BE A WINNER @ NBQSA & APICTA
The following section details out the strategies one may use to be successful and enhance his or her winning chances at NBQSA and APICTA.
The National ICT Awards, NBQSA held in Sri Lanka and Asia-Pacific ICT Awards, APICTA held by Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance of which Sri Lanaka is a member economy, are two prestigious annual competitions in the ICT industry locally and internationally today. Both these events are aimed at recognising and rewarding the best achievements in the ICT field while providing the ICT vendors with a platform to showcase their most innovative ICT products.
Whether you are a newcomer or a past competitor to any of the above competitions, we believe that the content of this document would help you enhance your chance of winning an Award.
Your winning chances will be increased if you have the right product in the right category and the right presentation, presented by a right presenter. They are the prerequisites to become an NBQSA or APICTA winner. Having said that, let us discuss each of these items and a few other related areas in a little detail in the context of NBQSA and APICTA. But before that, it would be beneficial to have a closer look at how the NBQSA and APICTA judging processes work.
Judging Process
Having gone through several revisions, the NBQSA and APICTA judging processes have evolved into matured quantitative evaluation processes that take emerging technologies in the ICT industry among other things into consideration. There are many Award Categories in both these competitions that you could choose to nominate your competing product and present to the judges. Most of these categories are common to both competitions while NBQSA has some additional categories to suit the local environment. Products can compete in one of several solution categories, which are grouped into six Head Categories namely Consumer, Inclusion, Industrial, Business Services, Government and Student Category. Each head category has slightly different evaluation criteria with its own attributes and weightings. The evaluation criteria use two-level hierarchical architecture, with criteria and attributes being the two levels. Marks are assigned to the attributes and final score is derived by applying the weightings of all attributes and criteria.
While the eminent personnel having extensive experience and domain knowledge in the ICT field are selected from both local industry and academia for the NBQSA judging panels, each member economy nominates experienced judges for the APICTA judging panels. In both cases, judging panels consisting of 3-5 judges are appointed for each award category. Each judging session has 3 minutes for equipment setting-up, 10 minutes for product presentation and domonstartion and further 10 minutes for Q&A. At the end, 2 minute time is given for equipment dismantling.
The scoring for the product evaluation is carried out using an online judging application. In the case of NBQSA, 4 types (or classes) of awards namely Gold, Silver, Bronze and Merit are awarded for the products with highest scores above respective qualifying marks (Gold -highest score of 70% or above, Silver -second highest score of 65% or above, Bronze – third highest score of 63% or higher, Merit – next highest scores of 60% or higher). In APICTA, the marks are allocated out of 10, and the highest ranking entry having a score of 7.000 or above will be announced as the Winner of a particular category. Additionally, a maximum of two Merit awards may be presented to the entries in a category with scores within the 5% margin of the winning entry score in that category. In the event that there is no Winner in a category, up to two Merit awards may be presented for entries having a score of 6.650 or higher.
In both competitions, an entry to a head category is optionally allowed to be nominated for one of the specified technology category awards and/or optionally allowed to be nominated for one of the two Cross category awards also. Additionally, in NBQSA, the same entry can be nominated for the eligible special awards as well. In summary, an entry into a head category has the opportunity of winning multiple awards in the case of NBQSA and 3 awards in APICTA. You need not be a winner in the head category to win either a Cross-category or Technology category award.
For more details of NBQSA and APICTA Categories and related topics, visit www.nbqsa.org and www.apicta.org respectively.
Now, let us explore the possibilities of becoming a winner at these local and international competitions by analysing the three prerequisites stated at the beginning.
Right Product in Right Category
One of the prime objectives of APICTA is to identify and recognise innovative indigenous ICT products, solutions, services and applications. So, products that bring in innovation by exploiting the disruptive technologies in the ICT industry have higher winning chances. These products or solutions that have captured or have the potential to capture a niche in the regional or global market will have an even higher chance of winning. An entry in the most appropriate category will guarantee the maximum deserving marks for the relevant attributes in the evaluation criteria. Conversely, nominating an entry to a wrong category will potentially result in low scores and opportunity loss. Nominees are always advised to refer to the NBQSA and APICTA category descriptions and the relevant judging criteria when nominating a product to a category. Sometimes, a product may appear to fit into more than one category, in which case, an assessment of its merits must be made against the applicable judging criteria of those categories to choose the right category.
