The annual ICE Awards and ICE Week were forced to go fully digital this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
ICE Week, which ran from 6-9 July and saw keynote speeches from in-house planners at Cisco, Philips and Sapphire, culminated in the online ICE Awards on 9 July.
An international audience was able to tune into the awards via a Zoom link, with technical assistance from DRPG. Attendees were also sent an ‘ICE Pack’ prior to the event with cocktails, after-dinner treats and other giveaways, to emulate the live awards.
The winners of the night included Equinix for ‘Best Motivational Event’ and ‘Best International Event’ for its Equinix Connect 2020 event, and The Big TV Festival 2020, a collaboration between ITV, Channel 4, Sky and in partnership with Thinkbox won 'Best Leadership Event'.
Barclays also took recognition for its Green Frontiers 2019 event, which won 'Best Sustainable Event', and HSBC picked up the 'Best Sponsorship Activation'.
“The standard was so high this year, and the events represented the very best of our industry in what has been a really horrible year,” Anita Howard, founder of the ICE Awards said.
“We wanted to reflect their efforts by making this a digital showpiece and the response has been fantastic, I can’t thank the entrants, the sponsors and our judges for making it all happen.”
In other categories, the ‘In-House Team of the Year’ went to Fremantle for its Fremantle Presents 2020 event, while Royal Bank of Scotland won the Logistical Challenge of the Year award for its Money Talks event programme.
The 'Best Agency Collaboration' went to a partnership between Co-op and Fresh at the Festival of Farming, and the 'Most Disruptive Event' went to Philips for its Philips at IFA 2019 event.
Emma Little, CEO and founder of ExecSpace, and one of the judges for the ICE Awards said: "The ICE Awards is a fantastic initiative, celebrating the achievements and hard work of our corporate in-house event planners.
“I was really chuffed to be asked to be a judge this year and thoroughly enjoyed reading and reviewing the interesting submissions. Congratulations to all the winners.”
The ceremony began with an opening announcement from Howard about how the evening would work. Attendees were then hosted on ‘tables’ via online breakout rooms where they were encouraged to make their cocktails and network.
The evening culminated in a ‘Best Bread Bun’ contest and plenty of happy in-house corporate event planners.
All of the ICE Week content is available to watch here.
The full list of winners and runners-up:
Best Motivational Event sponsored by Visit ScotlandWinner: Equinix for Equinix Connect 2020
2nd place: Stroke Association for UK Stroke Assembly
3rd place: KFC UK&I for RGM Fest
Best Leadership Event sponsored by GES
Winner: ITV, Channel 4 and Sky in partnership with Thinkbox for The Big TV Festival 2020
2nd place: Equinix for Equinix Connect 2020
3rd place: Bayer for Rhythm Bayer
Best Sponsorship Activation sponsored by Barbican
Winner: HSBC for Sibos 2019
2nd place: Barclays for Barclays Sponsorship of Superhero Tri
3rd place: BNP Paribas for Tennis Sponsorship Activation - Fever-Tree Championships 2019
Best Sustainable Event sponsored by DRPG
Winner: Barclays for Green Frontiers 2019: Breaking New Ground
2nd place: HSBC for Sibos 2019
3rd place: BBC for BBC Showcase: Tuesday Evening Event, Perfect Planet
Best International Event, sponsored by ACC Liverpool
Winner: Equinix for Equinix Connect 2020
2nd place: IFS for IFS World Conference 2019
3rd place: Fremantle for Baywatch 30th Anniversary Celebration
Logistical Challenge of the Year sponsored by Hawthorn
Winner: Royal Bank of Scotland for Money Talks
2nd place: Queen Mary University of London for Offer Holder Day
3rd place: Barclays for Obsessed TV
Best Use of Technology sponsored by Cvent
Winner: IFS for IFS World Conference 2019
2nd place: Barclays for New Frontiers 2019 - Transforming Lives and Industries
3rd place: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and GES for World Energy Congress 2019
Best Digital Event sponsored by Eight PR
Winner: Queen Mary University of London for Offer Holder Day
Most Disruptive Event sponsored by DRPG
Winner: Philips for Philips at IFA 2019
2nd place: Roche Products Ltd for Roche January Meeting
3rd place: Barclays for Obsessed TV
Best Agency Collaboration sponsored by ACC Liverpool
Winner: Co-op and Fresh for Festival of Farming
2nd place: Bayer for Rhythm Bayer
3rd place: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and GES for World Energy Congress 2019
In-House Team of the Year sponsored by SEC
Winner: Fremantle for Fremantle Presents 2020
2nd place: ABI for ABI Annual Conference 2020
3rd place: BBC Studios Events for Showcase, MIPCOM & Seven Worlds, One Planet
A desire to travel led Holly Patrick to the business meetings and events world and she’s never looked back. Holly takes a particular interest in event sustainability and creating a diverse and inclusive industry. When she’s not working, she can be found rolling skating along Brighton seafront listening to an eclectic playlist, featuring the likes of Patti Smith, Sean Paul, and Arooj Aftab.
