Partner Article

Call for entries as Big Chip Awards get new categories and judges for 2015

The longest running digital awards in the UK, The Big Chip Awards, are back for another year and companies based in the North of England are being invited to enter.

Now in its 17th year, The Big Chips are set to be even bigger and better than ever before, with new additions to the categories and judging panel.

The awards, which are organised by the independent trade association for digital business in the North West, Manchester Digital, recognise those that have excelled in digital technology.

Northern-based digital companies and creative agencies, based from the Scottish Borders down to Derbyshire, are encouraged to enter, as well as any businesses or organisations that have undertaken digital initiatives in the past year, which can include everything from a company website to a mobile app.

For this year’s awards, there are once again a fantastic array of judges including Paul Fabretti (the digital and social media lead for Telefonica Europe), Daniel Nye Griffiths (contributing editor at Wired UK, regular contributor to Forbes.com and consultant for Wired Consulting), Dr David Kreps (expert on web accessibility and lecturer at the University of Salford), Bill Thompson (journalist and media commentator), Herb Kim (founder of the Thinking Digital conference), Catriona Campbell (founder and director at Seren), Jon Myers (vice president & managing director – EMEA for digital ad management platform Marin Software) Nicole Yershon of Oglivy and Alastair Cole (chief innovation officer at Partners Andrews Aldridge).

Furthermore, Malcolm Garrett has been selected as this year’s special guest judge for the Anthony Wilson Original Modern Award. Malcolm is a Royal Society of Arts fellow and visiting professor at UAL known for his graphic design work for a wide range of musicians, such as Simple Minds, Duran Duran and Peter Gabriel.

Having chaired the judging panel for eleven years, Michael Nutley, a specialist business journalist and consultant in interactive media and marketing, has now stepped down from the panel to be replaced by the new chair, Alasdair Scott, partner at next-generation mobile consultancy C3: Connected Cloud Communications and a Big Chip judge since 2009.

There are five new award categories for 2015 too – taking the award category count to 22. These include Best B2B E-business Project, Best B2C E-business Project, Best Use of Content Marketing, Most Innovative Application of Technology and Best Game.

The awards open for entries on Wednesday, 14 January 2015, with a launch event being held at the UK Fast offices in Manchester on Wednesday, 18 February 2015. Those wishing to enter the awards are invited to attend the launch event to find out more about the awards and network with last year’s winners, as well as the sponsors and judges.

Entries will close on Monday, 16 March 2015 and then the shortlist will be announced on Thursday, 30 April 2015. Following the success of last year’s awards, which attracted an impressive 308 entries from 160 different organisations, the 2015 Big Chip Awards dinner will again be held at Manchester’s historic Midland Hotel, where the winners will be announced on Thursday, 2 July 2015.

Chair of the Big Chip Steering Group and secretary of Manchester Digital, Shaun Fensom, said: “It gives me great pleasure to announce the 17th Big Chip Awards. We’ve got some great new categories and a fantastic judging panel of different industry experts, and so, we’re expecting plenty of entries.

“The Big Chip Awards is a brilliant platform to celebrate the excellence of the digital sector in the North. This wonderful part of the world is emerging as an important digital sphere and the awards celebrate this and the diversity of the sector.”

Entries can be submitted online at www.bigchipawards.com. The first two entries are free. Subsequent entries then cost £95. The closing date for entries is Monday, 16 March 2015.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by PR Agency One .