The TechNet Guru Awards celebrate the technical articles on TechNet, contributed from valued wiki authors like YOU!

Each month, the contributions are scored by a panel of judges (5 per category, 2-3 in each are MS experts), and the winners of each category are showered with love and attention from all corners of TechNet.

 

The September results are in!  With 18 new SQL Server related TechNet entries, the competition for the September TechNet Guru was very tough!  Here are the final results.  Congratulations to all winners!

 

Guru Award  Transact-SQL Technical Guru - September 2013  

Gold Award Winner

 

 Saeid Hasani Structured Error Handling mechanism in SQL SERVER 2012 Richard Mueller: "Useful tutorial with lots of examples and very good links. Excellent comparison of THROW and RAISERROR." 
Jinchun Chen: "Nice article. Thank you for the sharing." 
Ed Price: "Incredibly well formatted with images, code, and explanations. And great interactions in the comments, making the improvements suggested by Naomi. " 
DB: "Useful, clear and accurate guidance on error handling" 
Samuel Lester: "Great coverage of different techniques, challenges, pros/cons. Well done, very informative, and easy to read."

Silver Award Winner

 

 Stefan Hoffmann SQL Server XML: Sorting Data in XML Fragments Samuel Lester: "Interesting problem space and outstanding write-up/solution!" 
Richard Mueller: "I especially liked the use of FLWOR. Great links." 
Jinchun Chen: "Good." 
Ed Price: "Naomi described it well in the comments: "Great article - very interesting!" The formatting on the comments and sections is really well done!"

Bronze Award Winner

 

 Ronen Ariely T-SQL: Using Bulk Insert to import inconsistent data format (using pure T-SQL) DB: "Good, detailed on advanced XML Format Files" 
Richard Mueller: "Very interesting with some good tips. I liked the detailed steps. Good links at end. Grammar and spelling need work." 
Ed Price: "A lot of great detail!"


Some outstanding pieces above, really worth a read. Thank you all so very much for your time and generosity in sharing these with the SQL community. Also a big thanks to SathyanarrayananS & DIEGOCTN who JUST missed out in the month's votes. It was very close as we had some superb work from everyone in the SQL category in September.

 

Guru Award  SQL Server Database Engine Technical Guru - September 2013  

Gold Award Winner

 

 Shanky Understanding Lock Escalation DRC: "I was able to repro the lock escalation even at 5000 rows The reasons and threshold for Lock Escalation are documented here
Jinchun Chen: "Nice article." 
Samuel Lester: "Great investigation and summary of a complex topic broken down in a practical way. I really like the way you explained your test scenarios, the results, and future research that you'd continue to do. A great concept and use for TechNet Wiki!" 
Ed Price: "Great explanation! Thanks, Shanky!"

Silver Award Winner

 

 SathyanarrayananS SQL Server Performance tuning with Indexing Ed Price: "This is a great Q&A and resource list! An innovative use of TechNet Wiki that is very helpful for people searching on this topic! As DRC mentions, it would be even better to include the query info in the article. Great job!" 
Samuel Lester: "Outstanding collection of resources, links, and explanations! I can easily see this as a section to a future database engine reference guide. " 
DRC: "The topic covered is very broad.  It would have been more appropriate to test the queries (along with the expected output) and mention it in the article instead of pointing to 3rd party sites. It clearly summarises the topic and provides links for the related topics.  "

 

Only the two entries for this category, but both deserved winners, thanks to both of you for entering articles in this category and looking forward to seeing if anyone else has anything to offer in the coming months.

 

Guru Award  SQL Server Reporting Services, Power View, & SQL Server Integration Services Technical Guru - September 2013  

Gold Award Winner

 

 SathyanarrayananS SSRS - Multi-valued Parameter as Stored procedure Input Jinchun Chen: "It can be a workaround for using Multi-Value parameter in subscriptions" 
Richard Mueller: "Amazing solution. I had to puzzle over this one for some time." 
Ed Price: "It's a tough race this month, but this article is very detailed and features great interaction in the comments!"

Silver Award Winner

 

 SathyanarrayananS SSRS - RDL Compare Ed Price: "As Saeid wrote in the comments: "WOW! It's a nice solution." Great code formatting and images!" 
Richard Mueller: "Very interesting with a good example. This could prove useful in many situations."

Bronze Award Winner

 

 SathyanarrayananS SSRS (Matrix) - How to Repeat Headers on Each Page and Keep Headers Fixed while Scrolling Peter Laker: "Very nice work" 
Richard Mueller: "Good instructions with a clear example."

 

Guru Award  SQL Server Analysis Services, PowerPivot Technical Guru - September 2013  

Gold Award Winner

 

 Olaf Helper PowerPivot: Query Power Pivot DMV's with VBA Ed Price: "Important topic, great formatting, and I love having the links in line to the parent topics (like how the Power Pivot link in the first line goes to the Power Pivot wiki topic)." 
Richard Mueller: "Excellent overview of the subject, with great links."

Silver Award Winner

 

 MnisharMSDN Profile MDX & SQL  queries from SSRS Ed Price: "Great formatting, and very easy to follow! The images help take you through the full story." 
Richard Mueller: "Could use more cross links."

Bronze Award Winner

 

 ShankarGS SSAS: Custom MDX Query for Excel Filters Ed Price: "Great topic with thorough steps to take!" 
Richard Mueller: "Needs more explanation."

 

Thanks,
Sam Lester (MSFT)