For category descriptions and judging criteria for APICTA, refer to the APICTA Operation Manual at: https://apicta2023.hk/judging#APICTA2023JudgingInfo.
Right Presentation
Presenting your nominated entry to the judges in the most effective way within the allocated time span is another challenge. The ‘right presentation’ to achieve that task should essentially include properly structured content presented using a modern presentation tool, followed by a demonstration of the product. The content has to be chosen to highlight the strong functionality areas of the product in the context of criteria/attributes of the category the product is nominated for. Use of presentation time to talk about the company, team members etc., will not carry any marks unless they are related to the evaluation criteria. It is essential to present how best the solution addresses the aspects of all attributes of the relevant evaluation criteria. The demonstration may show only the most important features in live mode or by a video if live mode is not possible due to a valid reason.
Any claim on Uniqueness, Innovation, etc., will not impress judges unless it is supported by relevant evidence that might include a feature matrix to compare the entry with the similar products of competitors, patents and awards won, among other things.
Animations, graphics and short videos will add value to the basic content.
Right Presenter
Having the right product in right category and right presentation alone does not maximise the winning possibility. What is equally important is also to present it in front of the judges by a skilled presenter. A purely technical expert may not be the correct person for this and the presentation party should select the most suitable person with presentation skills instead.
Selling your product to judges in 10 minutes is not an easy task and even a skilful presenter may need to go through a few rounds of rehearsing as a preparatory task before he does the actual one. Though a presentation team is permitted to have a maximum of five persons, it is not compulsory to switch presenters during the presentation unless it is really necessary to do so due to some reason. It is important that any presenter to focus on the key merits of the product in light of the relevant judging criteria and make use of the Q&A time to clarify any additional things if queried by the judges. The presenter must be skilful enough to present all the most important aspects of the product to the judges in an impressive and convincing way within the allocated time. Q&A time can also be used by a technical expert in the team to answer any question of technical nature.
Summary
NBQSA and APICTA are two prestigious competitions happening annually in Sri Lanka and the APAC region to promote and recognise innovations in the ICT industry. Both of them have well defined judging criteria for the evaluation of competing ICT products that are nominated. They both use the most prominent domain experts as judges.
This article focuses on the key factors that will enhance the chances of a nominee to be a winner at these two events.
A product or solution that is set to become a ‘game changer’ in any industry sector would be an ideal entry to be a winner at any one of these two competitions. Innovation using disruptive technologies and having a rich feature set that is unique and able to capture a niche in the market are the most essential factors that could enhance the chances of achieving this success. Nominating such a product in the ‘right’ category, conducting a ‘right’ presentation by a ‘right’ presenter will definitely maximise such chances.
NBQSA is National ICT Awards.
NBQSA The National ICT Awards – Categories
Mainly, the NBQSA allows your product to be nominated to compete in various solution categories which are grouped into 6 Head Categories and a student category with 3 sub categories. In addition, there are two categories known as cross-categories and three categories known as technology categories which are common to all of Head Categories for which your product may be optionally nominated. Furthermore, you may also nominate for number of special awards. The descriptions of these awards are given in the nbqsa website.
The following categories are classified as Head Categories ( or Solution Categories).
CONSUMER including Banking, Insurance & Finance; Digital Marketing / Advertising; Market Places including Smart Home; Media & Entertainment; Retail & Distribution; Retail & Distribution; Tourism & Hospitality; Transactions for Properties, Goods & Services.
INCLUSION & COMMUNITY SERVICES including Community Services; Education; Health and Well-being; Indigenous Services; Regional, Rural and Remote Services; Sustainability, Environment and Disaster Management.
INDUSTRIAL: Agriculture; Engineering & Construction including ICT Networks and Communications; Manufacturing; Resources, Energy & Utilities; Supply Chain Logistics; Sustainability & Environment; Transport.
BUSINESS SERVICES including Finance & Accounting Solutions (FinTech); ICT Service Solutions; Marketing Solutions; Professional Service Solutions (Legal, HR Etc.).
PUBLIC SECTOR & GOVERNMENT including Digital Government; Citizen Services.
IN-HOUSE including In-House (Non ICT Company); In-House (ICT Company).
Following categories are STUDENT categories.
