Nominations
The Wired4Women Tech Forum is proud to be running its annual awards programme that aims to recognise and celebrate female excellence in the tech industry and encourage greater female participation, as well as provide role models for future generations to look up to.
The Wired4Women awards programme is run in partnership with ITWeb Brainstorm, and the winners will be announced at a prestigious awards ceremony in March 2025.
The awards showcase the impact that women are having on the South African tech industry, and the economy as a whole – from CIOs to those leading tech companies, from entrepreneurs to students about to embark on their careers.
There are 11 award categories, focusing on leadership, entrepreneurship, business acumen, community impact, and talent.
Nominations are open until 13 December 2024
Leaders of the year
Recognising a C-level executive leading IT strategy and execution:
In an end-user organisation
In a service provider organisation
Demonstrate:
- Excellence in strategy execution – turning technology vision into reality.
- Ability to effectively apply technology to support and enable business growth and give the organisation a competitive edge.
- Leadership capabilities, building high-performance teams.
Tech entrepreneur
Recognises an entrepreneur who has established a sustainable technology-driven business.
Demonstrate:
- Ability to identify and capitalise on an untapped market niche for a sustainable technology-driven business.
- Successfully turn an idea into reality, secure stakeholder buy-in and funding.
- Demonstrable milestones and growth figures showing tangible business impact.
Top Tech Innovator
Recognises an original thinker who has addressed a significant industry or social challenge through technology innovation.
Demonstrate:
- The significance of the challenge faced.
- The tech-driven innovation that successfully addresses the challenge. Provide details of the brainstorming process, number of people involved, innovative aspects, development processes.
- The measurement of success – provide tangible data.
Tech4Good
Honours the leader of an organisation, project or initiative that applies technology to address pressing social challenges.
Explain:
- The social challenge addressed.
- Details on the solution's development history, team involvement, funding, and technology used.
- The measurement of success – supply tangible milestones, growth data, and other indicators of success.
IT business development executive
Recognises a top performer in ICT channel management, excelling in driving tech adoption and sales growth.
Demonstrate:
- Ability to find and win new partners and clients in chosen technology field.
- How candidate has met key success metrics such as sales targets and sales performance history.
- Ability to align technology solutions with clients' business needs
Rising star – security
Recognises a rising talent, age 35 or younger, who has demonstrated remarkable career growth in the field of cyber security.
Criteria:
- Learning: Academic or professional learning in cyber security.
- Achievements: Evidence of professional development and key accomplishments.
- Career ambitions: Demonstrated goals and aspirations in the field.
Rising star – cloud
Recognises a rising talent, age 35 or younger, who has demonstrated remarkable career growth in the field of cloud technology.
Criteria:
- Learning: Academic or professional learning in cyber security.
- Achievements: Evidence of professional development and key accomplishments.
- Career ambitions: Demonstrated goals and aspirations in the field.
Rising star – Emerging tech
Recognises a rising talent, age 35 or younger, who has demonstrated remarkable career growth in the emerging technologies space.
Criteria:
- Learning: Academic or professional learning in cyber security.
- Achievements: Evidence of professional development and key accomplishments.
- Career ambitions: Demonstrated goals and aspirations in the field.
Top tech student
Recognises an ICT student excelling academically and in community leadership.
Criteria:
- Successful academic history: Provide evidence of academic success.
- Extracurricular engagement: Adoption and application of technology outside of studies.
- Leadership in student or community tech initiatives.
Mentor of the year
Honours a senior tech professional who has provided significant guidance to others.
Demonstrate:
- Mentorship scope: Number of mentees formally guided.
- Established plans, programmes, strategies for mentoring.
- Success metrics: How the candidate evaluates and measures mentoring outcomes.
Trailblazer Career in ICT
Honours a tech industry trailblazer whose distinguished career has made a lasting impact on the sector, community, and society.
Criteria:
- Excellence and sustained success throughout a career in technology.
- Positive influence on colleagues and peers.
- The impact the candidate has had in her community and society.
