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Nominations for DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group’s third annual EnTech Awards are now open, with the winners to be honored live and in person in Los Angeles on Oct. 12.

Formerly known as the TechOps Awards, the DEG EnTech Awards honors exceptional technology accomplishments in the digital supply chain and digital distribution achieved by both companies and individuals.

The awards event aims to encourage and promote excellence in all areas recognized by the DEG and showcase the importance of the technology and operations teams supporting digital distribution.

Two new award categories have been added this year: The Rising Star Award and Emerging Tech Award.

These awards will join last year’s award categories of Technology Leadership, Technology Achievement, Technology Innovation, Localization Trailblazer, and Multi-Company Team Collaboration. This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award is being renamed The Hall of Fame Award.

Nominations must be received by DEG on or before Aug. 2.

At the awards event, DEG will also recognize those companies and individuals who participants believe are deserving of recognition with live voting for a People’s Choice Award.

Here’s a look at each award:

• Technology Leadership Award: The award honors an individual or team for demonstrating leadership and implementing something technically that had an impact on the business as a whole (extending to the industry beyond their specific company). Recipients will have demonstrated leadership and significantly contributed to a recent project or other engagement within the last two years in the technology and operations function within entertainment technology. There will be one award presented, which may be awarded to a person in any business category.

• Technology Achievement Award: The Technology Achievement Award honors recipients who have demonstrated technical achievement and significantly contributed to the realization of technological advancements in their organization. There may be one award for each of the business categories, with up to three awards in total.

• Technology Innovation Award: The award honors an individual or a team for identifying a problem and creating a novel solution, e.g. engineering lab or infrastructure. The solution would not necessarily have to be implemented at the time the award is given. There may be one award for each of the business categories, with up to three awards in total.

• Best Multi-Company Team Collaboration Award: This award honors cross-industry teams (representing two or more companies) who demonstrate excellence in collaboration, communication, and technical execution with an impact on operational efficiencies in order to achieve a common goal. There will be one award presented, which may be given to teams from any business category.

• The Rising Star Award: This award honors an individual with no more than seven years of entertainment technology experience who demonstrates an attitude of excellence and performs well above their experience level. This individual is a team player and finds solutions to industry challenges. They show great promise to lead, innovate, and inspire the entertainment technology industry throughout their career. There may be one award for each of the business categories, with up to three awards in total.

• Emerging Tech Award: This award honors a company that created a new technology that could positively affect the future of digital entertainment distribution. There may be one award for each of the business categories, with up to three awards in total.

• Localization Trailblazer Award: This award honors trailblazing companies, teams, or individuals who exemplify excellence in overseeing quality, localized content under tight deadlines using creative and operational groundbreaking strategies. One award will be presented and may be given to a company, individual, or team and can be from any business category.

• Hall of Fame Award Presented by Dolby: This award honors an individual who has demonstrated consistent results in technology leadership, technology achievement, technology innovation, or any combination of those categories throughout their career. They are well-regarded within the industry. This award was previously named Lifetime Achievement, and the recipient can be from any business category, including content provider, retailer/platform, or service provider.

• Smart OS Award: This award recognizes best overall operating system performance in each of the product categories – Smart TV, dongle, and set top box (cable, satellite, gaming console). Criteria to determine the product’s overall performance and value will be based on areas pertaining to functionality, usage, and display. There may one award for each product category (Smart TV, dongle, set top box). Up to three awards in total.

To determine the award winners, DEG has enlisted a distinguished judging panel comprised of a cross-section of leaders representing entertainment technology. Among other factors, the judging panel will base its decision on the candidates’ contribution to a key goal or priority within the technology and operations function.

For more information and the nomination forms, please contact Bekah Sturm at [email protected].

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Andi Elliott at [email protected]