AIIA revamps its iAwards to include State nominees

The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) has revamped its iAwards, opting for a tiered structure that will now recognise both state and national winners.

“We’ve decided it’s about time we raised awareness of innovation of companies at the state level,” said AIIA’s CEO, Sheryle Moon.

Previously, only national nominees were eligible for the iAwards. The restructure has taken place to expand the iAwards profile across all of the States and provide a platform for the ICT industry to present excellence in innovation to broader mainstream audiences, Moone said.

“Our State and governmental agencies are the biggest buyers of ICT in Australia so it makes sense to recognise the bodies who are introducing innovative solutions,” she said.

This year, the awards and nomination process will pay special attention to environmental aspects of nominations across all categories, recognising energy efficient products and efforts to minimise our environmental footprint.

Winners of the national iAwards will be fed into the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA), an international awards program designed to increase information and communications technology (ICT) awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide across the Asia-Pacific region.

Nominations for next year’s iAwards open on January 14. The iAwards ceremony will be held in Melbourne on May 28, 2008.