Judging Achievers – a thorough and tough process

People from all over the world are flocking to our website to vote for this year’s Absa Jewish Achiever Award winners in all nine categories.

Though we had a record number of nominees this year – 693 – we’re also on track to break records in the number of people voting online as the excitement builds. The site makes it so easy to see who’s who, learn a little about each nominee, and vote.

It’s vital to know that all nominations are received from members of the public. There are four panels of expert judges who ruminate, discuss, and thrash out all the information they have gleaned to find the winners.

For the Europcar Women in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Professional Excellence, and Business Leadership categories, each person who accepts their nomination is called on to make their own video, send their CVs, and fill out an extensive questionnaire. They are then put through their paces in rigorous interviews with the judges, all of whom have studied information on the nominees.

Those nominated for the Europcar Women in Leadership Award would have sat before the likes of businesswomen Dawn Nathan-Jones, Taryn Marcus, and Johanna Makgalemele, Europcar Chief Executive Martin Lydall, and psychologist Dr Dorianne Weil.

Business leaders Geoff Rothschild, Greg Solomon, Dionne Ellerine Hirschowitz, and Sharon Wapnick join John Tshabalala and Nomsa Moeketsi as judges of the Professional Excellence, Business Leadership, and Business Icon sections.

Pick n Pay’s Suzanne Ackerman-Berman, Rob Fihrer of Capricorn Capital Partners, Romeo Kumalo of LLS Capital, Hollard’s Heidi Brauer, and Avi Mishan of SMD Technologies tackle the Entrepreneurship section.

Then, judging the non-business winners that include the Humanitarian, Community, Lifetime Achiever, and Art, Sport, Science, and Culture Awards are mostly members of the board of the SA Jewish Report: Howard Sackstein, Shaun Matisonn, Dina Diamond, Herschel Jawitz, and Benjy Porter.

The selection of judges of each section is formidable, and they take their jobs extraordinarily seriously, sometimes debating for days in order to find the best-of-the-best winners.

It’s important to note that public votes guide the judging teams, whose decisions on the matter are final.

So, don’t stop now. Go ahead and vote! Go to: https://bit.ly/jaa2022vote