ICTA e-Swabhimani 2009 National Awards

Boosting e-content talents:

The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has launched a national contest in line with the internationally acclaimed World Summit Awards.

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) accorded accolades to Sri Lanka as the only developing country to win two world awards under the World Summit Award (WSA).

Parallel to WSA, ICTA has launched its local counterpart of World Summit Award 2009 and named it ‘e-Swabhimani 2009’.

The WSA had marked eight thematic areas under which countries could submit their e-content applications for the world awards. ICTA called for submission for ‘e-Swabhimani 2009’ under the same eight thematic areas.

The reason for sticking to the same thematic areas in the local counterpart contest is that e-Swabhimani 2009 could be a stepping stone to national nomination for the next World Summit Awards.

At the WSA 2009 two ICTA projects won awards in two of the eight thematic areas, one, under thematic area e-Government and Institutions and the other under e-Inclusion and Participation.

Recognizing the key role played by the ICTA in e-content development, the WSA has appointed the Agency as its National Expert for Sri Lanka.

Being mandated to lead the country in ICT and implement the e-Sri Lanka Initiative ICTA takes great interest in having the local talents in e-content recognised, encouraged, brought to the forefront and feted with appropriate awards.

Referring to the e-Swabhimani 2009 competition for which applications closed in last week ICTA’s Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura says that individuals, groups and institutions that have developed ICT content and ICT applications which are of benefit to society are encouraged to submit their applications for the e-Swabhimani awards.

The objective of the ‘e-Swabhimani ‘ award event is to promote creative ICT applications and to assess and appreciate at a national level the individual and institutional creators of such applications.

http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/09/21/bus24.asp