• Accident and incident rates for the past two years
• Innovation
• Outstanding success in meeting or exceeding specific key performance indicators.

Haulier of the Year
This is the most coveted award in the road transport industry. It is for the outstanding road haulage or 3PL company of the year. The Haulier of the Year category is open to any company running 11 or more vehicles over 7t GVW. To win you need to show not only strong financial results, but also a tremendous all-round commitment to:
• Professionalism
• Customer care
• Safety
• Training
• Environment

The winner will also need to show the active measures the firm has taken to improve service levels and to grow the company, in both size and profitability.

Entries must include three years’ audited accounts, a print out of the VOSA OCRS and evidence of:
• High levels of customer satisfaction (include details of five customers we can contact for feedback)
• Accident and incident rates for the past two years
• Innovation
• Reduced carbon emissions
• A strategy to succeed.

Innovation Award
This Award is open to transport operators and product/service suppliers who can show outstanding innovation in developing a product, service or operation.
The judges will want to see evidence of how creative thinking has been applied to solve a problem. If the solution was mainly technology-led, consider entering the Best Use of Technology category instead.

Entrants must show:
• What the problem/issue was
• How the innovative solution was arrived at
• How it delivered significant benefits.

Low Carbon & Efficiency Award
Cutting emissions of greenhouse gases is possibly the greatest challenge facing road transport, but successful companies show it can be done without adding cost or affecting customer service. The Low Carbon & Efficiency Award will be given to the operator who has made the most progress in reducing carbon emissions by improving the efficiency of its transport and distribution operation.

We want to know what you have done to:
• Reduce the carbon footprint of your fleet
• How you are running it more efficiently.

Judges will need to know:
• How you have measured your footprint
• What initiatives (cutting out empty running, re-routing vehicles, using double-deck trailers or any other measures) you have taken
• The subsequent outcome.

Network of the Year
Open to any national logistics network operator, including pallet networks, parcels carriers, hauliers and own-account operators. Judges will be looking for evidence of excellent operational efficiency, above average vehicle utilisation, high customer service levels, value for money and high levels of flexibility and responsiveness.

Partnership Award
This Award is open to genuine partnerships between: operator(s) and a customer; two or more operators working together; or operator(s) working with a supplier or consultant. Evidence of a partnership as opposed to a simple contract could include:
• Long (more than one year) working relationship
• Working in teams which include members drawn from the partner organisations
• Sharing of data and resources
• Pain/gain sharing financial models

The judges will need to know:
• Why the partnership was formed
• What its aims or targets were
• How these were achieved
• Any measurable outcomes, especially in terms of improved customer satisfaction or reduced costs

As this is the Partnership Award, the entry form must be signed by all partners.

Safety in Operation Award
Entrants for this Award will need to show an exceptional commitment to all-round operational safety.

Entrants will need to show:
• Your accident and incident rates for at least the past two years
• How you measured your rates
• What analysis/review was carried out to plan the initiative(s)
• What your initiative(s) was
• The outcome of the initiative(s) including benchmarking the results against industry averages
• Top-down commitment to the initiative(s).

You will need to show evidence of communication of your safety programme to internal and/or external stakeholders.
This category is open to CV operators and genuine partnerships between product/service suppliers and operators.

Team of the Year
Open to any team of any size in any part of a logistics operation, the Team of the Year will be able to demonstrate that they have worked closely together to deliver either a major project on time and to budget or have consistently over-achieved in 2011. Judges will be looking for a set of objective KPIs that the team was working to and evidence that these were exceeded. More subjective comments from key external customers or colleagues in other parts of the business about the outstanding performance of the team will also be taken into account.

Training Award
Entrants in this category must show how they have improved the training of staff in the last 12 to 18 months. Your entry could focus on a specific group, such as drivers or management, or could cover all of your staff. It should however exclude apprentices as these are now covered by a separate Apprenticeship of the Year Award.

The judges will need to know:
• How you identified your training need
• What training was implemented
• What inhouse and external resources were applied and why
• The measurable outcome of the training including cost/benefit analysis if applicable

Service to Industry Award
This is a special award for the individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the road transport industry in the past 12 months, decided by the editorial team of Motor Transport, the sponsor and previous winners. If you would like to nominate a recipient, please email their name and your reasons they should receive this Award to Steve Hobson. There will be no shortlist; the winner will be revealed at the Awards ceremony.