The GSM Association (GSMA) – the global trade organisation for the mobile industry – has today announced the shortlist of nominees for the GSM Association Awards 2006. Celebrating their eleventh year with a record number of more than 520 entries, the Awards recognise achievement and excellence across the global mobile communications world.
This year, the Awards have been extended and enhanced to reflect the pace of convergence between the mobile and entertainment industries. New categories introduced this year include best ‘made for mobile’ music, gaming, video and sports & infotainment categories. Other categories recognise advances in mobile handsets and devices, mobile applications for enterprise, mobile messaging, marketing and community initiatives, as well as technical developments that underpin the success of the industry.
Also new this year is the Mobile Innovation Award, created to encourage and showcase young, small and start-up companies who are developing the new ideas – in the areas of applications, content and technologies – that will drive the wireless industry’s future growth. The Mobile Innovation Award nominee results will be announced separately.
“The level of interest and quality of submissions from organisations across the world has made the 2006 awards the most eagerly anticipated and fiercely contested ever,” said Rob Conway, CEO and board member of the GSM Association. “We would like to thank all the entrants – with so many outstanding nominees, the judges’ challenge to decide final winners has never been tougher.”
The GSM Association’s awards are an integral part of the world’s leading and most successful annual mobile industry event – the 3GSM World Congress – in Barcelona for the first time this year. The awards venue, the National Palace (Palau Nacional) sitting above the Congress location, will be a spectacular setting for the global mobile industry to reflect on another year of fast paced evolution and growth.
Award winners will be announced on Monday February 14 at the black-tie Gala Awards dinner in Barcelona. The dinner will be attended by a who’s who of mobile and entertainment industry leaders and representatives from governments around the world. The evening will be hosted by CNBC anchor Ron Insana and feature a guest appearance by MTV’s Entertainment Tonight host, Ryan Devlin.
The Awards are judged in two phases by an international panel of independent industry and subject matter experts, drawn from the academic, analyst, media and entertainment communities. Full details of the judges can be found at http://www.gsmawards.com/judges/judges.shtml .
To see the full list of 2006 GSMA Awards nominees, please visit http://www.gsmawards.com/nominees.shtml .
Intel is once again the Platinum Sponsor for this year’s Awards, with Nokia as sponsor of the Mobile Entertainment category, and Orange the sponsor of the Mobile Innovation Award. Platinum Media Partners include CNBC Europe, Variety Magazine, Fortune and the Wall Street Journal Europe.
The GSM Association Chairman’s Award will also be announced at the Awards ceremony in Barcelona. This Award honours the outstanding contribution of an individual or organisation to the development of the GSM industry.