McMullin Harrington Limited

I had a conversation in a bar with a tile contractor the other week about whether awards were of any use or (to paraphrase his words slightly) a complete waste of time.  The guy to whom I was talking was of the opinion that they were the latter, in particular the TTA award for tile fixer of the year.  He could not imagine himself or his sons or any other half decent fixer he knew wanting to take part in such a competition, and if they didn’t what did that mean about the quality of the applicants and how could you possibly be sure that the winner was the best fixer in the UK.
The answer, of course, is that you couldn’t, you have to judge between the people that are nominated and the competition is only as good as the nominations.  However I still believe that the Awards do serve several purposes: firstly they are useful for recognising achievement in the industry and for raising the industry profile in general by publicising that to a wider audience.  They also arguably make people strive harder, although to be honest, the chance of receiving an award at the end of the year has never really influenced any one I know to design a better tile, or do a better job on a project.  That normally comes from a desire to sell more, or gain repeat business. 
They are however excellent for PR purposes if you win and can be used as a selling point for customers. 
Looking at the list of awards that the TTA offers, they seem to cover most of the industry fairly comprehensively with awards for fixers, employees, the different sectors of the contract and retail industry etc.  There does however seem to me to be a gap in the offering, as all of the awards celebrate the use of tile.  I would like to see an award for the most technically challenging/innovative use of an ancillary product in a contract, similar to the existing award for best technical use of tile in a contract to give the adhesives and other ancillary product firms more opportunity to take part, as they form a big part of the industry.  If you agree why not get in touch with them to suggest it?
Nominations for the Tile Association awards 2011 close on 17th December, so make sure you have your entries ready by then.