Awards Ceremony Growing Each Year

The award winners are five organisations that have made the best contributions to telework development in Europe. They were chosen by an expert panel drawn from different EU countries who nominated three finalists in each of five categories, from which they selected the following winners :

IBM Belgium-Luxembourg’s Shared Office implementation, the most impressive example of contribution to competitiveness, with a high proportion of employees on all levels teleworking (1050 people, representing 60% of the IBM B/L population), continuously seeking for new improvement opportunities;

the European initiative ISDaC (Information Society Disabilities Challenge) as the most original telework application, with their challenge to Europe and its nations to make the Information Society fully accessible to people with disabilities (PwD), and their challenge to people with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities in an Information Society context by playing an active role in building a fully accessible Information Society in Europe.

Rijkswaterstaat directorate of North Netherlands for its exemplary contribution to sustainability, demonstrating (with 60 people, representing 20% of central office personnel) that the introduction of telework can help to cut back on commuting, and help improve the organisation of work, and for its continuous efforts to support other regional organisations in adopting the concepts;

Siemens AG / Private Networks of Austria for its wide-ranging technological contribution to teleworking; The brand new TELEWORX magazine of Germany for the best media coverage, in a tight competition with the long existing Teleworker, magazine from the British and Irish Telecottage Association.

The awards themselves are part of a limited series of reproductions of a unique sculpture by Liliane Caumont, a French sculptress currently living in Spain. She has sculpted other awards, one of which was presented to Bill Gates of Microsoft. The European Telework Awards will feature again in ETW '98 to be held in the early part of November 1998.

These were the first European Telework Awards, organised as part of the European Telework Week. This initiative was supported by the European Commission and the European Telework Development project, in a partnership with Siemens and Toshiba.

The European Telework Awards are given to individuals, companies or institutions who, in the opinion of the evaluators, have made the greatest contribution to the development and uptake of Telework in Europe.

In 1997 there were 5 categories of award, in 1998 there will be seven categories.

Award Categories and Criteria

Best Contribution to European Competitiveness

Single or multiple advertisements based on the topic of telework published or broadcast on or after Jan 1st 1997.

Most Entrepreneurial use of Telework

A telework implementation, adding significant value to an entrepreneurial endeavour.

Most Innovative use of Technology

A telework implementation or promotional programme using current or new technology in an innovative manner to achieve its objectives.

Best Public Initiative

a telework implementation, promotional programme, technological solution, legislative or regulatory action relating to telework by a public institution (national, regional or local)

Best Contribution to European Sustainability

A  telework implementation, promotional programme, technological solution, legislative or regulatory action relating to telework contribution to sustainability in terms of environmental or social outcomes; sustainability demonstrated in both the rationale for the activity and its expected results

Best Single Article or Programme

On the topic of telework or closely associated topic, broadcast or first published on or after Jan 1, 1997.

Note: A copy of the original item must be provided, with copyright permission for making copies available to the adjudicators, and (in the case of an item whose original language is not English) an English translation or transcript.

What is the procedure?

• Any individual or organisation may propose themselves for an award. The nomination w must be accompanied by a dossier consisting of no more than 7 A4 pages, detailing the following: A description of the project/activity
• A description of the results and impact.
• A summary of why the proposer thinks the project should be considered as a winner.

The dossier and any materials supporting it, should be provided in electronic form wherever possible.

Note: a proposal may only be submitted to a single category, if it is submitted to multiple categories only one will be accepted.

All nomination dossiers must be submitted by Wednesday September 16 to the Telework Week co-ordination office, by e-mail or mail, or a physical copy can be delivered in person to the Reception desk at the "European Assembly on Telework" in Lisbon, by Wednesday 23rd September 5:00pm

Nomination

The dossier will be evaluated by a panel of experts, and a short list of 3 contenders in each category will be announced on the final day (September 25th) of the "European Assembly on Telework", in Lisbon. The submissions will be evaluated by the judges and awarded a score out of 10. The three highest scorers in each category will then be invited to attend the award ceremony in Brussels, and asked to prepare a short 5 minute presentation on their project., with the exception of these two categories :

• Best Advertising Campaign.
• Best Single Article or Programme.

which will be invited to make their submissions as posters or audio/video displays. The audience at the award ceremony will be asked to rate each presentation or display and these scores will be combined with the expert evaluation to give the final winners in each category. In the event of a tie, the vote of the chairman of the expert panel will decide.

Awards