AMSTERDAM, September 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
- Following the success of the inaugural awards,
the Booking.com Technology Playmaker Awards
2019 are now open for global
entries
at http://www.techplaymakerawards.com
- Winners will be announced at an awards
ceremony in London, UK, on
March
13th, 2019
- As part of Booking.com's
commitment to drive awareness of gender
diversity in the global
technology sector, the awards shine a light on
women making an impact with technology and
inspiring future female tech leaders
- Over one in two (52%) women working in technology or
students interested in the field say a lack of visible role models
or mentors across the global tech sector is a major barrier to
entry, according to new Booking.com research.
Today, Booking.com, one of the world's largest travel e-commerce
companies launched the Technology Playmaker Awards 2019. Introduced
by Booking.com in 2017, the awards aim to recognize and celebrate
women who are pushing the boundaries of innovation in technology
and inspiring future generations of female technology leaders to do
the same. This year, the awards are open to nominations from any
country, to spotlight the diversity of talent in the global
technology sector and encourage more girls and women worldwide to
enter and succeed in the field. Nominations can be submitted at
http://techplaymakerawards.com, in any language, before
December 22nd, 2018.
Winners will be selected in seven distinct award categories,
each of which celebrates a different aspect of achievement in
technology: Role Model, Young Technologist, Business Leader,
Digital Leader, Employer Award, Community Impact Award and
Tech Innovator. The awards are open to women at all levels
in any technology or IT-related field who are disrupting or
transforming business, industry or communities using technology.
The Employer Award recognizes an organization that has made
significant progress in achieving gender diversity and inclusion in
IT and technology.
The overall Booking.com Technology Playmaker of the Year 2019
will be chosen from among the individual category winners, and will
be the person who our judging panel of industry leaders,
politicians and academics consider to have made the most impactful
change in the global technology sector. In identifying and
championing remarkable examples of leadership, courage, ingenuity,
tenacity and innovation in technology, the awards aim to empower
the next generation of women to consider a career in tech and
advance dialogue on the need for greater diversity. Each category
winner will receive a monetary prize of €5,000 to help advance
business and professional goals, with the overall winner collecting
a €10,000 award.
"Encouraging more women to join and flourish in the tech sector
is essential if innovation is to reflect and nurture the diverse
communities that surround us. Creating a more diverse and inclusive
workforce takes collaborative effort from companies, both inside
and outside their own walls, as well as individuals whose example
carries immense power to positively shape the collective destiny of
this sector," says Gillian Tans, Booking.com CEO.
"We need to create an environment in which more girls and women
are encouraged to enter the field, and given more opportunities to
advance, thrive and succeed. While there is more work to be done,
great strides are being made thanks to the kind of businesses,
communities and individuals we seek to unearth and recognize
through the Booking.com Technology Playmaker Awards."
New global research from Booking.com sheds light into the key
barriers for women to enter in the tech sector. Over one in two
(52%) women working in tech or students interested in the field say
a lack of visible role models or mentors across the global tech
sector is a major barrier to entry for women. Another half (50%)
say they are held back because the opportunities for women to
advance in technology are not made clear. These are the gender
diversity challenges that Booking.com seeks to unearth and help
address through this awards program and other related
initiatives.
The 2018 Booking.com Technology Playmaker of the Year,
Hadeel Ayoub, CEO and founder of
BrightSign, was honored for developing a smart "sign-to-speech"
glove that helps individuals with speech disabilities communicate
more easily by converting sign language to computerized voice.
For the 2019 awards, she will join the judging panel alongside a
range of tech leaders and champions from business, academia and
politics.
"I truly believe in the power of bringing women together to
network and celebrate one another in order to make the technology
sector more diverse and gender-inclusive. I was delighted to be
recognized by Booking.com at the 2018 Technology Playmaker Awards,
bringing further attention to BrightSign and helping my team and I
continue to follow our passion to help people with non-verbal
disabilities," says Hadeel. "I'm very much looking forward to
working with the other judges, hearing the stories of women doing
great things with technology around the world and identifying the
2019 Playmakers."
The Technology Playmaker Awards 2018 attracted entries from
inspirational female tech entrepreneurs and innovators across
Europe, highlighting their
achievements across technology fields such as ecommerce, fintech,
green energy, education tech, blockchain and consumer tech.
The Booking.com Technology Playmaker Awards 2019 will gather
together luminaries, leaders and supporters of women in technology
from around the world in London,
UK, on March 13, 2019.
Nominations for the awards will close on December 22, 2018
Along with this initiative, Booking.com will also be partnering
with the Web Summit in Lisbon on
November 5-8, 2018 for a Women in
Tech mentorship program.
Notes to Editor:
Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted
among 6,898 respondents (from the UK, USA, France,
Brazil, The Netherlands, Germany, China, Australia, India and Spain). Respondents completed an online survey
from August 2nd to
September 6th, 2018.
About Booking.com:
Established in 1996 in Amsterdam,
Booking.com B.V. has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of
the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world. Part of
Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com now employs more
than 17,000 employees in 198 offices in 70 countries worldwide.
With a mission to empower people to experience the world,
Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the
friction out of travel. At Booking.com, we connect travellers with
the world's largest selection of incredible places to stay,
including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and
family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts, tree houses and even
igloos. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in 43
languages, offer over 28.9 million total reported listings,
including more than 5.6 million listings of homes, apartments and
other unique places to stay, and cover more than 140,000
destinations in 231 countries and territories worldwide.
Each day, more than 1.5 million room nights are reserved on our
platform. So, whether traveling for business or leisure, customers
can instantly book their ideal place to stay quickly and easily
with Booking.com, without booking fees and backed up by our promise
to price match. Via our customer experience team, customers can
reach Booking.com 24/7 for assistance and support in 43 languages,
any time of the day or night.
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For further information, contact the Booking.com Press
Office:mediarelations@booking.com