The "Oscars" of higher education, online.
▶ Watch · THE Awards 2025 highlights
In short —
Translating a glitzy in-person dinner into a virtual celebration is one of the harder pivots in the awards world. THE turned to a long-time technology partner — and got more than 50% live chat engagement across 1,800 attendees.
The brief
Times Higher Education (THE) had hosted a significant number of virtual summit events since the initial COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020. But transforming a glitzy, in-person dinner and awards ceremony into a virtual celebration was a different challenge altogether.
This was only the second year for the THE Awards Asia, although the THE Awards have been running in the UK since 2005 and are widely referred to as the Oscars of higher education.
"We knew that a virtual awards ceremony could never fully replicate the excitement of a live experience, so our focus was on engaging the audience through the content, and delivering networking opportunities. Awards on this scale could not take place without the support of sponsors."
David Suter · Special Projects Manager, THETrusted partner
5 years of Evessio behind the entries, judging, and ticketing.
Awards-specific
A platform built with awards organisers in mind.
Brand fluency
Evessio knew the THE portfolio inside out.
Sponsor ROI
Real interaction with attendees in a virtual environment.
From partner to Awards Room
THE's existing virtual event supplier was unable to offer the specific requirements an awards ceremony needs. The team turned to Evessio — already a long-established technology partner.
For nearly five years, THE had used Evessio for its awards submission and judging process, and later in the cycle for ceremony registration and ticketing. So when a trusted supplier with deep awards-specific expertise was developing a virtual platform from scratch, THE was immediately interested.
Specialist tools for specialist moments.
From the demo onwards, the Awards Room felt like a fit. Not only had the platform been developed with awards organisers in mind, but Evessio specifically demonstrated a knowledge of THE's brand and events portfolio.
The numbers from the night
Both events were highly successful for THE. With several hundred logging in for the THE Awards Asia and around 1,800 for the THE Awards, the chatroom facility was incredibly lively across the two ceremonies — with more than 50% of all attendees actively engaging.
Straight from the room
What the team and winners had to say.
Evessio offer exceptional customer service — response times are incredibly short.
It is hugely reassuring to know you have a supplier who feels like an extension of your team.
The whole team could witness the announcement simultaneously from their homes.
It was a wonderful night — we interacted across our virtual table.
The data and what's next
An excellent, highly detailed post-event report was provided very quickly after the events concluded — giving the THE team real insight into attendees' activity and engagement. Alongside that came a full public chatroom transcript from each event, allowing THE to follow up on questions or comments that may have been missed in real time.
The pandemic has probably changed events of this kind for good. Although people will always want to gather and celebrate together, the hybrid model is clearly going to grow. Find out more at theawardsasia.com and the-awards.co.uk.
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