Got your 2012 calendars at the ready yet? If so, you might want to mark this down: the British Council of Shopping Centres is now taking entries for the Purple Apple Marketing Awards 2012.

There are a few deadlines to keep track of, now that entries are open. The organization will launch video presentations for prospective nominees in January. If you want to register for mentoring, you’ll have to do so by February 3rd. The absolute final deadline for all entries is February 17.

The hopeful among us may also want to prepare for the Awards Dinner at The Brewery in London – that falls on May 10.

If you haven’t participated in this awards program before, you should know that the BCSC Purple Apple Marketing Awards recognize and reward effective marketing in the UK. Entries are judged on their creativity, their planning and strategy, and their results and cost effectiveness.

If you’re planning to enter and your campaign has been featured in Shopping Center Weekly, Tactics Magazine or Marketing Trendz, get in touch if you need our help tracking down the article. So many of you deserve recognition for your great work. If you think you have what it takes, you can learn more here.

The South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) has a big event coming up: its Research Conference 2012. Future-minded individuals may want to take note, because this year’s conference is all about that future, surviving and thriving in it, that is.

Intrigued? Then mark down March 14 on your 2012 calendar and prepare to visit the Hilton Sandton in Johannesburg. There, you’ll find a packed day of forward thinking speakers, including Michelle Buxton, a regular contributer to our print publications. Discussion will address the consumer of the future and the affluent customer of today, new technology for market research, dealing with multi-channel retailing, and more.

There are also great networking opportunities planned, including an evening cocktail party (and it looks like registration includes a +1 for that part of the day).

If you’re interested, visit this site for more information and to register.

It seems like just yesterday we were telling you to register ICSC MENA, and now it’s come and gone. But in its wake it left all sorts of great news for a bunch of fantastic shopping centers.

The winners of the 2011 ICSC Middle East & North Africa Shopping Centre Awards have been announced. Among the winners are Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre, Al Wahda Mall, Marina Mall, 360 Mall and Designopolis.

Of particular interest to you, faithful reader, are most likely the winners of the marketing-related categories. The Cause Marketing silver and gold winners include these campaigns, as pitched by the centers:

Go Red for Women in Dubai at Deira City Centre

“Go Red for Women” is an international campaign to raise awareness about the risk of cardiovascular disease in women. The headline “This Not a Red Dress, It’s a Red Alert” was adopted by Deira City Centre and was used in all advertising and in-mall communications to connect and highlight the important message.

Transforming Lives with a Smile at Al Wahda Mall

Operation Smile UAE, initiated in Al Wahda Mall, transcended the usual definition of partnership, and defines a new concept of corporate social endeavours. The mall offered free retail space to Operation Smile for almost a month and launched a campaign to spread awareness and raise funds to benefit this charitable cause to provide children with cleft palates reconstructive surgery. The first of its kind, this charitable effort resulted in funds for over 50 surgeries.

The Digital Media Gold award went to Mall of the Emirates for its Style MOEments campaign:

“To foster a more intimate relationship with the youthful, techy and trendy, the mall decided to use Facebook as their interactive platform. The mall developed an application that enticed daily log-ins and repeat visits by offering beauty tips, fashion freebies and other offers, as well as competitions to win prizes. Since its launch, the mall’s Facebook page grew to have almost 10,000 fans and daily interaction created serious buzz as the campaign went viral with almost 100,000 impressions.”

And to all the winners, congratulations!

The Fusion Conference is no more. ICSC has discontinued it, recognizing the shift in the shopping center industry away from focus on development and redevelopment.

But don’t despair, you aren’t being left in the lurch and the U.S. MAXI Awards will still happen. Instead, they’ll be found at the NOI+ Conference, a brand new initiative from the organization. It focuses on increasing net operating income at existing properties with revenue generation techniques, a topic we can all get behind.

We’re short on details still, and we’ll get you more when we can. So far, we know that the NOI+ Conference will bring discussion on new methods of alternative revenue generation, proven ideas for operational efficiencies, the latest trends in social networking to connect with customers, and a lot more. It’s going to take place September 5-6, 2012, at the Peabody in Orlando, Florida. Mark your calendars.

There are big changes afoot in the shopping center industry conference circuit.

One of those changes is to the British Council of Shopping Centres ACE Awards. Normally those would be presented in February and we’d be reminding you to put your application together right about now, but because the BCSC SCM Conference and the BCSC Annual Conference have been merged going forward, those dates have been pushed back.

Now the ACE Awards, which recognize outstanding customer service on a mall-wide basis, will be presented at BCSC’s Conference and Exhibition, held 10-12 September 2012, at ACC, Liverpool.

That means you’ll be able to hold off entering until March 2012, so no need to worry about it this holiday season. That should be a relief during these busy times.