The EN Awards will now take place in 2021, Mash Media has confirmed.
The event, which was originally due to run in March 2020 and subsequently postponed to 9 October due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, will now take place 5 February 2021 at Evolution London, Battersea Park.
Mash Media has also announced details of its Covid relief support package, in which exhibition professionals recently made redundant can partner with a ticket-buyer to avail a 50% entry discount.
Event director Duncan Siegle said the decision had not been taken lightly, and that preserving the “wonderful experience” the event brings the exhibitions industry was the main concern.
Siegle pointed to a lack of clarity from Government as being a major cause of continued uncertainty across the wider events industry.
“We were ready to host the EN Awards on 9 October, but we are not prepared to do so if it diminishes the awards experience,” Siegle said.
He added: “Our operations team attended two of the recent pilot events that were proposed to Government, and although the process is moving forward, we are still awaiting feedback. With this in mind, and the recent Government announcement, it gave us two options: to commit to running the live event that would risk being called off at the last minute, or to host it online.”
Siegle said that despite being a vital component for the delivery of news and education, online was not the right platform for a ceremony with the prestige of the EN Awards.
The current deadline for entries has been extended from 18 September to 20 November.
Siegle made it clear that when the EN Awards goes ahead, it must remain a high-quality event, and that no compromises should be made when rewarding the hard-earned expertise of the exhibitions industry. “Recognition and celebration is what we all need right now, but the awards signifies something much more important, it will give us a template and new starting point in which we can kick-start live awards in a face-to-face environment and not just with confidence, but with style,” he concluded.
To learn more about the Covid relief support package and for further ticket enquiries, email Duncan Siegle on dsiegle@mashmedia.net
