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IIA open nominations for 10th Annual Net Visionary Awards
Nominations are now open for the 10th Annual Net Visionary Awards. These awards celebrate exemplary uses of the internet in Ireland. Nominations are welcomed from the public in 15 categories as varied as Best Business Blogger, Web Developer Excellence, and Innovation Award. A new category this year is Online Tourism Award sponsored by Fáilte Ireland which hopes to encourage Tourism SMEs to strive for excellence in their online business.
The process to become a Net Visionary is three fold: firstly nominations are welcomed from the public until 27th March 2009. Then five judges review all entries to create shortlists of four contenders in each category. Finally, from 13 April until 1st May 2009 the public are invited to vote for the shortlisted individual they think should be the Net Visionary in each category.
Fans of the Net Visionary Awards will note that the Awards are taking place earlier this year and are coinciding with the IIA Annual Congress, the premier national conference focusing on doing business online in Ireland. Irene Dehaene, IIA Events Manager, explains why the IIA have decided to bring these two key events together, "As a business association, we felt an event that celebrates online excellence but which includes plenary sessions, workshop style breakout sessions and web clinics reflected the association’s mission and goals. Including the Net Visionary Awards will allow delegates to celebrate the best in Irish business online while learning and networking as well."
Fergal O’Byrne, IIA CEO, encourages everyone to nominate the internet businesses that most impressed them in the last year, saying, "TThe internet offers all businesses in Ireland, regardless of size or sector, opportunities to cut costs, increase effectiveness, communicate clearly and, in some cases, to reach beyond these shores. Reviewing last year’s winners we see that much of their success is a result of having social media and its multiplier effect at their core of their business models. However we also see winners and runners up who are focused on internationalizing their business and who know there is no better way to do this than via the web. Many of our members report that they will continue with their internationalization plans regardless of the economic climate. No doubt we will see many of them nominated in this year’s Net Visionary Awards."
Nominations are now open at www.netvisionary.ie