International Digital Media Experts Judge United Nations Digital Awards in Hong Kong

International Digital Media Experts Judge United Nations Digital Awards in Hong Kong

The best websites, apps, games and platforms from 105 countries evaluated by expert international jury

April 12, 2011 (HONG KONG) Advances in digital media can help bring an end to poverty, hunger and disease, while providing education for all, saving the environment and giving a fair share to women.

The World Summit Award (WSA) is celebrating these very advances in Hong Kong this week, fulfilling a mandate issued by the United Nations to highlight the best technological advances that address these vital issues in support of its millennium development goals.

“The WSA is a global initiative to help bridge the content gap by selecting and promoting creative content and innovative applications,” said Mr. Alex Hung, Chairman of the WSA Grand Jury 2011 Organizing Committee in Hong Kong.

The WSA brings together a multitude of experts from all continents with backgrounds in the creative industries, telecommunications, advertising, journalism, research and engineering, representing 32 countries, including Ghana, Tunisia, Ecuador, New Zealand and Russia. They were tapped to name winning media entries in eight categories, such as entertainment, business and education.

Catherine Warren, President of FanTrust Entertainment Strategies and one of the jurors naming winners from among 460 websites, apps and games submitted from 105 countries, is providing the Canadian and U.S. perspective in picking top “digital media for a better world.”

“The WSA is more than just a celebration of technological progress in the digital media industry,” Warren said. “It’s about recognizing the innovative ways companies from around the world are using social media to positively impact those most in need.”

Warren, who is also an executive board member of the World Summit Award, provided insight on mobile entertainment and apps as part of the expert roundtable.

While in Hong Kong, the WSA jurors also met with local companies, institutions and government. The events included a reception at the premises of the Consul General of the Republic of Austria to Hong Kong SAR Gerhard Maynhardt, where consuls from several countries met with the jurors to discuss implications of media transformation in their home countries.

“It is not technology itself that changes the world; it is the use of technology and content,” said Prof. Peter A. Bruck, chairman of the WSA board. “We need to narrow the digital divide between those who have and those who have not. It is not only an access and cost divide, but also a skill and content divide.”

Different approaches to topics ranging from social media to mobile apps and cloud computing were presented to the public during the jury’s opening conference.

The jury runs until April 14th evaluating the submissions to the World Summit Award from all over the world.

The winners of this global UN-mandated initiative to select and promote the world’s best digital contents will have the chance to present their projects, network with business partners and meet other experts in the field of ICT at the WSA 2011 Winners event in the Fall of 2011.

About the WSA

The World Summit Award (WSA), organised by the International Center for New Media (ICNM) in Salzburg, was started in 2003 as part of the UN’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It is a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best e-Content and innovative information and communications technologies applications; to date more than 160 countries are actively involved. Through national pre-selections and contests and a global jury process, WSA demonstrates the local diversity and rich creativity of ICT use. WSA is a global hub for everyone who values the crucial importance of local content to make today’s information society more inclusive.

For further information, go to www.wsis-award.org or contact wsa@icnm.net.

For names, positions and professional details of all jurors go to: www.wsis-award.org/contest/jury