Published on the 01/03/2016 | Written by Newsdesk
What do Xero, Phitek and Umajin all have in common? They were big winners at last year’s Hi Tech Awards. If you think you have what it takes to be the next big name, Chairman Wayne Norrie wants you to enter…
“Fame and glory could be yours,” Norrie says in a missive to likely contenders. Last year more than 150 organisations entered, including a good swathe of new entrants. This year Chairman Norrie and his colleagues are encouraging even more people to enter. They are even offering to help prospective entrants to work out which categories they should enter – just email them at info@hitech.org.nz or call them on 09 984 4140.
This year has a top line-up of knowledgeable judges. James Caan of Dragons’ Den fame will join Pascal Finette, Head of Entrepreneurship at Singularity University; Linda Jenkinson, Chair of LesConcierges; Rohit Shukla, CEO of the Larta Institute; Savannah Peterson, Director of Innovation at Speck Design, and 2014 Flying Kiwi recipient Dr Catherine Mohr as international judges for the 2016 NZ Hi-Tech Awards. They will join the existing judges Claudia Batten, Michael Boustridge, Katherine Corich, Pat Kenealy, Richard Keyse and Nick Lambert.
When the judges were announced Norrie said: “Any business awards, domestic or international, would be lucky to have such a line-up of global stars. We are delighted to have James, Pascal, Linda, Rohit, Savannah, and Catherine join our existing panel of international judges. These world class business leaders are busy people and it’s very encouraging that they are giving their own time to judge the Hi-Tech Awards. Their interest in New Zealand, our tech sector and the Awards is just amazing and a great reflection of the achievements of our tech companies on the global stage.
“As an industry we truly play on the global stage and contribute significantly to the New Zealand economy. The Hi-Tech Awards present a great opportunity for New Zealand technology companies to gain recognition for their achievements and to get their company in front of a truly world class group of business leaders,” says Norrie.
There is less than a week to go until the entries close at 5pm on Monday 7th March. Check out the categories and make a submission here.
