Leeds Digital Festival Awards: A Night for Inspiration
A special night for technology in Leeds. We continue to celebrate the fantastic entrepreneurship, progression and inclusivity of the Leeds tech scene.
A special night for Leeds' burgeoning tech scene
Last week the Leeds Digital Festival Awards facilitated the coming together of hundreds of people, representing numerous businesses across West Yorkshire. Showcasing the very best in our region’s technology, the awards bring businesses, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts together to appreciate local tech talent. Read our interview with Ad:Venture's Daneile Moore about supporting entrepreneurs here.
Taking place towards the end of the fortnight-long Leeds Digital Festival curated by Stuart Clarke of Paceline, the awards recognise hard work, commitment, and industry progression through various categories.
Hosted by ourselves alongside Law firm, Ward Hadaway, the awards offer a fantastic opportunity for businesses to grow and people to network. The event may only last one evening, but it provides a unique platform for people to connect all year round.
This year the volume and quality of the nominations were as high as they were impressive, making it more difficult than ever to shortlist and choose winners. “Each year the nominations get more and more difficult, and the quality this year was unbelievable” said Andrew Maeer, Founder and CEO of Amsource, opening the event.
Following on, Andrew emphasised, “These are the people’s awards. They’ll always be free to attend. They’ll always be free to enter. 99.9% of award ceremonies are purely for profit. These awards are about the people and the companies you work for, that’s really important to us.”
The awards, now thriving in their fourth year, aren’t solely exclusive to celebrating entrepreneurship. The Diversity and Inclusion award category is indicative of the encompassing objective of the awards – to empower people from all races, genders, sexualities, and backgrounds to thrive in the tech community. Read our interview with Panintelligence CEO, Zandra Moore, on the importance of Diversity and Inclusion here.
There was also a strong focus on levelling up our local community. Cleveland Henry from Leeds Community Foundation spoke about businesses using their positions to influence positive change. Leeds Community Foundation distribute vital grants and give trusted advice to voluntary groups/charities across Leeds and Bradford. Click here to get involved.
We also want to extend a huge thank you to all the event sponsors. It ensures the event remains free to attend and that’s incredibly important to us.
Well done to every single nominee, shortlist and winner. Continue to level up and we can’t wait to see how you’ve progressed at next year’s awards.
The list of categories, winners and sponsors are:
Tech4Good – Sponsored by SCC
GAMSTOP & The Data Shed
One to Watch – Sponsored by Little Agency
TruNarrative
Startup of the Year – Sponsored by Crisp Leeds
iatro.
Growth Company of the Year – Sponsored by Marsh Commercial
Force24
Best Tech Place to Work – Sponsored by University of Leeds
The Data Shed
Diversity & Inclusion Award – Sponsored by Panintelligence
Digital Access West Yorkshire
Thrive Award – Sponsored by BJSS
Incuto
International Award – Sponsored by Sedulo
Burendo
Entrepreneur of the Year – Sponsored by Ad:Venture
Lyric Jain - Logically