The online nomination (application) for the fifth edition of the ICT Award - a prestigious award in the information technology field in Nepal- has started from today. The online application for the ICT Award 2020, organized by ‘Living with ICT’ in collaboration with various government and private organizations, will be open till July 31.

The ICT award has been delayed for some time this year due to the crisis and impact caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The award ceremony, which is held on August 17 every year, will be delayed for some time this year. Final date of the award will be announced after looking at the favorable time and situation after the deadline for online application is over.

This year, ICT Award will be organized in 11 different categories. The Innovation Driven Crisis Response ICT Award and the Woman Icon ICT Award categories have been added this year. Similarly, Startup ICT Award, Product ICT Award, Rising Student ICT Award are the awards categories related to innovations and startups. Likewise, Pioneer ICT Award, Nepali Diaspora ICT Award, ICT Entrepreneur Award and Media Person ICT Award are given to individuals. Similarly, Digital Governance ICT Award and Digital Education ICT Award are given to government organizations. The ICT Award, which started in 2016, has so far honored more than 30 individuals, organizations, companies and products in various categories.

Last year, the Startup ICT Award was received by E-Digital Nepal and the Product ICT Award was received by Mediflow Systems and Services. Similarly, the Rising Student ICT Award was received by Raktadan-Blood Donation Project. Likewise, Mahabir Pun was felicitated with the Pioneer Award, Dr. Sameer Maskey with Nepali Diaspora Award, and Amit Agrawal with ICT Entrepreneur Award. The Digital Governance Award was received by the Public Service Commission and the Digital Education Award was received by the Nepal Open University (NOU). The Public Choice Award went to Kitabyatra and the Media Person ICT Award went to BijayTimalsina.

This year, there are 12 jury members and 10 more jury advisory members to make the selection process of the award systematic and easy. The selection process will take place at different stages. Online and SMS voting will also be conducted by selecting the best 5 from different stages in startup, product, student project and innovation, while in other genres, the jury group will conduct the selection process at different stages. We will be preparing to make the ICT Awards, which has been conducted in a fair and systematic manner, more sophisticated and prestigious. The selection process will also be more technology-friendly this year due to the Coronavirus crisis.

In order to nominate and apply for the award, you have to visit the websiteictaward.org and select the relevant category and submit the online form. When submitting details in the form, you are requested to include any video content that reflects the profile of the nominee. Interested applicants should submit their application within 31 July 2020.