IJInvestor is delighted to report that uptake for this year's awards has been impressive, but given the number of submitters seeking an extension, we have pushed the deadline back to midnight on Friday 9 October.

The soft deadline for submitting to the IJInvestor Awards 2020 was set for today – 2 October – but the intention was always to allow a week's wiggle room. You can submit for another week through the IJInvestor Awards 2020 portal.

We are building on the success of IJInvestor's inaugural awards ceremony last year, and look forward to celebrating the industry’s achievements again.

We have 27 award categories, but – given we cannot be accused of profiteering (as we can't charge for tables) and that it's a miserable year where we all need something to celebrate – we plan to slice and dice these categories to maximise celebrations... while also maintaining competitive tension, all of which is being judged by our independent panel of industry experts.

For example, for law firms – they will be judged on their involvement in challenging transactions that closed in the last financial year (April-March) and there will be a separate award for advising on infra funds' fundraising activity.

And then you have sectors which – for this year only – we will be breaking down across the regions... dependent on whether we receive enough submissions to allow this. For example, it there are a good number of deals in the transport sector across sufficient regions, we will create an award for, say, Global, European and Americas.

As for the time period, submissions must relate to events that occurred between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020.

We are once again including the popular Rising Star category and the Outstanding Individual Award while also rolling out 2 new categories:

• Market Innovation Award
• Re-defining Infrastructure Award

The main body of awards – published earlier this summer – includes:

• Best Oil & Gas Acquisition
• Best Social Infrastructure Acquisition
• Best Power Acquisition
• Best Utilities Acquisition
• Best Renewables Acquisition
• Best Transport Acquisition
• Best Digital Infrastructure Acquisition
• Best Refinancing
• Best Restructuring

The company categories are:

• Best Fund Performance
• Best Asset Performance
• Best Equity Fund Manager
• Best Debt Fund Manager
• Best Direct Investor – Debt
• Best Direct Investor – Equity
• Best Placement Agent
• Best Investment Consultant
• Best Financial Adviser
• Best Legal Advisor
• Best Technical Consultant
• Best Insurance Consultant
• Best Model / Project Auditor
• Best Rating Agency

Two online judging sessions will be held mid-October led by industry professionals operating across Europe and the Americas. The results will be published online and will feature in the IJGlobal Magazine which will be published mid-December.

You can read all about last year’s winners here and we look forward to celebrating with you soon!