We simply call it “the binder.”
It’s like calling War and Peace a novella, or The Irishman a short film. After going through hundreds of Top 40 nominations, we whittle it down to about 100 finalists and send those applications to the judges.
While some like to get them electronically, some still choose to get the printed versions. So, we put the pages and pages and pages and pages into a hefty binder. It’s the kind of binder where you have to be careful turning the pages, because it’s so packed it feels like the rings are going to give way.
We love using Top 40 Under 40 alumni as our judges. And, after receiving the binder and going through the nominations, a lot of them have these two simple words for us: “Never again.”
Still, we are able to find judges. Heck, some Top 40s even volunteer to do it.
Heather Thomson is the vice-president of strategy, research and engagement at the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, and was a Top 40 in 2023. She was on the judging panel this year. When she got the binder, in order to keep it all straight, she started putting colour-coded tabs throughout the pages.
“It was massive,” she said on our podcast, Edify Unfiltered. “I think it’s the biggest binder you can buy.”
While there is a scoring system in place — ranging from community involvement, professional success and a “wow” factor — the magazine gives the judges a lot of leeway when it comes to assessing the submissions.
“Every judge does it differently and I think that’s the beauty of it — you guys do not prescribe how we go through and make this [decision],” Thomson said. “There’s no instructions on how to do this and so I started to find my own rhythm and my own vibe. And, essentially, what you realize when you go through every single applicant is that they’re all so incredibly impressive.”
Find the tab for our Unfiltered podcast at the top left (or in the hamburger menu) of this page or any other on EdifyEdmonton.com. Subscribe!
This article appears in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Edify
