Welcome to our post-event supplement for the fifth Insurance Insider Honours, which took place on the 8 September 2016.
When we were getting going on the preparations for this year's event, a sudden feeling of dread came over the team.
Well, it wasn't dread as such, more the sort of dry-mouthed hard swallowing that a stage variety act experiences when he looks at the programme and realises that he is scheduled to follow the star turn.
In the flush of the success of 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 we recognised that after such riproaring opening years, we had better be prepared to pull out a few showstoppers if we were to progress in 2016.
Happily, as the process has played out I have seen our events organisation team looking progressively more excited.
The truth is that whilst we put on over 50 events a year, most, whilst packed with industry leaders, exclusive content and invaluable insight from a professional perspective, could rarely be classed as "entertainment".
At the Honours, for once in the annual calendar, we are very much in the wonderful business of showbusiness - and it is all going to be so much bigger and louder than last year - hence the excitement for all concerned.
We gathered to celebrate excellence, great service, high achievement and variety, inventiveness and entrepreneurialism in our global sector.
These were abundant in the first four years of Honours entries and this year easily surpassed the high standards set by that quartet of outings.
On behalf of our world-beating panels of external judges (we had two this year - we assembled a special panel to judge our inaugural Honour for Inclusion and Diversity) I would like to thank all of you who took time to submit an entry.
Judging is an extremely difficult task and the quality and sheer variety of entries made this job even harder in 2016.
It is hugely encouraging to see so many companies and individuals striving for excellence and I was honoured to be able to celebrate that with you on the night.
I hope that as you looked around our superb circus-themed surroundings, effectively built from scratch, and as the gala evening progressed, you all felt rightly proud of our sector's achievements.
It is clear to me that The Insurance Insider Honours will build and grow to become the credible and enviable badge of honour in the global market that we all hoped they would be.
I hope you enjoyed the show!
To view our post-event supplement for the Honours 2016, please click here or on the cover image.
Mark Geoghegan
Managing Director,
Euromoney Insurance Group