It’s been said before on many occasions, but it’s worth saying again that a year appears to pass in the blink of an eye when there’s lots going on. It seems like only yesterday that Waters launched the Sell-Side Technology Awards in New York, when attendees were introduced to former New York Yankees pitcher Tommy John.

Now, some 12 short months later, we can legitimately claim to have covered America’s three most popular sports and pastimes, which are closely linked to the city’s three most recognizable sports teams: baseball, by virtue of Tommy John; football, thanks to the presence of ex-New York Giants linebacker Carl Banks at last year’s American Financial Technology Awards; and finally, basketball, thanks to the ever-popular John Starks.

This year we also witnessed many new faces in winners’ circle: GoldenSource, (data management, and product of the year), smartTrade (automated trading platform), OpenGamma (market risk), Thomson Reuters (data provider), Software AG (complex-event processing), Nasdaq OMX (datacenter provider, and surveillance product), Saxo Bank (outsourcer), Citicom (compliance), and AlphaSense (analytics).

But perhaps the biggest surprise was not a company winning a particular category, but rather one that didn’t win a category with which it has become synonymous over the years: Markit. While it would be foolish for anyone to conclude that Markit’s near decade-long stranglehold on the data management category in the Buy-Side Technology Awards and Sell-Side Technology Awards is over, clearly competition in this space is intensifying. What’s also clear is that when it comes to Waters’ various awards programs, there are no easy wins—this is not the egg-and-spoon race at kindergarten where everyone gets a prize just for entering.

I am grateful to this year’s judges for all their time and advice: David Easthope of Celent, Fred Ponzo from GreySpark Partners, David Saul of State Street, Todd Berlent from Cantor Fitzgerald, and four of my Waters colleagues: Anthony Malakian, James Rundle, Jake Thomases and Tim Murray. Anthony (AM), James (JR), Jake (JT), Tim (TBM) and I (VBA) produced the winners’ write-ups.

2014 Winners:

Best Sell-Side Front-Office Execution Platform ─ Bloomberg

Best Sell-Side Automated Trading Platform ─ smartTrade Technologies

Best Sell-Side Market Risk Product ─ OpenGamma

Best Sell-Side Credit Risk Product ─ Numerix

Best Infrastructure Provider to the Sell Side ─ BT Radianz

Best Cloud Provider to the Sell Side ─ BT Radianz Cloud

Best Sell-Side Data Management Product ─ GoldenSource

Best Data Provider to the Sell Side ─ Thomson Reuters

Best Sell-Side Complex-Event Processing (CEP) Technology ─ Software AG (Apama)

Best Sell-Side Trading Communication System ─ IPC

Best Sell-Side Mobile Initiative ─ Pershing

Best Sell-Side Trading Network ─ SunGard

Best Datacenter Provider to the Sell Side ─ Nasdaq OMX

Best Outsourcing Provider to the Sell Side ─ Saxo Bank

Best Sell-Side Reconciliation Platform ─ SmartStream

Best Sell-Side Compliance Product ─ Citicom

Best Sell-Side Market Surveillance Product ─ Nasdaq OMX (Smarts Broker)

Best Sell-Side Web-Based Development Environment ─ Caplin Systems

Best Implementation at a Sell-Side Firm ─ Torstone Technology

Best Sell-Side Newcomer (Vendor or Product) ─ Markit

Best Sell-Side Analytics Product ─ AlphaSense

Best Smart Order Routing Product/Tool ─ SunGard

Best Overall Sell-Side Product of the Year ─ GoldenSource EDM Platform

Best Sell-Side Technology Provider of the Year ─ Markit