Now nominations are open for the first European Leaders In Procurement Awards we thought it would be a good chance to talk with some of the members of our judging panel, to gather their views on the upcoming ceremony.

After speaking to them, it’s clear the panel, which is made up of some of Europe’s top procurement and business leaders, have at least one thing in common; they're all looking forward to finding out what some of the sector’s most influential and innovative individuals and organisations are going to come up with.

“The awards process is a great way to see what others are contributing to their organisations and the profession as a whole,” says Giles Breault, Chief Purchasing Executive of Novartis Pharma.

“And not only does it give me a chance to really see what best-in-class is, but allows me to benchmark among the very best.”

The inaugural awards represent a very rare opportunity for the best people the industry has to offer to meet and share ideas. Dr. Hans Elmsheuser, Head Global Purchasing at Basle-based Syngenta Crop Protection AG, is relishing the chance to see at first hand what the future of procurement holds.

“This is an exciting time for procurement,” he says. “I’m a firm believer in rewarding excellence, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what the entrants have to offer.”

With the quality of entries likely to be extremely high, our judges will have their work cut out, but each has their own ideas on why these awards, the first of their kind, are so important.

“While only a few win the awards,” says Giles Breault, “the opportunity to qualify and to compete for the awards helps all of us to improve what we do and how we do it.”

For Christina De Luca, Chief Procurement Officer for BP PLC Refining and Marketing Business, the reasons for entering are threefold, and involve the need to recognise not only individual efforts, but also company excellence and the value of team working.

“External recognition of your accomplishments feels great and paves the way for the next challenge,” she tells ELP.

So with a variety of nominations expected over the next few months, our judging panel, like our nominees, are likely to have their hands full.

To find out more about our panel and what they believe makes a winning formula, read our exclusive interviews in the ELP Awards supplement, due out with January's European Leaders In Procurement magazine.