Consumer votes and industry opinions are sought during the months leading up to the big awards night presentations on 4th November 2010.  It begins with industry nominations in all categories from April until 16 June 2010, to arrive at a suggested shortlist of nominees before open consumer and industry voting begins in July.

APRIL – 16 JUNE 2010:  E-broadcasts to previous consumer voters who have opted into participating in the awards programme (consumer council) and a minimum of 1,000 travel agents to encourage nominations across the categories.

TravelMole to issue call to action news alerts to encourage trade nominations across the relevant categories.  PR Companies nominate their clients, and individual companies can nominate themselves.

If you would like us to send you an email reminder when nominations opens click here

The Of The Year and Environmentally & Socially Responsible categories are academy judged and require the submission of an entry criteria form.

Criteria forms are posted on the website and companies who wish to go forward in these categories have until 30th August 2010 to complete and submit.

JULY – END SEPTEMBER 2010 :   Consumer and trade media partners issue calls to vote via promotions and advertisements in their various online, print and broadcast media.  Votes are submitted online, either directly on the BTA website or via links from the websites of our media partners and other participating companies.

If you would like us to send you an email reminder when voting opens click here

SEPTEMBER 2010:  Criteria forms received from entrants in the Of The Year and Environmentally & Socially Responsible categories are distributed to the individually grouped panel of judges made up from The BTA Academy for their adjudication and scoring.

The categories where no entry criteria is required and where only open voting is required means that - quite simply - the number of votes achieved determines the winner. 

When voting closes the database is scanned for evidence of any block voting.  Suspicious entries are flagged and brought to the attention The BTA auditors, Deloitte LLP, who makes the final decision on either disqualifying or choking the suspect entries.

This simple method of electronic vote collation and “no-hands” counting together with the independent audit by Deloitte LLP ensures integrity and transparency of the awards process.