The end of next month (29^th June) sees the deadline for entries to this year’s E-Learning Awards. This comes hot on the heels of the announcement of this year’s winners of the Training Journal Awards and, if they’re still going, it will soon be time to send in entries for the WOLCE Awards too.

As a result of its increasing success, this year’s E-Learning Awards are moving from the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington – their home for the last two years – to the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel which, according to the event’s organisers, can hold substantially more people that the hotel in Kensington

So, with all this ‘award frenzy’ going on, my eye was attracted by an email from the US-based e-learning guru, Elliott Masie, entitled: ‘Why I declined a learning award’. It said: ‘Recently, someone called our office to tell us that I had won an award as one of the influential people in the training industry.  We told them that I would decline the award…It felt like time to take a stand against the flurry of ‘awards’ and ‘honors’ (sic – well, he is American).

‘When I look at a list of most influential folks in learning, I am surprised not to see people of the calibre of chief learning officers who make a difference and leaders who have been working on learning standards like SCORM, AICC and IEEE. Where are the learning leaders in the US military and colleagues who are pushing the envelope in Asia, Africa and the NGO community?
’We have too many ‘awards’ and ‘beauty shows’ in our field… There are now
even consultants to help get you more awards.

‘One CLO was called on the carpet when his company dropped ten slots in a ‘Best’ competition. It was the same great company; the same great learning innovation, but there were more players, so he dropped…

‘I love the idea of competition and of recognizing (sic) excellence and innovation, but many of these awards are not helping us get to deep excellence…’

Comment:  He may think that. I couldn’t possibly comment.