STUDENT including Tertiary Student Projects (Technology); Tertiary Student Projects (Business).; Postgraduate Student Projects.
Following are CROSS CATEGORIES.
- Research and Development Projects.
- Start-up of the Year.
‘Research and Development’ is a Cross category for which entries cannot be nominated directly without being nominated to a applicable Head Category first.
Following are TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES.
- AI Technology of the Year.
- Data Analytics Technology of the Year.
- IoT Technology of the Year.
Following are SPECIAL AWARDS.
- Best Digitalisation Process Enabler
- Breakthrough ICT Innovation of the Year
- Most Innovative and Best Solution in Cloud Computing
- Best Solution Addressing National Disasters (Student)
- Best Solution Addressing National Disasters (Commercial)
- Students Research Project of the year
- Public Sector Most Outstanding ICT Achievement Award
- ICT Lifetime Achiever Award
- Most Outstanding Contributor Award
- ICT Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- Student ICT Entrepreneur Award
- Female Tech-blazer of the Year Award
- BCS Chairman’s Award of the Year.
Time to apply or when are the applications called for NBQSA?
Main category awards including cross-category and technology category awards: June/July of each year.
Special Awards: August/September each year
PRESENTING AWARDS: During the month of October at the NBQSA Gala Night.
Types or Classes of awards in NBQSA:
Gold – Entry with highest score of 70% or higher
Silver – Entry with second highest score of 65% or higher
Bronze – Entry with third highest score of 63% or higher
Merit – Entry with next highest score of 60% or higher.
A. Entry Eligibility Guidelines for All Applicants to NBQSA / APICTA
1. The Intellectual Property Rights of the product or application must be with the company which is submitting the nomination / University which the student/s apply from.
OR
if its Intellectual Property Rights is owned by the offshore parent of the local company then at least 51% of the development effort including research and development and design of the product or application, must have been undertaken by the Sri Lankan entity.
OR
If the Client and Developer jointly apply, the Intellectual Property Rights owner (either party of the two, who has to be a 100% Sri Lankan entity) has to provide explicit written consent for the joint nomination submission.
2. The product under consideration should not have been awarded a Gold Award at the NBQSA competitions held within the last three years, unless substantial enhancements have been made on the winning entry.
B. Company Eligibility
The company must be a legally registered entity in Sri Lanka.The company can be a 100% Sri Lankan company,
OR
A joint venture/partnership between a Sri Lankan company(ies) and a foreign company(ies). But the Sri Lankan shareholders must own at least 51% of the total shares.
OR
A subsidiary company of a foreign company which is independent in its operations & management.
C. Tertiary Student Eligibility
A student or a group of students who are registered as active undergraduate students in a higher-learning institution in Sri Lanka, such as college or university by the application closing date.
OR
A student or a group of students who have graduated with a Degree from a higher-learning institution in Sri Lanka, such as college or university within one year prior to the application closing date of the Competition Year.
E.g. If NBQSA 2024 application closing date is 19th July 2024, students who have graduated between 20th July 2023 and 19th July 2024 are eligible to apply.
D. Postgraduate Student Eligibility
A student or a group of students who are registered as active postgraduate students in a higher-learning institution in Sri Lanka, such as college or university by the application closing date.
OR
A student or a group of students who have graduated with a Postgraduate Degree from a higher-learning institution in Sri Lanka, such as college or university within one year prior to the application closing date of the Competition Year.
E.g. If NBQSA 2024 application closing date is 19th July 2024, students who have graduated between 20th July 2023 and 19th July 2024 are eligible to apply.
E. Individual or Group Eligibility (Non-Student Categories)
All members of the group need to be Sri Lankan Citizens at the time of application submission.
Note : If a Group nomination receives any recognition in which a certificate is awarded. They will receive a single certificate with the names of all group members.
F. Category wise eligibility criteria (In addition to above)
- Company Eligibility (Above specified)
Plus - The R&D and design efforts of the product should be undertaken in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan effort should not only be limited to providing code cutting outsourced services.
- The product or application shall have been in use for at least six months (Excluding pilot run) with at least one client. Client Declaration or relevant usage related statistics (e.g. Appstore/playstore links for product) should be attached with the application indicating the period of use and satisfaction level.
- B. Company Eligibility (Above specified)
Plus - The R&D and design efforts of the product should be undertaken in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan effort should not only be limited to providing code cutting outsourced services.
- The product or application shall have been in use for at least six months (Excluding pilot run) with at least one internal department/unit. A Declaration or relevant usage statistics (e.g. Appstore/playstore links for product) should be attached with the application indicating the period of use and satisfaction level certified by the head of the department/unit.
- The company must be a legally registered entity in Sri Lanka. The company can be a 100% Sri Lankan company,
OR
A joint venture/partnership between a Sri Lankan company(ies) and a foreign company(ies). But the Sri Lankan shareholders must own at least 51% of the total shares. - The Startup Company should be initially registered within the period of three years prior to the application closing deadline.
E.g. If NBQSA 2024 application closing date is 19th July 2024, Startups who’s initial company registration is after 20th July 2021, and before 19th July 2024 are eligible to apply. - Client Declaration or relevant usage related statistics (e.g. Appstore/playstore links for product) should be attached with the application indicating the period of use and satisfaction level.
- In order to apply to startup cross-category, the entry must first apply to a relevant Head Category.
- B. Company Eligibility (Above)
Plus - The R&D and design efforts of the product should be undertaken in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan effort should not only be limited to providing code cutting outsourced services.
- The product could be completed fully but not yet actively marketed, or is already actively marketed but still no customers or installation, or not been completed but its features and functionalities can be demonstrated. A Declaration or relevant usage/pilot statistics (e.g. AppStore/PlayStore links for product, pilot run evidence) should be attached with the application.
- In order to apply to R&D cross-category, the entry must first apply to a relevant Head Category.
NBQSA Application Procedure
- Visit nbqsa.org website
- Read through the NBQSA eligibility criteria and decide on your product’s eligibility
- Identify the most suited category for your product to align with the category descriptions.
- Fill out the online application form with all the information as guided through.
- Attach all the relevant attachments as indicated in the online application.
- Make the online payment and complete your application submission.
- Payments can be made online. If you are facing any difficulties please contact BCS Sri Lanka Section via bcscoordinator@bcssrilanka.org
2024 Application Charges for applicants
Tertiary Student Projects (Technology) fee is 1,000 LKR Refundable Deposit.
Tertiary Student Projects (Business) fee is 1,000 LKR Refundable Deposit.
Postgraduate fee is 10,000 LKR.
How to decide Application Fees for other categories that are not Student category:
It is mandatory that any given entry that is not a student project has to be nominated to one of the 5 Head categories first, and the mandatory application fee is 30,000 LKR which is a one-time fee.
Then add 15,000 LKR per each category, ONLY IF competing in following categories:
‘Research & Development’ cross-category,
‘AI Technology of the Year’ technology category,
‘IoT Technology of the Year’ technology category,
‘Data Analytics Technology of the Year’ technology category,
Any Special Award.
Add 0.0 LKR to the Head Category application fee, if competing in Start-up category.
Cheques should be drawn in favor of “BCS The Chartered Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section” and email to bcscoordinator@bcssrilanka.org
Bank Transfer
Account Name – BCS The Chartered Institute for IT Sri Lanka Section
Account Number – 1500031464
Bank Name – Commercial Bank
Bank Code – 7056
Branch Name – Colombo 07
Branch Code – 050
Swift Code – CCEYLKLX
NOTE: If there is any clarification needed, please refer to the www.nbqsa.org website or contact the NBQSA Secretariat using the contact details on the website.
Other Guidelines for NBQSA applicants
Individuals / Groups and organizations in Sri Lanka who/which have developed ICT products and satisfy the NBQSA eligibility criteria are eligible to apply for NBQSA.
1. An entry is allowed to be nominated to only ONE Head Category. If eligible, an entry to the Head Categories (except Student Category) is optionally allowed to enter in ANY of the Cross-Categories of
- Research and Development Projects
OR
- Start-Up of the Year
2. If relevant and eligible, an entry to the Head Categories is optionally allowed to compete in ANY of the Technology Categories, ANY of the Cross-categories and/or Special Awards.
In order to nominate an entry to any of the cross-category or technology category or some of the special awards, the entry must first be nominated to a relevant head category.
Student category projects are not eligible to compete in other head categories or cross categories or technology categories.
Therefore, an entry is eligible to compete in any of the following optional categories only if it is nominated to a relevant head category:
Cross Categories,
Start-up,
Research & Development,
Technology Categories,
AI Technology of the Year,
Data Analytics Technology of the Year,
IoT Technology of the Year,
Best Digitalisation Process Enabler,
Breakthrough ICT Innovation of the Year,
Most Innovative and Best Solution in Cloud Computing,
Best Solution Addressing National Disasters (Student),
Best Solution Addressing National Disasters (Commercial),
Students Research Project of the year,
Public Sector Most Outstanding ICT Achievement Award.
During the judging session, tertiary student projects -technology category applicants are expected to demonstrate a working prototype of their product, while tertiary student projects -business category applicants are expected to demonstrate how the pilot run of their product was carried out.
For the following NBQSA awards, entries can be nominated to compete directly without nominating to a head category:
- ICT Lifetime Achiever Award
- Most Outstanding Contributor Award
- ICT Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- Student ICT Entrepreneur Award
- Female Tech-blazer of the Year Award
- BCS Chairman’s Award of the Year.
3. Once submitted, any changes to an entry nomination are strictly NOT allowed after the application closing deadline.
4. Attach additional pages as required.
5. English is the mandatory language to be used by both Judges and Nominees during the judging process.
6. Taking photographs and/or video or audio recordings by entry’s representatives are STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED during the judging sessions.
7. Any complaint on the participating product could be made to the Chairman of the Organizing Committee to be forwarded to the Panel of Judges. Final decision made by the judging committee headed by the Chief Judge on any participating product is deemed final.
8. Applicants/winners are not allowed to make any duplicates of the awards/certificates/gift awarded at the NBQSA.
9. Suggestions, Comments and Inquiries with regard to the judging should be submitted through the feedback form within 7days of the judging presentation.
10. Any feedback or comments regarding the final result of the product will not be entertained after the Awards Ceremony.
11. No feedback will be provided by the judges under any circumstances.
12. The final selection of the participants to represent Sri Lanka at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards is the responsibility of the panel of Judging committee headed by the Chief Judge based on the conditions prevailing in each year.
13. Maximum no of applications per organisation / Institute for NBQSA competition will be limited to 15 applications and any additional application will be filtered by the selection panel.
For application fee details, please refer to the Application Procedure.
Any suggestions on the improvements to NBQSA could be forwarded in writing to the Chairman of the organizing Committee.
National ICT Awards – NBQSA, BCS Secretariat,
Sri Lanka
14. An entry which has won a Gold Award at NBQSA during one of the last three NBQSA competitions is not eligible to compete as a new entry under any of the categories. If submitting after 3 years, substantial enhancements must have been made on the original winning entry for it to be considered eligible as a new entry.
When applying for NBQSA through the online application portal:
1. All Commercial Application forms except for the Research & Development category should be accompanied by
A LETTER OR LETTERS FROM USER(S) CONFIRMING THAT THE PRODUCT IS INSTALLED AT THEIR SITE / BEING USED BY THEM.
2. Applicants to all categories should fill PRODUCT DESCRIPTION, UNIQUENESS, FEATURES, QUALITY/APPLICATION OF TECHNOLOGY.
3. Applicants to All categories EXCEPT Public Sector & Government and Research & Development should fill MARKETING POTENTIAL.
4. Applicants for the Research & Development category should fill PROOF OF CONCEPT instead of marketing potential.
5. Applicants for the E-Government & Services category should fill VALUE TO PUBLIC/GOVERNMENT instead of marketing potential.
6. Applicants for the Inclusion & Community Services category should fill value to VALUE TO COMMUNITY & SOCIETY AT LARGE instead of marketing potential.
7. All Student Category Applicants should submit the Declaration certified by the Institution (Department Head / Dean / Vice Chancellor) in PDF
Important dates for NBQSA in 2024
Please visit NBQSA website for the most updated information on the following dates.
- Participants’ briefing for Student categories will take place on 29th July, 2024 via zoom.
- Participants’ briefing for Commercial categories will take place on 5th August, 2024 via zoom.
- Judges’ briefing for Student categories will take place on 1st August, 2024 via zoom.
- Tertiary Category judging will take place on 3rd and 4th August, 2024 at IIT School of Computing, Spencer Building, Galle Road Colombo 03.
NBQSA 2024 Awards Ceremony will take place on 23rd October, 2024.
