World Communication Awards returns with new categories and expanded independent judging panel

The World Communication Awards (WCA) returns to London in October for its 22nd year, where the winners of the most coveted awards in the industry will be announced at a ceremony acknowledged as one of the highlights of the telecom calendar. Increasing the scope to reflect an ever-widening range of technologies and solutions, 2020’s WCA will include brand new categories for Cloud Native, Security Leadership and Environmental Impact, as well as individual awards for CEO, Technologist and Woman in Telecoms. The WCA sets itself apart from other industry awards because of its rigorous assessment process by judges handpicked from the cream of global experts. New judges this year include Alex Besen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Besen Group, David Swift, Consultant TMT, Freelance, Matthew Hatton, Founder, Transforma Insights and Will Townsend, Senior Analyst, Moor Insights and Strategy. One of the judges, Isabelle Paradis, the President of Hot Telecom, said: “In an industry in complete transformation such as ours, it is key to recognise and reward innovation, creativity and people who have the guts to push the boundaries.” She is part of a 60-strong independent panel of experts, executives and leaders from the telecom industry. Their impartiality, evident year-on-year, has helped consolidate the WCA as the gold standard of industry awards. Rob Chambers, Managing Director of Total Telecom, said: “The telecom industry is playing a crucial role helping people stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that it has never been more important to recognise the outstanding contribution of companies and individuals to the industry and the WCA is the best place to do this.” 2019 Award winners included CSP's such as KT, NTT Comm, SingTel, and Telecom Egypt and vendors including Huawei, Nokia and Red Hat. Established in 1999, this year’s awards will be held at the iconic Grand Connaught Rooms in London at a gala dinner on October 28. The deadline for entries is May 21.