There's more time: Enter the 20th Annual Leading Lights Awards by June 28

The outside temps are heating up, and the buzz is building for Light Reading's 20th Annual Leading Lights Awards. You may think I'm writing to nudge you to enter now, and I am, but I'm tempering that message by reminding you that you've still got plenty of time. Don't panic. Don't rush.

You will want to enter before the final deadline on Friday, June 28. That's several weeks away and leaves lots of time to research your product's origin story, talk to stakeholders in your company, vet your best execs for our Executive of the Year category and work with your colleagues who craft your company's annual report to make the best case possible for your firm to win Company of the Year.

The trade show season has slowed down. We're heading into a slightly calmer period between Memorial Day and Labor Day so spend a little extra time getting your entries ready for this year's big awards.

We revamped our categories to honor the best in our industry and mirror the latest innovations: From AI use cases to cloud product innovation (and much more), the Leading Lights showcases the best organizations, teams and individuals paving the way in telecommunications.

Some of our new and previously popular categories include:

We're also excited for our audience to nominate and celebrate the sharpest people and teams in the industry. So please consider the Executive of the Year and Company of the Year categories for those making a real impact. You can't win if you don't enter.

In recent years, we've had an amazing group of Leading Lights winners, covering just about every type of company in the global communications industry. Winners like Calix, Tarana Wireless, ZTE, Ciena, BT, SK Telecom, EnterpriseWeb and Amdocs are excellent examples of companies with leading products, standout services and compelling technology use cases that are making a difference.

And, as a reminder, Light Reading editors don't work in a vacuum. All submissions are read carefully and judged by some of the best analysts and respected executives from Omdia, Ookla, Opensignal, Vertical Systems Group, Core Analysis, Heavy Reading and Dell'Oro Group, just to name a few. These are the folks we tap for industry knowledge and info, so we know they know their stuff.

Okay, that's enough for now. You've been kind to read down this far. But, I'm serious – participating in Leading Lights is a big way to stand out in a crowd and give your company and colleagues bragging rights and a content catalyst for several months. It's never been a more worthwhile investment to compete to be a category finalist or one of our 20 winners during this special anniversary season.