As I participated through the process of judging for the IAMAI Digital India Awards, a few thoughts came on how the process of awarding can be improved.
First, the entries in any award need to be pre-screened so judges are review a smaller number for each category. Some basic and objective filters can be applied for this process. Judges should be reviewing maybe 10-15 categories for each category, so more time can be spent for each entry.
Second, the judges should then create a shortlist of 5 or so ranked entries. This process should be possible to do within a day.
Third, the shortlisted entries should be put to vote by the general public. An excellent example of how to do this is the way Mashable is doing it with its Social Awards.
Weightage for what the judges say and what the people say can be 50:50. Collate the points, and you have the winners.
