Manchester Digital has launched 2017鈥檚 Big Chip awards to showcase tech excellence across the North.
Run by and for the industry, the UK鈥檚 longest running digital and technology awards are now in their 19th year.
They recognise excellent work across the North鈥檚 digital and tech sector; anywhere from the Scottish borders down to Derbyshire.
The awards, of which 老九品茶Cloud is a media partner, are noted for their consistent standards and the integrity of the judging process.
This year, there are three brand new categories 鈥� Big Chip Transformation Award, Big Chip IoT Impact Award and the Big Chip Leadership Award.
Entries will be judged by a number of the country鈥檚 digital and tech pioneers, led by design guru Malcolm Garrett. Some of this year鈥檚 other confirmed judges include Alastair Cole of The Engine Group, the BBC鈥檚 Bill Thompson, Herb Kim from Tech North and Caroline Gorski, Head of IoT at Digital Catapult.
Chair of the Big Chip Steering Group, Shaun Fensom, said: 鈥淭he North has done us proud again over the past 12 months by producing some of the most creative, innovative and commercially successful digital work in the UK and beyond.
鈥淓ach year our judges are more impressed by the standard of entries, which keeps on rising. Big Chip has always evolved along with the sector and this year we have added three new awards to the list – recognising leadership, digital transformation and the impact of IoT.
鈥淚 expect we鈥檒l see some familiar faces when we celebrate the winners, along with the best and brightest newcomers and rising stars.鈥�
There are 22 awards up for grabs in total spanning the entire digital sector, in areas including search, UX, gaming and animation, while rising stars will be recognised in the student and apprentice categories.
The Anthony Wilson award, judged by a special guest judge and the Grand Prix award will be chosen from the shortlisted entries in these categories.
The deadline for entries is Monday 13th March and the shortlist will be announced on Thursday 27th April.
Lawrence Jones, CEO of headline sponsor UKFast, added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a pleasure once again to be supporting the long-standing Big Chip Awards and to play a part in commending some of the best digital work in the North.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no standing still for the North鈥檚 digital sector, so we鈥檙e looking forward to seeing the incredible work being done by those businesses and individuals that are currently helping to drive this exciting industry forward further.鈥�
The Big Chip Awards will be held at Manchester鈥檚 Hilton Hotel on 15th June 2017.