Award categories, nominees and winners of Institutional Investor News' Awards are determined by the editors of the sponsoring publication based in large-part on the market intelligence that they have gathered during the prior year in the course of covering their industry sector and publishing their newsletter.

Approximately four months prior to the awards dinner and ceremony, a 'Call for Nominations' is announced to newsletter subscribers and the industry sector at-large - via email and announcements in the newsletter - soliciting the industry's input. At the same time, editors will begin interviewing industry leaders to solicit their thoughts on potential nominees in each category. The editors will take the feedback that they receive through this process into consideration as they determine their short-list of nominees, which will be announced in the newsletter and via emails to the industry approximately two - three months prior to the awards dinner and ceremony.

Once the nominees have been announced, the industry will again be given the opportunity to articulate its support for specific nominees to the editors. The editors alone will decide the winners, who will be announced and awarded during the ceremony on the night of the dinner.

Awards are not based on market research, surveys or a voting process. Winners are not chosen based on the sheer volume of industry support, but rather on a number of factors including innovation, market impact, uniqueness of approach, and how well they met other criteria established by the editors for their award category.