Here are the results for the BIAZA awards for 2011, the ceremony being held at Twycross zoo this year. http://www.biaza.org.uk/resources/library/images/awards 11 abstracts.pdf
Having reviewed the awards I've got to say there's a, not unexpected, whiff of politics in there. Whilst I'm sure all the recipients of awards carried out work of some merit it seems to me there's a little bit of "everyone gets something/spread the awards around" mentality. I also can't quite see why Himalaya (opened Easter-ish (?) 2010) got an award re 2011, unless it was because the awards were held at Twycross. Personally I think London's Penguin Beach, which actually opened in 2011, was considerably better (better interpretative material by far -Twycross is not even close in this respect, in fact I'm struggling to think where their labelling & facts for the Snow Leopards are?).
I had only limited experience of the BIAZA awards during my time in zoos but from what I recall the zoos have to nominate themselves for awards-they have to put together an application of some kind with details of the project and justifying why it should win. My experience was on the education/conservation side though and it was a while ago so it might be different for exhibits. If its the same still then I would guess it takes time to put the nomination together so maybe theres a delay time between an exhibit opening and being entered for an award?
So does this mean BIAZA allocate the awards based on applications received rather than visiting and assessing the exhibits themselves? I'm not criticising the process if this is the case (though I do think it would diminish the awards for exhibits a little) as I can understand there might be practical/logistical problems otherwise (especially, for instance, judging conservation/research which might be completed) but I am keen to understand the process.
