Living With ICT has extended the nominations for the ICT Award 2024 (2081) which started effectively from Shrawan 1st. Nominations are still open in 14 categories for the award which is popular as the country’s most prestigious award fair in Information and Communication Technology.
The organizer of the award, Living with ICT has added a new category Social Innovation ICT Award 2024 this year. Prior to this, the ICT Award had added the Professional Excellence ICT Award in 2023.
The annually hosted award honors remarkable products, innovations, startups, and the individuals behind them. In addition to the individuals, the award also confers recognition to digital services of the government and private organizations.
The South Asia Startup Award category introduced in 2022 for South Asian startups gets its continuity in the 2024 edition.
As usual, the winners’ selection goes through dozens of pre-events, 30+ meetings of the selection process, and other processes. Every year, the organizer emphasizes making the awards as fair, transparent, and competitive as possible.
Organizer Razan Lamsal says that the organization has spent six months preparing this award. Likewise, he shared that this edition will comprise over 15 jury members and over 10 jury advisors.
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AI comes to the Awards
The website of the ICT Award has been integrated with an AI chatbot. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, the chatbot can be used to query information on the award’s application process, jury, and other relevant updates. The chatbot is available at the right corner at the bottom of the website.
ICT Award 2024: Group A, Group B, and Group C categories
The ICT Award 2024 will present awards in 14 categories which are also categorized into three categories- Category A, Category B, and Category C. Here, we illustrate them more.
Category A includes startups, innovations, and products. The category, comprises the Startup ICT Award, Product ICT Award, Rising Star Innovation ICT Award, and Social Innovation ICT Award. The organizer says that the nominees must register applications in these categories by themselves.
Similarly, Category B consists of nominations on the basis of contributions made to society and the nation through ICT. This category comprises the Professional Excellence ICT Award, Pioneer ICT Award, Entrepreneurs ICT Award, Woman Icon ICT Award, and Nepali Diaspora ICT Award. Unlike Category A, individuals can register their applications themselves or get nominated by others.
Finally, Category C includes nominations based on the efforts and practices of government and private organizations in digital transformation. It has the Digital Education ICT Award (Public Sector), Digital Education ICT Award (Private Sector), and Digital Governance ICT Award. It also consists of the Digital Services ICT Award.
In the meantime, the South Asia Startup ICT Award is an international award. This category accepts nominations from startups from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal. This category has received continuation for two years now. An international jury has been formed for the selection of awards in this category.
How to apply for the ICT Award 2024 and the deadline
Living with ICT accepts online applications (nominations) for all award categories from today (Shrawan 1, 2081). Interested candidates can visit www.ictaward.org and apply for their nominations in the award.
Likewise, the ICT Award has extended the deadline for nomination after considering the nominees’ needs in different categories. Now, applicants can register nominees in Group A categories such as Startup, Product, Rising Star Innovation, and Social Innovation till Sunday, Bhadar 23.
Similarly, nominations in Category B and C for Nepali Diaspora, Entrepreneurs, Professionals, Women Icon, Pioneer, Digital Education, Digital Services, and Digital Governance are open till Bhadra 31. At the same time, nomination in the South Asia Startup ICT Award category has been extended till Ashoj 30.
Previously, the last date for nomination was Bhadra 15.
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All 14 categories of ICT Award 2024
ICT Award 2024 is honoring brilliant ICT minds and products in 14 categories. The Social Innovation ICT Award category is the new one for this 9th edition. Here are all those 14 categories:
- Startup ICT Award 2024: This category is for companies working in IT products, services, and innovation. Two important criteria apply to this category. Firstly, the participating company should be in operation according to Nepal’s prevailing laws. Secondly, it must be in operation for up to 5 years to be eligible.
- Product ICT Award 2024: The Product ICT Award accepts applications from IT and innovative products developed by a Nepali company, organization, group, or individual. Products launched in 2080 B.S. are eligible in this category.
- Rising Star Innovation ICT Award 2024: This category allows under 30 college or university students to nominate their industry project research, ideas, innovations, and products.
- Social Innovation ICT Award 2024: This new category promotes innovations in the social sector. Innovations and digital projects that contributed to a positive impact on society and the nation are eligible for this category. Initiatives used for the past 5 years by development partners, social organizations, and social entrepreneurs will be included in this category.
- Professional Excellence ICT Award 2024: Added last year, this category accepts professionals with a minimum of 5 years of experience and significant contributions in the ICT field.
- Pioneer ICT Award 2024: This award recognizes senior individuals with a distinct contribution to the ICT field. For this category, one can nominate themselves or others can also nominate them.
- Nepali Diaspora ICT Award 2024: This category recognizes individuals of Nepali origin living abroad who have contributed to entrepreneurship, the digital economy, society, and the country through ICT.
- Entrepreneur ICT Award 2024: Nepali entrepreneurs active in the ICT field are eligible for an award in this category. A candidate must have at least 7 years of experience as an ICT entrepreneur.
- Woman Icon ICT Award 2024: Targeted at Nepalese women active in the information and communication technology sector, this category allows entrepreneurs, leaders, professionals, and women who have made exemplary contributions in the ICT field to register their nominations.
- Digital Education ICT Award (Public Sector) 2024: It recognizes public and community educational institutions that have helped modernize education through ICT. Institutions demonstrating exemplary work in teaching, learning, and management can register their nominations.
- Digital Education ICT Award (Private Sector) 2024: Just like the public sector, this award aims at private educational institutions that have made education modern and technology-friendly using ICT infrastructure and tools.
- Digital Governance ICT Award 2024: Government institutions, authorities, departments, agencies, or local bodies that have digitized government services and promote e-governance through technology-friendly services for citizens can register their nominations in this category.
- Digital Services ICT Award 2024: This category accepts nominations from private sector institutions, companies, and organizations that are providing digital and online services to the general public. Companies providing digital services to the public, except major IT and software companies, are eligible for nominations in this category.
- South Asia Startup ICT Award 2024: This international award accepts nominations from South Asian countries. Startups from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and Nepal are eligible for this category. But the nominee Startups must be up to 5 years old.
The ICT Award which began in 2016 AD continues to get more refined and expanded each year. Since 2023, the organizers have started the Provincial ICT Startup Recognition that honors the best startups across all seven provinces. This year too, a startup feat will be organized giving platforms to startups from all the provinces and the best from each province will be recognized.
For any queries on the ICT Award 2024 nominations, categories, or anything else, leave a comment below in our comment section.
