Deadline: 20 January 2025
The Digital Leaders is inviting applications for its Impact Awards to celebrate digital innovations that improve people’s lives and the world around them.
This year’s awards are about embedding positive impact into their actions for the benefit of the environment but also the whole fabric of society.
So, in their ninth year, they have aligned their categories for 2025 more closely with ESG principles and values. This means their 12 awards – split between three central themes – will highlight the impact they need to see made using digital tools on the environment, society and governance (ESG).
Themes & Categories
- Environmental Impact Awards
- Their environmental category is focused on finding the individuals, products, services and initiatives that have utilised digital technology in forwarding an environmental agenda.
- These individuals and organizations will have created important benchmarking guidelines and environmental campaigns, directly mitigated negative climate externalities through methods of decarbonisation and fuel efficiency or have contributed to a circular and sustainable society.
- AI Initiative: The use of AI can be central to decision making and transferring aspiration into actionable plans. This award is for an initiative, service or product that uses AI and data to deliver an environmental impact.
- Environmental Impact Award: For the most significant positive environmental impact over the year.
- Sustainability Pioneer: Recognising individuals or teams who have implemented forward-thinking sustainability strategies.
- Tech for the Planet: This award recognises a digital product or service revolutionizing how society manages and understands environmental change or helping them adapt their working, living and consuming habits to reflect these changes.
- Social Impact Awards
- Their social category is dedicated to the work of creating a better society through alleviating existing problems of poverty and poor outcomes in health and education, whilst also reducing the negative outcomes that arise from the work of organisations. Finalist organisations will have made significant strides in creating fair and just outcomes for all through their use of digital technology.
- AI Inclusion: This award recognises an organisation, service or initiative that is using AI to enable digital access or working to reduce its unintended impact on socio-economic equality.
- Education Tech: This award is for an organisation or initiative leveraging technology to improve the quality of and or access to teaching and learning resources across different educational settings.
- Healthtech: This award is for a product or service using technology for better healthcare outcomes, improving the social determinants of health and promoting safety and wellbeing.
- Social Transformation: This award is for an organisation or initiative that is creating impactful digital solutions to social challenges and effecting positive change in the community and wider society.
- Their social category is dedicated to the work of creating a better society through alleviating existing problems of poverty and poor outcomes in health and education, whilst also reducing the negative outcomes that arise from the work of organisations. Finalist organisations will have made significant strides in creating fair and just outcomes for all through their use of digital technology.
- Governance Impact Awards
- Their governance category recognises the importance of new technologies in ensuring they can achieve ambitious ESG objectives, representation and inclusion at a senior organisational level, creating resilient organisations and industries as well as future-proofing and sustaining the livelihoods of all people. Organisational integrity, accountability and transparency are key to achieving these goals and their nominees encapsulate this.
- AI Privacy & Security Excellence: For strong governance in managing data privacy and AI security risks.
- Diverse Board Leadership Award: Recognising companies that champion diversity in their board composition, including gender, ethnicity, and experience diversity.
- Future of Work: This award is for a digital initiative that facilitates hybrid methods of flexible and participatory working or uses AI to create new and inclusive, sustainable pathways to access work.
- Resilient Innovation: This award is for a product or service increasing institutional resilience, adaptability and mitigating risks across supply chains, labour forces and organisational structures.
- Their governance category recognises the importance of new technologies in ensuring they can achieve ambitious ESG objectives, representation and inclusion at a senior organisational level, creating resilient organisations and industries as well as future-proofing and sustaining the livelihoods of all people. Organisational integrity, accountability and transparency are key to achieving these goals and their nominees encapsulate this.
Eligibility Criteria
- The Impact Awards are open to any UK registered or operating organisation or person – whether in the business, non-profit or public sector – with a tech-for-good product, initiative or service to make the UK a better place.
Judging Criteria
- Their panel of judges will shortlist the entries to 36 finalists in 12 categories.
- There will then be a second round of judging to decide on a single winner in each category.
- With the announcement of the 36 finalists, they will also open a vote, where their community will select a winner for the coveted Peoples’ Choice Award.
For more information, visit Digital Leaders.
