The South African CSI Legacy Awards nominations are now officially closed.  Once again, we are humbled (even though I hate this word) by the number of nominations, as well as the types of entries that have been nominated for this second edition of the awards.

Those of us who attended the launch awards early this year remember how incredible they were – from attendance to the quality of the awards, in particular the leaders in CSI South Africa today.  The Awards bring together the best decision-makers and social entrepreneurs, members of government, captains of industry, academics, and a whole host of industry players.  They showcase the best in CSI South Africa today.

I had to disagree with one of the country’s leading CSI heads because, when I asked them to partner with the awards, they said they did not like the idea of a competition.  I argued, ‘It’s not a competition – it’s a learning platform where we learn from over 90 companies about what they are doing right now in CSI.’

I explained, ‘It’s a platform where we can understand how to approach our development.  It’s a place where we see the best models, the best structures, the best systems that are truly changing the way we should be doing CSI. It’s a one-of-a-kind opportunity that cannot be missed by anyone who is serious about doing CSI in South Africa.’

I continued, ‘The CSI Legacy Awards give us a wider vision – a vision that guides us towards doing better CSI.  And, along the way, we have to reward, acknowledge and appreciate those who are leading the way towards that vision.’  So, to look at the awards as a competition is truly a narrow way of looking at the awards.

The blind adjudication process

With that said, at this stage the blind adjudication process is now under way.  Our adjudicators have confirmed their availability and will begin adjudicating from next week Monday.  The adjudication process will take 14 days – and then the finalists in each category will be announced.

• Best Corporate
  • Best NGO
  • Best Rising NGO
  • Best NGO
  • Best CEO (New Category)
  • The Editor’s Award

Please stay tuned and watch this space to learn within the next 20 days who the finalists for the awards will be.

The Best CEO Award

I am even more excited to announce that we have added a new category to the awards –the Best CEO Award.  It will go to a CEO who is socially conscious about giving.

When CSI divisions have a CEO who is passionate about more than just profit – and also passionate about seeing the social and economic upliftment of communities, it has a magical effect on those CSI divisions.  CEOs who go out of their way to engage in the CSI programmes of their companies in one way or another inspire their CSI divisions to be more passionate, innovative and effective.

This award also looks at how the CEO integrates with and encourages government focus areas, and drives towards a better and more thriving economy in their policies and workplace.

Partners in each category

Once the finalists have been selected, we will open doors for partners to advise us of their willingness to engage in each of the 6 categories.  Our partners from 2022 were the Road Accident Fund and Old Mutual Insure.  The awards will be held on 14 March 2023 as part of the Colour Summit.