After a successful first run that included a marketing agreement with industry educational association BICSI, the Cabling Icon contest is set to kick off for a second time, scheduled to culminate once again at BICSI’s Winter Conference. The contest, run entirely online, seeks to identify the most-skilled cablinginstallation technician based on the evaluations of a set of judges combined with online voters.
The winner is guaranteed a cash award of at least $5,000 as well as the “Golden Punchdown” award plaque and a leather vest embroidered with the Cabling Icon logo. Additionally, the winner receives an expenses-paid trip to BICSI’s Winter Conference, which will be held in Tampa, FL January 20-24, 2013. Organizers of Cabling Icon will pay for the winner’s travel, hotel and meals for the duration of the conference, and will also pay the winner one week’s worth of wages. Additionally, the winner will have the opportunity to apply to participate in BICSI’s Cabling Skills Challenge, held during its Winter Conference.
The contest, open to anyone 18 years of age or older, is organized and funded by Concert Technologies, whose president, Dennis Mazaris, developed the idea in 2011. Mazaris encourages participation for anyone who “has the drive, skills and talent to compete against other competitors from around the world,” he said when announcing the contest details.
This year’s contest will follow a similar format to last year’s and will be organized at a dedicated website, cablingicon.com. Contestants enter by submitting a written application along with a video, no more than two minutes in duration, describing why they believe they are worthy of gaining the status Cabling Icon. Those who make the cut move on to one or more subsequent rounds of competition in which they demonstrate installation and/or termination skills, again on video. Judging-panel rankings as well as online voting determine which contestants move on to each round. The final round is an interview-style video in which the judges ask questions, providing the contestants with an opportunity to describe their working styles, methods of job training and preparation, and overall professional demeanor.
About the online format, Mazaris noted, “Running the contest through social media, Cabling Icon allows participants a high level of exposure that, years ago, was only available from the participation in large-production TV reality game shows. With the audience, contestants and promotional partners involved and interacting on so many levels, all participants will see a benefit to Cabling Icon—not just the winner of the contest.”
Promotional opportunities are available to companies and individuals; all fees paid by promotional partners go directly to the cash award that the winner receives. Through Cabling Icon’s marketing agreement with BICSI, the association offered a scholarship seat to a BICSI ITS Cabling Installation Program course in the event the contest winner does not hold either the BICSI ITS Installer or Technician credential. If that is the case, and the winner successfully completes the course and passes the associated exam, the contestant then would meet the qualifications to apply as an applicant into the Cabling Skills Challenge.
Entry applications and videos must be submitted by October 1. More detail is available here at the cablingicon website.
Organizers created a two-and-a-half-minute video detailing this year's contest and highlighting last years. A still image from that video is at the bottom of this page. You can watch the complete video here.
