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Press Release: World Summit on the Information Society 2017 Prize Winners Announced

World Summit on the Information Society 2017 Prize Winners Announced

WSIS community recognizes 18 winners from around the world for achievements in supporting the SDGs




Geneva, 14 June 2017

ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao has announced the 18 winners of the WSIS Prizes at WSIS Forum 2017, taking place at the Geneva International Conference Centre. WSIS Prizes provides a platform from which to identify and showcase success stories across the 11 WSIS Action Lines defined in the Geneva Plan of Action. This year's theme focused on initiatives that also supported the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The awards are conferred through an open online voting process, which this year engaged over 300,000 stakeholders from around the world, with a record number 1.1 million votes cast by WSIS stakeholders. Nearly 500 projects were submitted by the WSIS stakeholder community, by far the highest number of submissions since the annual WSIS Prizes initiative was launched six years ago. From these submissions, 345 projects were nominated for the 2017 contest, reflecting both the prestigious nature of the award and the increasing role of ICTs in development strategies.

"The rich variety of winning projects recognized by WSIS Prizes 2017 demonstrates the varied roles that ICTs can play to support the SDGs," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. "These Winners and Champions represent the most innovative and successful ICT for development initiatives around the world, and exemplify the diversity of the WSIS multi-stakeholder community."

WSIS Prizes 2017 winners include government departments, international organizations, private sector companies, NGOs and academia. In addition to the 18 category Winners, are 72 Champions (the first four runner-up projects in each category).  

In line with the inclusive, multi-stakeholder character of the WSIS Process, the prizes recognize the outstanding achievements of a wide range of organizations. This year's 18 Winners, by WSIS Action Line, are:

Detailed descriptions of all WSIS Prizes 2017 winning projects are available at: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/prizes/2017/

Background

WSIS Prizes is an international contest developed in response to requests from WSIS stakeholders to create an effective mechanism to evaluate and recognize individuals, governments, civil society, local, regional and international agencies, research institutions and private sector companies for outstanding success in implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of ICTs. The WSIS Prizes contest is an integral part of the WSIS stocktaking process (www.wsis.org/stocktaking). The contest was held for the first time in 2012, and has rapidly gained attention and popularity within the ICT for Development (ICT4D) community.