CRM Writers' Awards 2017: winners announced

It's time for the Big Reveal. We've counted your votes. The judges have made their decisions. The only thing left is for us to tell you which of our talented shortlistees triumphed in each category. 

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We don't go in for dramatic, reality TV-style build up here at Discover CRM - so without further ado, the results are as follows:

Best vendor blog

• Gold: PowerObjects
• Silver: SuperOffice
• Bronze: ProsperWorks and Bullhorn (joint)

Best independent blog

• Gold: Neil Parkhurst
• Silver: Beagle Research Group
• Bronze: Sales Hacker 

Best writer

• Gold: Denis Pombriant (Beagle Research Group)
• Silver: Vanessa Hunt (Vanessa Hunt Consulting)
• Bronze: Shayla Price

Best article

• Gold: 'Informed buyers are forcing sales and marketing to finally unite' - Vanessa Hunt
• SIlver: 'Blockchain: CRM's next frontier' - Denis Pombriant
• Bronze: '7 ways CRM software can be used outside of sales' - Jessica Barrett Halcorn

Congratulations to all of our winners - the field was certainly a tough one, and standing out both to our judges and the voting public was not an easy task. 

We'd also like to thank all our shortlistees - without the depth of talent presented to us in these awards the judging process would have been neither as difficult nor as enjoyable. You can view the shortlist and read work from all of our shortlistees at the bottom of this article. 

About the awards

As one might expect for a space frequented by content marketers, the CRM blogosphere is crammed full of top writing talent. Surprisingly, this is rarely celebrated in any sort of official way.

The CRM Writers’ Awards are designed to change this. Run every year, they recognize the brightest, most switched on bloggers, writers and journalists working in the CRM industry, with prizes available across the following four categories

• Best vendor blog
• Best independent blog
• Best writer
• Best article

We’re about celebrating the best and most informative CRM writing from all sources - from those who write for vendor blogs to industry analysts and commentators (and everyone inbetween!). The awards are closed for this year, though keep an eye out for 2018 entries in twelve months' time. 

Criteria

We accept a wide range of content for these awards, as long as it falls within our set of criteria. These are:

• All content must be vendor neutral - advertorials, web copy or press releases are not admissible
• All content must have been created within the past 12 months (April 2016 - present)
• All content must be freely available to readers online. Downloadable content like whitepapers can qualify, so long as it meets all other criteria.

Writers whose blogs are nominated in the blog categories are also welcome to submit work to be considered for Best Article and Best Writer.

How the winners were decided 

The winning entries were decided by a mixture of judges’ decision and public vote. The public vote constituted a third of the final decision, with the judges' decisions  contributing two thirds.

CRM Writers' Awards shortlist

Best vendor blog

• Salesbox
• SuperOffice
• The Bullhorn Blog
• PowerObjects
• ProsperWorks
• HubSpot Sales Blog
• Marketcircle

Best individual blog

• neilparkhurst.com
• CRM Switch
• Sales Hacker
• Destination CRM
• Small Business Trends
• Nick Baggot's CRM and Digital Marketing Blog
• Beagle Research Group

Best writer

• Denis Pombriant (Beagle Research)
• Gabrielle Hughes (ProsperWorks)
• Vanessa Hunt (SalesMethods)
• Brent Leary (Small Business Trends)
• Shayla Price
• Imad Alabed (Aptean)
• Jennifer Lund (SuperOffice)

Best article

• 'Blockchain: CRM's next frontier' - Denis Pombriant
• 'A data-driven guide to email marketing strategy' - Steven MacDonald
• '7 ways CRM software can be used outside of sales' - Jessica Barrett Halcorn
• 'Paul Greenberg of the 56 Group: CRM, customer engagement and customoe experience aren't one in the same' - Brent Leary
• 'Informed buyers are forcing sales and marketing to finally unite' - Vanessa Hunt
• 'Is it time for your CRM system to evolve?' - Imad Alabed
• '7 awful first sentences that are killing your outreach emails' - Aja Frost