Judging of the Mindful Money Awards

Simply the best

The aim of the Mindful Money’s Ethical Investment Awards is to select the best funds or practitioners in each of the eight categories. This is important, not only as a way to celebrate and reward the leaders, but also to highlight best practice in funds management, financial advice and media reporting. Best practice standards are particularly valuable in a sector where there are too many unsubstantiated claims and confusion over what is really ethical, responsible and sustainable.

These awards have generated excitement and significance because of the integrity of the awards and the experienced judges involved. This has been built on two strong foundations – a robust judging process and excellent judges.

The process

The award entries are screened for completeness and provided to judges, together with the supporting documentation. The judges also receive background materials including the entry criteria, best practice guidelines and relevant research.

The decision was taken early on to include a mix of quantitative data and descriptive materials, recognising that many of the most important aspects of ethical practice are not able to be reduced to a single number. Standards questions are asked of all entrants, with an invitation to submit supporting evidence.

The judges are drawn from across New Zealand. A facilitator in each category provides a framework for discussing the strengths and weaknesses of all the applications and then ranking them according to their achievement of best practice against the criteria.

In the meetings there is an emphasis on using the judges’ experience and judgement, not just their initial scores, with active listening and engagement to reach a common position. Consensus is achieved through robust discussion and debate.

The Judges

Mindful Money’s CEO, Barry Coates, consults widely across the finance sector to find judges who meet the criteria of experience and skills; independence and avoidance of any conflict of interest in the category; and willingness to donate their time and expertise on a voluntary basis. With very few exceptions, all of those who are approached generously agree to participate as judges.

Mindful Money is hugely grateful to the judges for their integrity, insights and experience which make these awards so robust.