Awards season may be in the rearview mirror, but here at Channel Partners and Channel Futures, it stretches into the summer and beyond.

Channel Futures on Tuesday released its annual MSP 501 list that ranks the top 501 managed service providers in the world. In what was a year of record-breaking interest in applying for the MSP 501, we attracted a 35% increase in applications from the previous year — 35%! That jump is even more impressive considering the fact you have to do much more than just enter a company name and an email to become eligible; we ask for financial information and require MSPs to verify their revenue.

So in other words, this was a more competitive process than ever before. Recognizing that, we’ve established a brand-new 501er Community, which recognizes a wide swath of IT service providers that have helped us grow the MSP readership on our two brands and want to engage in conversations that propel them forward into “the new channel.”

This year’s MSP 501 honorees get an award package that includes the MSP 501 winners logo; a press release template to announce the win; suggested social media posts; and a Q&A form that winners can return to the MSP 501 editorial team. It might be used as the basis for a company profile. We’ll follow up soon with the winners of divisional lists such as MSSP, SMB and MSP by region — they’ll get separate additional packages.

We look forward to celebrating the 2019 MSP 501 at the second annual MSP 501 Awards and Gala at Channel Partners Evolution, Sept. 9-12, in Washington, D.C.

You can access the 2019 list of MSP 501 companies here.