WHILE competitors for awards may gain the spoils of victory, the lot of the judges is trying work, although not without its own rewards.
The head of the research and testing division of the Consumer Council of Hong Kong, Connie Lau, who has also served on various government committees and working groups on consumer matters, has twice been appointed a judge in the annual awards, most recently in last year's Quality Category.
'The adjudication is quite serious. In the Quality Category, a lot of groundwork is done on contestants and there is an external assessment for the [Industry] department in addition to the panel of judges,' she said.
'We undertake visits to the companies to perform an overview of their operations, visiting each and every factory and speaking to top level management about their systems.
'It is quite hard work and the visits and tours take a number of days, after which we make our own reports on each company.' Ms Lau said the standard of entries had improved markedly in the years since the inception of the awards.
'The competition is very fierce, with a lot of companies working well within the quality culture,' she said.