New UK tech awards open for nominations

Winners of the CNET Networks Technology Awards 2003 will be announced at a gala dinner on 8 October at the closing of the UK Technology Summit -- an annual gathering of industry leaders at the Bloomberg Studios in London.

Set up to recognise the companies, technologies and individuals who have achieved exceptional success and demonstrated technological leadership in business and technology, the awards are designed to honour the players who set benchmark standards for the rest of the technology industry, said a CNET Networks spokeswoman.

Tom Bureau, managing director of CNET Networks UK, said: "Many products, technologies and companies have not only withstood the tests of the past two years but have prospered. As the dust begins to settle, this is absolutely the right time to recognise and celebrate their successes in the most high-profile way possible."

Referring to the reach of CNET's UK publications, he added: "You can't get much more high-profile than sharing them with our more than 1.4 million readers. The shortlisted companies will enjoy unprecedented publicity and our readers will gain an invaluable insight into who they should be doing business with over what will undoubtedly be another challenging year."

Ten categories are now open for nomination, and ZDNet readers can nominate their favourite suppliers in four of these: Customer service and support of the year, E-commerce site of the year, Most promising technology of the year, and Outstanding contribution to UK technology.

Companies can nominate themselves for the remaining six categories, which include: Enterprise product of the year, UK technology start-up of the year, Technology advertising campaign of the year, Technology PR campaign of the year, Turnaround of the year, and Mobile technology product or initiative of the year.

All nominations will be assessed by CNET's panel of authoritative and independent judges.