I found this rather amusing. The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) gives out roughly 70 technology awards each February in a very wide range of categories. One of those categories is “Best Business Intelligence or Knowledge Management Solution”. This year Business Objects is one of the 5 finalists in this category, so BO put out a press release touting this ‘prestigious’ award. However if you look at the other 5 finalists you won’t find any of BO’s traditional competitors, like Cognos, Hyperion and Actuate. This made me wonder how products get nominated.

So I checked the guidelines on the SIIA website and found that all nominees are self nominated, and pay a fee for the privilege of being evaluated. I also called one of the competition administrators and asked if any of BO’s traditional competitors had nominated themselves this year and was told that they had not. The only nominees that they can confirm are the 5 finalists, but I was told that there were 22 entrants in the BI/KM category. Of course no one can confirm this independently because only the names of the finalists are ever released.

I also read on their site that they ‘reserve the right’ to cancel any category that has less than 10 entrants. But nothing says that they have to cancel a short category. So it is entirely possible that the 5 finalists in any category are actually the entire list of nominees. This doesn’t stop the finalists from bragging about their awards. A quick Google search of the words “CODiE Award” returned pages that were almost exclusively press releases by the winners and finalists – all touting their prestigious award.