Judging information

Interested in judging?

To be considered as a judge for the SC Awards 2017, please click here and complete the application form by September 8, 2016. After this date, applications will be reviewed and judges chosen by the editorial team to participate on the Trust Awards panel. If some applicants seem more appropriate for the second judging panel, which is responsible for deciding Excellence and Professional categories, they will be considered for inclusion by the VP of editorial.

Please understand that judging for the SC Awards is a serious commitment, requiring all panelists to devote some time to judge submissions fairly and objectively so that IT security solutions/services providers, industry leaders and their teams can be recognized and honored for their exemplary work and contributions to the wider field. We do expect a healthy interest from our SC audience to participate, but submitting an application does not guarantee a spot as a judge. 

Trust Awards

Finalist and winners in these categories are chosen by cybersecurity professionals from SC’s audience who have been invited and qualified by the SC editorial team to participate as part of a Trust Awards judging panel. Approximately 100 professional, primarily are from end-user organizations, comprise this panel. They are invited and chosen to participate as judges based on their industry expertise and background and represent a cross-section of SC’s audience – which is comprised of cybersecurity personnel at large, medium and small enterprises from all major vertical markets, including financial services, health care, government, retail, education and other sectors. Having volunteered their time, knowledge and experience, these industry professionals are tasked with carefully considering each of the competitors in relation to the categories for which they entered. To reach their decision, they will review the materials provided by entrants and also consider the solution’s functionality, manageability, ease of use and scalability, as well as such areas as customer service and support. Additionally, they have been encouraged to peruse any applicable product reviews that SC Magazine has published in the last year and any other relevant industry or analyst reports. Please note, judges are encourage to suggest that certain entrants be moved between categories if they deem them unsuitable for one but appropriate for another.

After the judging panels’ decisions are in, SC’s  product reviews team and a small group of C-level professionals handpicked by SC’s editorial team steps in to take a final look at the finalists in each category to ensure that they accurately jibe with the category for which they entered. In the event that a particular product or service is not an appropriate fit for a category, a final decision on whether it should remain in the running will be made. (No refunds will be provided if a product is eliminated for failing to meet the criteria for not fitting in the category to which it was submitted.)

Excellence Awards & Professional Awards

With the exception of the Editor’s Choice Award, for which there are no formal submissions as this award is confirmed solely by the SC editorial team, winners in these categories are decided by a second expert panel of judges. These judges are hand-picked by SC’s editorial team for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the information security industry. They come from end-user companies, analyst and consulting communities, academia and other vendor-neutral organizations. Many are practicing and former chief security officers from the private and public sectors who also may have been honored themselves at SC Awards galas in previous years. Judges are advised to review the materials provided by entrants, as well as check out any applicable research or analyst reports and/or product reviews appearing in SC Magazine. There will be one winner chosen per category.

Editor’s Choice Award

Based on feedback from SC Magazine’s editorial team, its Editorial Advisory Board, readers and other sources, a small list of contenders for this designation is created internally. Those considered for this award can be industry bodies, professionals, companies or products. 

The award winner is decided by the VP of editorial for SC Magazine and announced at the SC Awards Gala on February 14, 2017. This award enables the editorial team to pay homage to those individuals or entities that are making a positive impact on the industry as a whole.