Key information, submission requirements and how we judge entries

About the ACE Awards 

The ACE Awards recognise the excellent consulting services that shape all our futures, from national policies to sustainable communities to technological innovations. The awards celebrate the excellent work our members do and showcase this work to the wider industry, community and stakeholders.  

Entries are rigorously assessed to ensure the integrity of the awards – they are reviewed by expert judges drawn from your peers, references are checked with clients and, where appropriate, we check in with peer reviewers, contractors and other key stakeholders. 

The judges may also inspect your work. Where physical works have been completed as a result of the consulting service, the judges will normally visit the site. Where there are no physical works, judges will review the outputs, which may include digital artefacts or tools, reports or other elements that demonstrate the outcome of the consulting service. 

What we want  

ACE New Zealand welcomes submissions from members for any consulting service where excellent consulting can be demonstrated, regardless of the nature or scale of the service. 

Your submission should provide clear, verifiable evidence of how the consulting service provided by the applicant demonstrates excellence in consulting. The judges are your peers and will be selected for their experience in the disciplines or consulting areas you indicate to describe your work, so your submission should be written with this in mind. 

Here are the key principles that sum up what we want in ACE Award entries:

• The ACE Awards celebrate consulting excellence rather than projects
• ACE Awards are for ACE member firms
• You need to clearly define the recognition you are seeking
• Judges won’t take into account contributions from non-member firms
• Multiple member firms can join together in one entry if you are clear about the recognition each firm is seeking
• Alternatively, you can submit as an individual firm if you are clear about the recognition you are seeking
• You can submit a separate award entry for multiple phases of a consulting service if are clear about how those phases are separate and you don’t double-dip

What we don’t want 

The ACE Awards are not for ‘projects’ – they are for the provision of excellent consulting services. While projects are usually the vehicle used to demonstrate that excellence, we don’t want submissions for projects where you can’t show us how the consulting services were exceptional and how they contributed to the outcome of the project. 

We do not accept awards entries from non-ACE New Zealand members. 

What’s important to us? 

We want entries from across the range of consulting services delivered by our members that clearly demonstrate the value that great consulting provides to our clients, industry, communities and stakeholders. 

Why should you enter? 

Winning an ACE Award gives your firm and your people significant recognition. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate with your clients who take a lot of satisfaction from their project winning an award and their decision to appoint you as the consultant.  

The number of ACE Awards presented each year is not limited. If your submission meets our standards, an award will be made. We’re not judging submissions against one another, instead we’re judging the quality of the consulting service provided. The effort you put into your submission will not be wasted if another submission is a little better.  

About ACE New Zealand  

ACE New Zealand is a firm-based member organisation representing more than 250 professional services consultancy firms, ranging from large global firms to employee-owned SMEs and sole traders.  

The consulting services our members provide range from business advisory services, strategy and policy development, business case development, health and safety, IT and software services, green infrastructure, transportation, buildings, manufacturing and processing services, through to stakeholder engagement, consultation, planning, urban development and climate resilience.  

No matter what kind of consulting services you provide, if you go above and beyond business as usual, your work might be award-worthy. 

Key information

2024 dates  

• ACE Award entries open Wednesday 31 January
• ACE Award entries close Friday 3 May (please reach out to Yasmin to discuss an extension on [email protected]) 
• Judging takes place in June and July 
• Entrants will be notified that an award will be made in August
• 2024 ACE Awards presented Thursday 24 October 

How to contact us 

For any questions, advice or support regarding the awards submission process, email ACE Team Administrator Yasmin Rudman-Cruse on [email protected]

Submitting your entry 

• Take time to read and understand what we are looking for and how your entry will be judged.  
• Be concise. 
• Avoid unsubstantiated marketing hype and hyperbole. 
• Include technical detail and verifiable evidence that validates your claim of consulting excellence for the consulting services for which you are seeking recognition. Remember the judges are your peers with expertise in the same field as the consulting services for which recognition is sought. 
• Entries must be submitted via the submission form linked here.
• Make sure you include all relevant files and reference material.  

Entries

There is a limit of 8 entries per company (regardless of size).

Cost

Please provide the Purchase Order number and Accounts Payable email address upon submission. Submissions will be invoiced on Friday 10 May unless otherwise discussed. 

Submission requirements 

General 

Submissions are rigorously assessed by expert peers and your submission must clearly demonstrate: 

• Excellence in the provision of consulting services. 
• Exactly what consulting services were provided and the recognition sought. You should not ask us to assess elements delivered by other parties unless they are member firms included in the application. Significant contributions are often made by clients, contractors and other non-member stakeholders, and this will not be taken into account – it is your contribution we’re judging. 

The judges may also inspect your work. Where physical works have been completed as a result of the consulting service, the judges will normally visit the site. Where there are no physical works, judges will review the outputs, which may include digital artefacts or tools, reports or other elements that demonstrate the outcome of the consulting service. 

Your submission should provide clear, verifiable evidence of how the consulting service provided by the applicant demonstrates excellence in consulting.

Please don’t use superlatives or marketing hype without verifiable evidence supporting any claims made in your submission. 

Award categories 

All submissions are judged against the general entry category. This covers all consulting services and all categories of engagement of consulting services, including traditional client engagements, sub-consultant engagements, collaborative working arrangements, alliances, and public private partnerships. 

Please state when applying if your submission falls within either of the following:

Overseas consulting services 

• Where the consulting services are delivered outside of New Zealand but predominantly managed by a New Zealand-based office of the ACE New Zealand member. The New Zealand-based contribution of consulting services would normally be at least 50%. 

