Webit Awards25 April 2017

Best Use of Digital for Accessibility & Inclusion


Best Use of Digital for Accessibility & Inclusion is recognising technological solutions, that are improving the quality of life of people with mental and physical disabilities and are making products and services more accessible to them.

This includes various products, devices, services and applications that are targeted for the disadvantaged people and are emerging through the use of digital technology.

During the Webit Awards Ceremony, we will reward the Best Use of Digital for Accessibility & Inclusion both for Bulgaria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

Winner for Bulgaria

Listen Up Foundation
for: Online Platform for Equal Access

Finalists: Listen Up Foundation - Online Platform for Equal Access, Stackport - VAST SID

Winner for CEE Region

SignAll

Eligibility

This award category is open to all organisations that develop and deliver digital and technological solutions which address the needs of physically or mentally impaired people. Examples of such solutions would be vision free and touch free devices, input devices, movement and personal navigation devices, applications for social media and communities, speech to recognition or voice recognition solutions, Text-to-Speech or speech synthesizers/predictive text software, image recognition software, adaptive web browsers, screen readers and magnifiers.

The award entrants must demonstrate that the entry has been developed, operated or been available during and up to the end of 2016.

We welcome entries from the private sector. The following organisations are examples for eligible candidates, due to the nature of this award, it is by no means exhaustive:
- Application or Software Developers
- Manufacturers of mobile equipment & technologies
- NGOs, foundations, private organisations and Charities
- Handset, Tablet and other device manufacturers
- Consumer electronics equipment manufacturers
- B2C equipment providers, such as computer, signage, manufacturer
- Chipset & module manufacturers

Criteria

The winner will be selected according to the following criteria:
- Innovation in functionality and used technology
- Effectiveness: how does the solution benefit the targeted user in overcoming the obstacles related to the user’s disability and how does it enhance the daily life of the user
- User-friendliness and ease of operation
- Does it correspond to Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - “the design of products, environments, programmes and services to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design”
- Availability and affordability: multi-platform support, cost effectiveness compared to similar products, geographic & language support
- All entries must be operating and available during and/or until the end of 2016


Entry Deadlines & Key Dates

The Deadline for entries is Friday, 31st March 2017

Winners will be announced at the Webit Awards Ceremony in Sofia Tech Park on 25th April 2017