Now in their 15th year, the Leading Lights Awards are handed out each year to the cream of the telecoms crop. Fancy picking up a trophy this year because you've "knocked it out the park" in the past 12 months? Well, get a move on, because there are only days left to submit your entries.

The deadline for this year's submissions is Friday March 22, but don't panic -- the entry process is simple…

The first thing to do, though, is check out the categories, because, like the telecoms industry, there are significant changes to take into account.

In addition to the ever popular "Best Product/Service" awards and the range of categories that recognize outstanding developments in key areas such as 5G, security, SD-WAN, telco cloud/virtualization, test & measurement and edge computing, we've added two new categories:

The full list of all 22 categories, including descriptions, is right here.

For further details, including how to enter, and a link to our FAQ document, check out the Leading Lights 2019 home page.

Please pay close attention to the rules, and be sure to keep within the 300-word limit of the main pitch of your submission -- we'll be counting!

And here's a critical piece of information: Products, services and strategic directives must have been announced on or after March 1, 2018 to qualify for consideration. So if it was launched in 2015 (yes, you know who you are from last year…) or even in February 2018, then it won't qualify. So please be sure to read the guidelines and check the FAQ document too.

The awards are judged by the Light Reading editorial team with help from the Heavy Reading analyst team. The deadline for entries is Friday, March 22, 2019. The shortlists will be announced in early April and the winners announced at an awards dinner in Denver (further details to follow) on Monday, May 6, as a kick-off to our Big 5G Event.

And, as ever, as part of the Leading Lights process, we're seeking nominations for the Light Reading Hall of Fame, which recognizes those individuals, both the famous and the infamous, who have made a notable contribution to the global communications sector. Among those inducted in previous years are Steve Jobs, Bob Metcalfe, John Chambers, Brian Roberts, Kris Rinne, Martin Cooper, John Donovan, Mukesh Ambani, Irwin Jacobs, Larissa Herda, James Crowe, Niklas Zennström, Edward Snowden, Reed Hastings, Hedy Lamarr, Bernie Ebbers, Basil Alwan, Mark Zuckerberg and John Legere.

Check out our video announcing last year's Hall of Fame inductees:

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And to find out who picked up the Leading Lights trophies in 2018 and then had a few glasses of vino tinto too many at the awards party in Austin, see: