I went to the Tech Awards 2010 gala and there were lots of great, inspiring stories shown via short videos of all the nominees for the five prizes of $50,000 each.
The goal is to highlight the work of groups in the developing world, using technology to making life better for the less privileged.
There were three nominees for each award which means there were 15 short videos shot at great expense. However, NONE of these videos are available for embedding or sharing. I would love to showcase some of the great work being done by some of these groups but that’s not possible, which is ridiculous in this day and age.
Why hasn’t someone uploaded the videos to YouTube along with a contribution form to raise some additional money?
Ogilvy is the pro bono PR agency for the Tech Awards, why didn’t Ogilvy sort out the social media aspect of the event?
Also, some of the winners had nothing much to do with technology, such as the Nokia Health award winner, which went to Micronutrient Initiative, an organization that adds micro-nutrients to salt.
The winner of the Humanitarian Award was Queen Rania of Jordan. I’m sure she is a fine person and she is certainly the most beautiful Queen on the planet but two years ago the winner was Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Peace Prize winner. (Let’s not mention Al Gore, who won it in 2009 and gave one of the worst speeches I’ve ever heard.)
It was comical to have the many presenters greet the queen first, and then everyone else. Even more comical was the efforts made by some of the presenters to speak a welcome in Arabic. Not even the great Muhammad Yunus got a greeting in Bengali, but it is clear that royalty takes precedence over commoners, including Nobel Peace prize winners. It all seemed very anachronistic for the Silicon Valley setting.
It was good to see the fine work of the Tech Awards, but overall, it was bit disappointing this year and there was money left on the table…
– – – Please see: Tech Awards For Humanity: “Cash Prizes” Galore And Al Gore’s Meaningless Speech . . . And Amazing Laureates!
Tom Foremski is the Editor and Founder of the popular and top-ranked news site Silicon Valley Watcher, reporting on business and culture of innovation. He is a former journalist at the Financial Times and in 2004, became the first journalist from a leading newspaper to resign and become a full-time journalist blogger.
Tom has been reporting on Silicon Valley and the US tech industry since 1984 and has been named as one of the top 50 (#28) most influential bloggers in Silicon Valley. His current focus is on the convergence of media and technology — the making of a new era for Silicon Valley. He also writes a column at ZDNET.
