ow, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Dubai, 25.02.2013 – Fifth annual channel awards ceremony took place in Monaco last week. Live voting for vendor awards, improved selection process for distributor awards, plus new retailer categories.
        More than 1000 senior channel executives from across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) gathered at the Salle des Etoiles in Monaco on Thursday 21st February for the -EMEA Channel Academy: 2013 Awards-, held in conjunction with DISTREE EMEA.
        A total of 27 awards were presented during the Gala Dinner with hundreds of attending distributors and retailers using a live electronic voting system to select their preferred vendors across 12 product categories. Taking place for the fifth year in a row in 2013, the awards also benefitted from an improved voting process for distributor categories, incorporating the use of data from research house CONTEXT-s ChannelWatch second tier reseller and retailer survey for the first time Farouk Hemraj, CEO and Co-Founder at DISTREE Events, explained the benefits of the new approach: “As always, we surveyed more than 100 vendors to find out their preferred distributor by region. This data was then combined with the results from CONTEXT-s ChannelWatch survey, which was completed by approximately 4000 resellers and retailers across the EMEA region.”
        “The vendor votes and second tier partner votes were equally weighted using a parity system to determine the winner in each region. This new process ensures that we are evaluating distributors using feedback from both upstream and downstream business partners,” he added.
        The -EMEA Channel Academy: 2013 Awards- also included dedicated retailer awards and initiative awards, with the overall winners determined by a VIP Jury of regional channel experts. The inclusion of retailer awards for the first time reflected the growing importance of this sector in the DISTREE EMEA delegate base. The full list of -EMEA Channel Academy: 2013 Awards- winners are as follows:
        Esquire – African Distributor of the Year
        BDL Group – Middle East & North Africa Distributor of the Year
        AB/AT Computers – Central & Eastern Europe Distributor of the Year
        Merlion – Russia & CIS Distributor of the Year
        Arena – South East Europe Distributor of the Year
        Ingram Micro – Southern Europe Distributor of the Year
        ALSO-Actebis – Northern Europe Distributor of the Year
        Ingram Micro – DACH Distributor of the Year
        Tech Data – France & Benelux Distributor of the Year
        Computer 2000 – UK & Ireland Distributor of the Year
        Maplin – European Retailer of the Year
        Euroset – Russia & CIS Retailer of the Year
        Carrefour – Middle East & Africa Retailer of the Year
        Esquire – EMEA Distributor Initiative of the Year
        Jackys Electronics – EMEA Retailer Initiative of the Year
        Samsung – Monitors/TVs Vendor of the Year
        Seagate – Components Vendor of the Year
        Microsoft – Software Vendor of the Year
        HP – Printing Vendor of the Year
        Trendnet – Home Networking Vendor of the Year
        Port Designs – Accessories Vendor of the Year
        Microsoft – Gaming Vendor of the Year
        Western Digital – Storage Vendor of the Year
        JBL by Harman – Audio Vendor of the Year
        Canon – Imaging Vendor of the Year
        Samsung – Mobile Device Vendor of the Year
        Lenovo – PCs Vendor of the Year
        About DISTREE EMEA
        DISTREE EMEA gathers hundreds of senior executives from EMEA-s ICT, telecoms and consumer electronics (CE) volume channel. DISTREE EMEA is a powerful business platform for vendors looking to manage, build or launch routes-to-market within EMEA. From A-brand vendors to start-ups, DISTREE EMEA-s structure and reach offers business benefits and powerful return on investment. www.distree-emea.com Follow event updates on Twitter @DISTREE_EMEA
DISTREE Events specialises in the planning, organisation, staging and management of ICT & CE channel events. The team at DISTREE Events has successfully organised such events for the past decade, gathering more than 10,000 senior executives from 80 countries during that time. DISTREE Events spans the entire EMEA region, Latin America and Asia Pacific with employees based in Paris, Dubai, Moscow, London, Boston, Singapore and Sao Paulo. For more information, visit www.distree.com Follow company updates on Twitter @DISTREE_Events