CEO Tristia Harrison announces the TalkTalk North West Women in Tech Awards is back for 2022

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Following the success of our first ever North West Women in Tech Awards last year, we're excited to announce that it will be back in November. Once again, we’ll be recognising how much work has been done to improve equality within the sector – but acknowledging that there’s still more that we can all do. And of course, celebrating the fantastic women and allies who are doing outstanding work in tech across our region.

This year will be even bigger and better – and at a new location in the city centre. Plus, we have a fantastic judging panel of high profile figures helping us choose the winners across six award categories.

  • Debbie Brown, Strategic Director of Service Reform - Salford Council
  • Maja Borota-Nedic, Director of Engineering - Booking.com
  • Lou Cordwell OBE, Chief Creative Officer – Magnetic; Director - ID Manchester and Chair - GM LEP  
  • Professor Helen Marshall, Vice Chancellor - The University of Salford
  • Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor - The Times
  • Vikas Shah MBE, entrepreneur, philanthropist, University of Manchester Honorary Professor and CEO Swiscot Group
  • Naomi Timperley, co-founder - Tech North Advocates, Manchester Tech Festival and in Computer Weekly’s top 50 Most Influential Women in UK IT
  • Rebecca Wearn – Senior Broadcast journalist - BBC

We need your help in nominating any peers, contacts, groups or mentors who deserve to be recognised. And help us spread the word far and wide across your networks. Nominations open this week. This year’s award categories are the same as last year:

  • Rising Star
  • Innovation / Innovator 
  • Tech for Good
  • Mentor of the year
  • Team of the year 
  • Outstanding Achievement 

If you’ve not already, we’d love you to join our new Women in Tech LinkedIn network. This was created off the back of an event we held in collaboration with University of Salford at our Salford HQ. We explored different themes with over 100 academics, students, networks and leaders – and one of the recommendations was to create an online community. And we have done just that: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12669049/

Do read our report that also came from that event. You can find it here: TalkTalk Women in Tech report • TalkTalk Group

More details on the awards to follow – if you have any questions, please contact our Corporate Affairs team on: talktalkwomenintech@talktalkplc.com

 

FAQs

Who is sponsoring the awards?

The TalkTalk North West Women in Tech Awards was launched in 2021 by TalkTalk. This year will be the second event, and aims to be bigger and better recognising the women doing great work across the North West. TalkTalk looks after the administration, and hosts the event in November – however, the judging process is independent of the company.

Who can nominate?

Anybody is welcome to nominate candidates for the awards, across six categories: Rising star, Innovation, Tech for Good, Mentor of the Year, Team of the Year and Outstanding achievement.

Who can be nominated?

We welcome nominations for any woman working in the technology industry, at any level and in any sector. TalkTalk employees cannot be nominated for an award.

How many nominations can I make?

We are looking to celebrate as many of the great women doing fantastic work across our region in the technology sector as possible, so you are welcome to nominate as many people as you like. We just ask that you submit a new nomination form for each entry.

How will my data be used when I submit a nomination?

The entries will be downloaded and used by the TalkTalk corporate affairs team to organise the judging process of the awards. The entries, and parts of the requested information on the form, will be shared with the 8 judges to allow them to select winners. We will store this data on a secure drive at TalkTalk, which can only be accessed the corporate affairs team. And it will be kept for less than three years. We may contact those who nominate about their nomination, but there is an opt-out function for those who do not want to be contacted by TalkTalk for future activations.  

Who will pick the winners?

We have a judging panel of 8 business leaders, philanthropists and tech advocates who will select the winners during a judging period August-September. Including: Debbie Brown, Strategic Director of Service Reform - Salford Council; Maja Borota-Nedic, Director of Engineering - Booking.com; Lou Cordwell OBE, Chief Creative Officer – Magnetic; Director - ID Manchester and Chair - GM LEP; Professor Helen Marshall, Vice Chancellor - The University of Salford, Katie Prescott, Technology Business Editor - The Times; Vikas Shah MBE, entrepreneur, philanthropist, University of Manchester Honorary Professor and CEO Swiscot Group; Naomi Timperley, co-founder - Tech North Advocates, Manchester Tech Festival and in Computer Weekly’s top 50 Most Influential Women in UK IT; Rebecca Wearn – Senior Broadcast journalist – BBC.

How and when will the winners be selected?

Winners will be selected by our expert judging panel of 8 business leaders, philanthropists and tech advocates. Judging is independent of TalkTalk.

When and where is the awards event?

More information about the awards event location, date and time will be released over the summer when the nomination period has closed. The ceremony will take place in Manchester city centre in November.

Who will be invited to the ceremony/event?

We have been working with various technology networks, stakeholders and groups across the region over the last year. Our focus has been to create relationships and connect people around the theme of inclusion and increasing diversity in technology. We would also welcome any invite requests, which can be sent to: talktalkwomenintech@talktalkplc.com

Who will present the awards to winners?

TalkTalk Chief Executive Tristia Harrison will host and present the awards.