HR Tech Writers' Awards 2017 winners announced

It's the moment you've all been waiting for. 

We could build up to the announcement tediously slowly.

We could increase the suspense with a few tension-building short sentences.

We could even thow in a couple of reality TV style dramatic pauses, just for effect....

...but we're not going to. Without further ado we're pleased to reveal the winners of this year's HR Tech Writers' Awards 2017!

HR Tech Awards 2017: the winners

Best writer

• Gold: Kris Dunn (Fistful of Talent/HR Capitalist)
• Silver: Rachel Fenton (Namely)
• Bronze: Hagi Trinh (Recruitee)

Best article

• Gold: 'AI's gaydar is better than yours, which means discrimination is coming to an algorithm near you' - Kris Dunn, Fistful of Talent/HR Capitalist
• Silver: 'How is neurodiversity changing the way companies recruit?' - Jason Compton, Workpop
• Silver: 'Should HR be friends with employees?' - Rachel Fenton, Namely
• Bronze: 'How to get your team excited about new HR technology' - Adam McKibbin, Workpop

Best independent blog

• Gold: Recruiting Daily
• Silver: analyticsinhr.com
• Bronze: HR Examiner
• Bronze: HR Capitalist

Best vendor blog

• Gold: Namely
• Silver: Recruitee
• Bronze: PeopleStrategy

It was a super-tough year for us judging-wise, so well done to our winners and runners up! Things were so tight, in fact, that in a couple of instances some of our entries were tied. This is why the Silver award for 'Best Article' and the Bronze Award for 'Best Independent Blog' are shared.

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As the articles we received were so interesting to read, we've kept the shortlist below for your perusal. You can also check out the award FAQs and last year's list of winners below that, if you want. 

FAQs

Last years' winners

HR Tech Awards 2017 - shortlist and links

Best writer

• Hagi Trinh (Recruitee)
• David Green (IBM)
• Kris Dunn (Fistful of Talent/HR Capitalist)
• Matt Charney (Recruiting Daily)
• Steve Boese (Steve Boese's HR Technology)
• Denise Chan (Bitly)
• Rachel Fenton (Namely)

Best article

• 'How is neurodiversity changing the way companies recruit?' - Jason Compton, Workpop
• 'How to get your team excited about new HR technology' - Adam McKibbin, Workpop
• 'How to create a better learning environment for your employees' - Kristina Proffitt, Cronofy
• 'Should HR be friends with employees?' - Rachel Fenton, Namely
• 'AI's gaydar is better than yours, which means discrimination is coming to an algorithm near you' - Kris Dunn, Fistful of Talent/HR Capitalist
• 'Fad or not: is there value in having my team go remote?' - Denise Chan, Bitly

Best independent blog

• #ChatTalent
• Digital HR Tech
• HR Capitalist
• Steve Boese's HR Technology
• Recruiting Daily
• analyticsinhr.com
• hrexaminer.com

Best vendor blog

• Cronofy
• PeopleGuru
• Recruitee
• Namely
• PeopleStrategy
• Cake HR
• EffortlessHR 

If you enjoyed the content from this year's vendor contributors, why not check out out their products using our HRMS comparison tool?

What are the categories for this year’s HR Tech Writers’ Awards?

This year we have four categories open for entries, with a ‘gold’, ‘silver’ and ‘bronze’ award up for grabs in each:

• Best writer: applicants should submit three examples of your writing, all from within the last year
• Best article: applicants should submit the one article they consider their best of the past year - choose carefully!
• Best vendor blog: just the URL of your blog required here - though you have the opportunity to show off three of your best articles on the form above
• Best independent blog: same criteria as ‘best vendor blog’

To clarify, an independent blog is any blog that isn’t directly operated by an HR technology vendor. So if you’re a SAP consultant wanting to enter your blog on all things SAP, do so in the independent blog category.

You are more than welcome to submit applications in as many of the award categories you are eligible for. Vendors can nominate their blog for ‘best vendor blog’ whilst nominating their content creators in the ‘best writer/article’ categories, for example.

What types of writing should I submit to the awards?

Submissions should be extended pieces of writing (300 words or above) that are not explicitly marketing materials. 

So, don't submit:

• Press releases
• Vendor-sponsored case studies
• Web copy from sales pages

Who can enter the HR Tech Writers’ Awards?

Short answer: anyone! 

Long answer: anyone, but to be in with a shot at winning you’ll need to be...

• a talented writer with a flair for explaining complex topics to an everyday audience
• producing top-quality content on a regular basis
• brimming with insights into HR technology and how 21^st century workplaces can use it to its full advantage.

Our judging panel will judge entries across all categories writing style, originality and depth of insight. The categories for best independent blog and best vendor blog will also factor in frequency of updates and how content is presented.

Talking of which…

Who will be judging the HR Tech Writers’ Awards?

Our judging panel this year is as follows:

• Kathryn Beeson: HRMS World editor (yours truly)
• Dave Foxall: longtime HRMS World staff writer
• Tim Sackett: 20-year HR and recruitment pro, and the brains behind The Tim Sackett Project, one of the top-performing blogs at last year’s awards. 
• You: this year, 25% of the final decision will be decided by a public vote.

The HRMS World team is - as ever - excited to recognize the brightest and best of this year’s HR tech writing talent. We’re also looking forward to having Tim on board as a guest judge, and all the blogging and HR experience he can bring to the table.

After clarifying that he could not vote for himself, even using an alias like ‘HR Tech God 17’ or similar, he said “It’s still cool! I’ll step aside and let the little people have their day in the sun, and revel over having all the power to decide who’s the next HRMS Tech Writer of the Year! Which won’t be me, but probably should be me, but now can be you. If I let you. Or if you send me nice bottles of gin.*

“What? I can’t take bribes? Ugh!”

What are the dates for this year’s HR Tech Writers’ Awards?

As we’ve mentioned above, nominations are open now, and will close on Sunday 26th November.

Judges will then have a week to make their decisions (and you’ll have a week to vote) and we’ll announce the winners onsite on Tuesday 5th December.

*Do not actually send gin to Tim Sackett. We are serious about this.

Last years' winners

Best writer

• 1st: Marcus Mossberger, Infor
• 2nd: Tim Sackett, The Tim Sackett Project
• 3rd: Steve Boese, Steve Boese's HR Technology

Best article

• 1st: 'Rethinking and reinventing employee engagement', Cecile Alper-Leroux, HR Tech Blog
• 2nd: ‘Artificial intelligence in HR: the basics you need to know’, Neelie Verlinden, Harver
• 3rd: ‘Too many recruiting tools are killing your recruiting efforts’, Tim Sackett, The Tim Sackett Project

Best independent blog

• 1st: HR Tech Blog
• 2nd: Steve Boese's HR Technology
• 3rd: HR Tech Advisor Blog

 Best vendor blog

• 1st: CoreHR
• 2nd: BambooHR
• 3rd: Fairsail