Small consulting service engagements 

• For consulting services in any discipline for which total fees paid are less than $50,000 or has a Capital Value of $250,000 (whichever is the largest). 
  

Special Awards 

Judges, at their sole discretion, may also nominate your entry for a special award where there is a unique contribution to the industry or community that does not fall within the normal award categories. In the past, ACE New Zealand has awarded:  

• Community Awards – for a community or community group that has made a noteworthy contribution to the outcome 
• Client Awards – for a client that has made a noteworthy contribution to the outcome 
• Sustainability Awards – for consulting services with outstanding sustainability elements
• Special Awards that have their own unique aspects and don’t fit into any particular box!

These elements do not need to be specifically addressed in your entry.  

See examples of previous Special Awards winners:  

• Sustainability Award  
• Client Award  
• Community Award  

Showstoppers 

To be considered for an award, the consulting business needs to demonstrate that it has delivered the services without any potential problems as expected of a competent, professional member of ACE New Zealand, taking into account factors including: 

• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 
• Regulatory and Statutory compliance 
• RMA obligations 
• Environmental compliance 
• Sustainability principles 
• Contractual disputes 
• Engineering New Zealand Code of Ethical Conduct 
• Negative publicity 

What to include in your submission

1. Cover 

2. Consulting services title 

3. Consulting services short description 

4. Contact details

Every contact must include: 

• Name
• Title
• Company
• Physical address
• Email
• Mobile

Contacts required:   

• Entrant (the main point of contact for the entry)  
• Client(s)  
• Asset owner (if different to the client)  
• Contractor(s) (if any) 
• Marketing contact (from the entrant company)  
• Marketing contact (from the client organisation)  
• Peer reviewer (if any) 
• Sub-consultant(s) / partner(s)

Client contacts: 

• This person should have an intimate knowledge of the consulting services that the ACE member(s) delivered. They don't need to be the most senior client contact. If this person has since left the client organisation, please include their new contact details.
• You can include more than one client contact.
• Please notify your client that ACE New Zealand and the judges will be contacting them to gather their feedback.
• Client and/or ultimate client feedback is critical to the judge's evaluation of your submission. 
• Feedback is confidential to ACE New Zealand and judges.
• Feedback form (which ACE New Zealand will provide to the client) is an important part of the judging process.
• Note that the judges will interview the client. This interview is of particular importance to our judging process. 

5. Consultant relationships 

An organisational chart showing the relationships between all parties and the reporting and accountability lines for the ACE member is required. It should include all parties, including sub-consultants, contractors and client groups.  

Judges need to understand the working relationships between the various parties in an entry.  

For each entrant, we need to understand:

• What they contributed (including contractor, designer, specialist consultants, auditors and peer reviewers, for example)  
• The percentage contribution to the overall consulting services provided  

6. Executive summary (maximum of 200 words) 

This should describe the context in which the consulting services were provided (for example, the project) and summarise why these services demonstrate excellence in consulting.  

7. Technical content 

The core technical content should be limited to no more than 20 pages and address the following:  

• Consulting experience 
• Depth and extent of technical expertise 
• Creation of sustainable value 
• Client satisfaction 

If  you’d  like to reference any photos, sketches, diagrams, reports, or other multimedia to support your submission, please include the photo/media in the appendices section and include references in this section. Example reference, Image 1: Breakwater structure physical modelling, Water Research Laboratory.   

The submission  is the primary tool the judges use to evaluate your entry. Before submitting your entry, review it and answer the following: 

• Have you told the judges/your peers the story of the work you provided and how it has impacted the client, the industry, stakeholders, the community and Aotearoa?  
• Your audience will be a panel of expert judges – have you written for your peers? 
• Does your submission provide an overview of the consulting work provided?  
• Does your submission clearly define the elements of recognition being sought?  
• How have the consulting services you have entered contributed to the outcomes? 
• Have you provided verifiable evidence as to why the consulting solution is better than business as usual?  

Appended material  

• Client permission – this can be a formal letter, email or other written permission from the client(s) and asset owner to enter the awards.  
• Multiple ACE member entry permissions – this can be a formal letter, email or other written permission from the ACE members confirming that the submission is a joint entry and confirming the percentage contribution to the consulting services provided. 
• Reports, videos or published papers should be included as a hyperlink to a source the judges can access until the awards ceremony (usually by the end of October). If a link cannot be provided for that duration, please email ACE Team Administrator Yasmin Rudman-Cruse at [email protected] to arrange an alternative.   
• You may include up to 15 pages of supporting photos, sketches, diagrams, drawings and other multimedia links. 
• We recommend a mixture of marketing (overview) photos and detailed photos – both will be of interest to expert judges. 
• Please include a minimum of six high resolution JPEG images we can use for public promotion of your entry – all other photos/media provided in this submission will be confidential to judges and ACE New Zealand for internal use only.
• Separately to your submission, ACE New Zealand will contact the marketing contacts you nominate to collect photos and other media content that may be used for public use and promotional purposes.
  
  

How we judge entries

Judging considerations 

Entries are judged using verifiable evidence from your submission, site visits, review of outputs and feedback from the client. Feedback may also be sought from the contractor(s), peer reviewers and other parties affected by or involved in the work.  

Judges do not make contact with you so make sure your submission includes all relevant information and tells the story of your excellence in consulting. 

Entries will be judged using some or all of the considerations below depending on the nature of the work.  

Entries are judged on the merit of the consulting service provided – they will not be ranked against each other.