ISPA is once again calling on the public to share their views on who should be named Internet Hero and Villain at the 2016 ISPA Awards. The Hero and Villain are awarded to those who have done the most to help or hinder the internet industry in the past 12 months, and are seen as the highlights on the night.
The surveillance debate has dominated the shortlists in the last few years, with Home Secretary Theresa May MP named villain last year, with David Davis and Tom Watson MPs winning Internet Hero for their successful legal challenge against DRIPA. Previous nominees have included Ed Snowden, The Guardian and Julian Huppert MP, the Prime Minister of Turkey and Russia. However, we’ve seen massive strides forward with technologies, new ways of using the Internet and people defending digital rights.
Announcing the search, ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman said “The Internet Hero and Villain awards are how we recognise, in a light-hearted manner, those who have, for better or worse, haveimpacted on the UK Internet industry. We want as wide range of suggestions as possible, so call on the public for their help in getting their ideas across to us.”
Nominations can be submitted to ISPA via email (admin@ispa.org.uk) or via twitter (@ISPAUK) using the hashtags #InternetHero and #InternetVillain. The deadline to send nominations is Friday 10th June 2016.
The winners will be announced at the gala ISPA Awards ceremony taking place at The Brewery on Thursday 7 July 2016.
The ISPA Awards would not be possible without the sponsors and we would like to thank them for their support. Arista Networks are sponsoring Best Cloud Product, AVSystem is sponsoring Best Consumer Broadband, DrayTek sponsor the table pieces, Magrathea Telecom sponsor Best VoIP, Ruckus sponsor the Best Wireless award and Strategic Imperatives are sponsoring Best Consumer Customer Service. There are still a handful of sponsorship places available.
For more information, go to www.ispaawards.org.uk.
About the ISPA Awards
The 2016 ISPA Awards are the 18th Annual UK Internet Industry Awards and there are 50 companies nominated across 15 categories. Vodafone are leading the way with 6 nominations and Catalyst2, Exa Networks, Hyperoptic and Storm Internet have 4. The full list of nominations can be found here.
The ISPA Awards sponsors are Arista Networks, AVSystem, DrayTek Magrathea, Ruckus, and Strategic Imperatives.