One week left to vote for HR director of the year at the 2013 HR Excellence Awards

It has been a challenging 12 months, but HR directors have risen to that challenge – and none more so than the 10 heads of HR shortlisted in this year’s HR Excellence Awards, which this year has learndirect as its first headline sponsor.

Our 2013 shortlist comprises HRDs who have helped their boards through difficult financial times and aided in creating conditions for performance turnaround; who have taken brave decisions when reorganising HR delivery to generate huge cost savings; who dealt with unionised organisations at times of wage pressure and who have developed and implemented frameworks to reverse declining engagement and reduce employee attrition.

They have been at the forefront of examining the future world of work; of creating working environments that encourage diversity; in helping young people develop skills through apprenticeships; and in proving the business case for the adoption of employee ownership models.

Each of the HRDs on our shortlist has shone in their very different industry sectors and each has demonstrated excellence in HR.

The shortlist for HR director of the year is:

Liz Bingham, managing partner, people, Ernst & Young

Richard Crouch, head of HR and OD and communications, Somerset County Council

Tanith Dodge, HR director, Marks and Spencer

Neil Morrison, group HR director, Random House Group

Toby Peyton-Jones, director of HR, Siemens UK & North West Europe

Alex Rickard , Head of employee proposition, Towry

Sarah Salter, group HR director, Northumbrian Water

Louise Smalley, group HR director, Whitbread

Gillian Taylor, senior vice-president - HR executive, MBNA Bank of America

James Watts, vice president, HR, KFC UK and Ireland

Now it is up to you, our readers, to vote for the overall winner.

To register your vote, please follow this link

HR magazine would also like to thank our category sponsors for the awards:  10Eighty, HFI, Iddas, Nottingham Business School, HR Legal Service and Mastertravel.