Dear w3 Awards Community,

“Celebrating TWO DECADES of Digital Brilliance”.

That gives me goosebumps. What a milestone! I’m so excited to kick off this 20th season of the w3 Awards, which continues its day-one mission to honor and celebrate the innovation of our community. I feel so privileged to be involved in just a small part of that legacy. I hope to spend some time this season looking back at the great projects upon which this program was built and, of course, to invite you all to enter your best work this year to start to blaze the trail of our next 20. Admiring the roster of our past winners, it strikes me that innovation comes from everywhere – across the globe; from a huge swath of disciplines; from Brands; from individuals; from the most unexpected of places. It is my anniversary wish for the w3 Awards to make it even broader, farther-reaching and more diverse than ever. To help that along, I’ve made some new additions to this season:

• Expanded Social, Emerging Tech, and Video categories, because great storytelling is booming and everyone’s voice deserves to be honored
• A special focus on some of the industries and disciplines that make the w3 Awards so unique, including a large number of healthcare, legal, educational and cultural institutions. We’ve seen some of the most impressive innovation coming from the most-established sources.
• The addition of a large group of new luminaries from The Podglomerate, Dentsu, Superfly, Aquent (and so many more) who are bringing their expertise to the already-impressive w3 Jury
• A new suite of videos, editorial content & events befitting such a momentous occasion

One aspect of the w3 Awards that makes it so unique is that it doesn’t put our community in competition against one another. All of our jurors evaluate each piece against a set standard of excellence. This process allows us to honor all of the projects that deserve a win and doesn’t limit the number of talent we can place in our spotlight. I feel like this perfectly suits a group as collaborative and creative as ours.

I am excited, as always, to celebrate the work that you and your teams have created this season. My team is looking forward to sharing so many stories that illustrate that brilliance truly comes from anywhere and everywhere.  I’m certain that this year (as you have the 20 before) you will continue to prove us right!

As ever,

Lauren Angeloni
Managing Director
AIVA | aiva.org