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Save The Date

The Debt Review Awards Annual Gala will be broadcast live over YouTube this year on September 10th. All are invited to tune in and attend.

The Annual Debt Review Awards Gala is usually a small black tie event held in a Major SA city around the middle of the year. Due to the Pandemic and Lockdown last year (2020),  the event was moved online and was held in September. This year, the event will also be held on line due to Covid-19 precautions (they can’t even keep Covid out of the Olympic Village). Due to the hard hitting 3rd wave this seems most prudent.

Zak King, Founder of the Awards and the Editor of our Debtfree Magazine says: “We really look forward to being able to spend time together again at the next Awards. By then we expect to see large numbers of vaccinations country-wide and hopefully much lower infection rates. For now, we have decided to be cautious and focus our efforts online.”

 

Friday Afternoon Fun

The annual Peer Review process has been underway and the results of those reviews will be shared on the afternoon of September 10th. It is a Friday afternoon and the event should close around 4 pm, to enable those who have to travel to do so at their normal times.

“Last year many of the larger credit providers’ entire debt review teams were able to all log in, some over a group zoom with screen share and others individually on their own devices, and enjoy the show,” says Zak. “We hope that this year we will see the same level of engagement. It is actually great that more people than ever can get a piece of the excitement live on the day”.

The audited peer review results will be announced during the afternoon show which will also feature speeches and presentations, entertainment and updates from the NCR and others. There will also be a pre-show from mid morning which will feature in-depth interviews and group panel discussions about hot industry topics (for those who work in the industry). These will also be available to enjoy on the YouTube stream.

Dressing Up & Ordering Out

In 2020, many of the guests were able to get dressed up (like Corrie above) and enjoy some takeaways or specially prepared snacks and drink while they sat back and watched the show. Some offices, where teams were working in person with good social distancing, were able to organise safe ways to enjoy the show together. Lots of people had fun dressing up and submitting selfies during the show (there are prizes for the best dressed). 

“It was really great to see the industry pulling together during a rather tough time. It gave us a sense of being in it together and making the best of a very hard situation,” says Zak.

Where Can You Find The YouTube Link?

Closer to the day, there will be email reminders going out from the Awards team and from the various PDAs and Debt Counsellor (and CP) associations. These emails will have a link that can be followed to tune in on the day. There will also be posts here on www.debtfreedigi.co.za and on the Debt Review Awards website www.debtreviewawards.co.za.

Both the Awards team and us here at the Magazine will be sharing links on our social media pages.

If you would like to check out the YouTube Chanel in the meantime you can click through HERE.

With The Help Of The Sponsors

There are some significant costs involved in running peer reviews throughout the year and then putting together the online live show. None of that would be possible without the help of those within the industry who sponsor the event. Sponsors for the process this year include: Hyphen PDA, Capital Data, Slipstream, African Bank, Steyn Coetzee Attorneys, Kemp De Bruyn, ONE, ABSA, Standard Bank and others.

Zak says: ” We really could not do it, at the level we have been able to achieve, without the help of the sponsors. Their sponsorships during a time when many companies are having to tighten the budget strings shows their commitment to helping the entire industry excel and improve.

We also have to take a moment and thank the Debt Counsellor associations, credit provider associations, the PDAS and of course the National Credit Regulator. It really is an industry-wide effort to showcase those individuals and companies who are working so hard to help consumers deal with their debt in one of the hardest times in recent history”.