OpenUK, the non-profit that champions the business of Open Technology - open hardware, open software, and open data - has launched its annual OpenUK Awards, with the support of media partner The Stack -- recognising UK leadership in Open Technology.
Nominations across eight categories close at 11.59pm on 13 June 2021. Get yours in!
OpenUK awards categories
The 2021 OpenUK awards categories include -
- Hardware – sponsored by The Stack
- Software – sponsored by GitLab
- Financial Services – sponsored by FINOS
- Sustainability – sponsored by Centre for Net Zero
- Belonging Network – sponsored by Osmii
- Young Person (under 25) – sponsored by JetStack
- Individual – sponsored by Open Source Connections
There is also a category for open data, which will recognise openly licensed data management, machine learning, AI projects and open data sources. The judges will consider novel contributions to the state of the art, projects with wide adoption or impact as well as community and collaboratively developed projects, whether commercial or not.
Previous category winners including lowRISC, 2020's open hardware champion; the National Library of Wales -- recognised for its pioneering use of open data to boost community engagement; Isovalent's Liz Rice, who was awarded for her commitment to open source; and Josh Lowe, editor of the micro:mag community. The largest pool of entries in 2020 was for the Young Person Award, won by Josh, which focuses on individual achievement in the 18-25 year old age group and likely to be hotly contested in 2021.
No doubt a difficult job for the judging team led by CNCF's Katie Gamanji.
The Awards follow on from the 2021 OpenUK Honours List where 100 Influencers, including Tim Berners-Lee and Jimmy Wales were recognised with an Honour from OpenUK. The Awards offer an opportunity for individuals, projects and businesses in this space to call out their own achievements and those of others, within this apparently thriving UK community. OpenUK's policy work has included a three phase report, "State of Open". Phase One recognised the UK as Europe's leader in the space of open source software, so we can expect to see plenty of potential candidates in the UK.
You can submit your nominations today here.
