NBQSA – National ICT Awards holds judging process online successfully

The NBQSA – National ICT Awards, the apex platform to showcase the most deserving Sri Lankan ICT products, successfully held its judging process online this year, in the backdrop of pandemic-induced challenges.

This was the first time in the 23-year history of the awards that BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section was challenged to rely entirely on online judging. However, the judging sessions were successfully concluded with the able assistance of the eminent panel of judges.

Undaunted by the record-breaking number of applications received, with over 300 submissions this year, the eminent judges comprising experts from academia, the industry and ICT professional bodies served with commitment, investing their time, effort and knowledge to ensure the success of the unbiased process.

As NBQSA 2021 Chief Judge M.G. Tillekeratne outlined, for the first time in NBQSA history, the NBQSA 2021 entertained over 255 competing ICT products which included 170 entries from commercial categories and over 85 from tertiary and post-graduate categories. 

“Despite the prevailing pandemic situation, we were able to conduct the main event, i.e. the judging event, very successfully thanks to the online judging system which enabled us to conduct all preliminary and main judging sessions in full virtual mode using Zoom. This is also a remarkable achievement in terms of reducing the carbon footprint of the event significantly where not a single piece of paper was used right from the application calling to the collating of final results. I am sure that this year’s event will be yet another memorable milestone of the NBQSA journey and the effort put in by the BCSSL team and the Panel of Judges is invaluable,” he asserted.

NBQSA Deputy Chairman Lasith Gunawardena stated: “This year’s judging sessions were held completely online, spanning three weekends with 65 Judges attending the sessions. Each panel consisted of five Judges carefully chosen from industry and academia with over 15 years of experience. Participants were required to play a product demonstration video of up to 10 minutes, followed by a 10-minute live Q&A with the judges. To support participants and judges we arranged two online helpdesks. I would like to thank all the Judges for spending their precious time serving in this national endeavour.”

Recognising their dedication, BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section held an online appreciation event in the form of a virtual get-together for the panel in mid-September, thanking them for their unstinted support.

Transparency and discipline have been hallmarks of the NBQSA – National ICT Awards judging process throughout the years, due to which the awards are held in high esteem both locally and globally.

The rising number of applications over the years is ample testimony of its popularity and appeal and some of the prestigious companies in Sri Lanka are amongst the applicants this year as well. The best among 19 categories will be feted at the 23rd NBQSA – National ICT Awards which will be held on 15 October.

The NBQSA journey is a proud initiative of BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section as a means of giving back to the ICT industry of Sri Lanka. It has grown by leaps and bounds, commencing with not more than 20 applications in the first year and now recording over 300 – all the more remarkable given the ongoing global pandemic and resultant challenges.

The awards provide a platform to recognise indigenous IT innovations in order to stimulate the economy and workforce development.

BCSSL Secretary Vajeendra S. Kandegamage stated that the NBQSA judging was carried out via the ‘i-judge’ evaluation system, initiated in 2013 and further developed by BCS Sri Lanka Section over the past several years. 

“Since 2015, the system has been used internationally for APICTA (Asia Pacific ICT Alliance) awards. In 2020 SGTECH, the premier trade association for the tech industry in Singapore, requested to use i-judge for their Techblazer awards – Singapore’s National ICT Awards competition. From 2019 onwards APICTA agreed with us to use i-judge as the official evaluation system for the APICTA Awards. This year we have further expanded to cover the National ICT Awards in Malaysia using i-judge and we are getting inquiries from other countries in the region as well,” he revealed.

Since its inception in 1998, the NBQSA – National ICT Awards (formerly known as the ‘Best Quality ICT Awards’) has been the only national competition of its type held in Sri Lanka for the ICT industry, providing a unique platform and opportunity to display and benchmark local ICT talents to the business industry and the world.

While pride of place is given to local ICT products, the competition also presents the ‘ICT Lifetime Achiever Award,’ ‘ICT Entrepreneur of the Year Award,’ ‘Public Sector Most Outstanding ICT Achievement Award’ and ‘Best Digitisation Process Enabler Award’. Enabling and encouraging the youth, NBQSA also recognises young local talent who are innovators and entrepreneurs in the making and awards students who have showcased exceptional achievements in ‘Technology Usage’ as well as ‘Business Potential’.