NBQSA 2012 Participants and Judges Briefing

The participants briefing of National Best Quality ICT Awards ( NBQSA) 2012 took place on 09th August at the Mini Auditorium of University of Colombo School of Computing with the presence of around 75 participants. NBQSA 2012 will culminate in a Gala Event held at Hotel Galadari on 19th October 2012.

Representatives from BCS The Charted Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section ( BCSSL) as well as participants of the Commercial Categories took part. NBQSA 2012 comprises of 19 categories, ranging from Applications and Infrastructure Tools to In- House Applications. This year NBQSA has introduced two new categories, “Green IT” in order to award products which adhere to the Green IT standards and “Best Post Graduate Student Project Award” to recognize the talents of ICT Postgraduate Students and benchmark their innovations.

In addition the best products developed using Microsoft and Open Source technologies will also be awarded. The “Life- time Achiever” award will recognize an individual who has made outstanding contribution towards the ICT Industry for more than 25 years.

ICT Entrepreneur Award is awarded to recognize an individual who has been in business for two years and has demonstrated outstanding entrepreneurial qualities in growing and developing the business.

The threefold objectives of the NBQSA competition are: to provide recognition to outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations in Sri Lanka who/ which have contributed to the development of ICT.; to create a window to gain international recognition for locally developed ICT products; and to improve standards and the quality of local ICT products and services to be able to compete in the international market place.

This time NBQSA has received over 44 applications from the Commercial Category and the tertiary category is still open for applications till 14th of August. Giving some insight into the NBQSA judging process Ruwan Amarasekara, Honorary Secretary, BCS - The Charted Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section stated that each judging panel for a category would comprise of three to five judges and the participants should obtain over 70% for the Gold Award, above 65% for the Silver Award and above 60% to receive the Bronze Award.

If there are any deserving products which has achieved more than the threshold value but unable to win a Gold, Silver or Bronze Award it could be nominated for a Merit Award by the judging panel.

Following the Participants Briefing, Judges Briefing was carried out on August 10 at Hotel Galadari. NBQSA 2012 Judging Panel comprises of industry experts from a variety of domains ranging from Sri Lankan Air Lines, Dialog, IBM, Local and Private Universities to Government Institutions like Ceylon Electricity Board. During the briefing Mr. Ruwan Amarasekara, Hon. Secretary of BCSSL stated that the judges are expected to have knowledge in their domains, maintain the confidentiality and impartiality.

None withstanding this, the judges are also expected to sign a Code of Conduct before initiating the judging process. Each product will be evaluated under four common areas Uniqueness, Features, Quality/ Application of Technology and Presentation.

Mr. Ruwan Amarasekara also emphasized that NBQSA 2012 participants are given free registration for biz2biz website, which is an initiative to introduce local products to the Asia Pacific Region.

In addition, Winners of the Post Graduate Student Project will also be considered to be awarded a sponsorship for starting up their own company in collaboration with a local bank.