Jury Process
The WSA Jury process is a strictly democratic and transparent system to guarantee a fair and diverse selection of worldwide digital innovation. Once a digital solution is nominated for the WSA it has to pass several stages of evaluation and assessment before it can become a WSA Winner and maybe even a Global Champion.
The jury process
1) Nomination and application
WSA eminent National Experts from 182 UN member states nominate up to eight digital solutions each – one for every WSA category. Exception is the Youth Category, where open applications are accepted. Once the nominees have completed their application in the WSA online contest database, they are permitted by the WSA office to enter the Jury process.
2) Online Jury
All permitted applications in the WSA online contest database will be carefully reviewed and evaluated by an especially assembled Online Jury consisting of international experts. This Online Jury pre-selects the best 15 to 18 products in each of the eight WSA categories, the so called Short List.
3) Grand Jury
To evaluate the remaining digital solutions which managed to pass the last stage, WSA office assigns Jury Panels to reevaluate the Short List. The Jury Members then select the five winners in each WSA category.
WSA Global Congress
The winners of the WSA Jury Process are announced publicly and informed via mail. All winners are invited to join the WSA Global Congress. During the WSA Global Congress, the winners of the WSA get an invitation to pitch their solutions in front of an international on-site Jury panel. Based on the solution presentations, one Global Champion in each WSA category is selected, who is subsequently announced at the Award Ceremony and Gala.
Evaluation criteria
5 Technical Criteria
- CONTENT | Quality and comprehensiveness, content richness, local language
- FUNCTIONALITY | Ease of use, user experience, appropriate interactivity and functions
- DESIGN | Navigation / Orientation and visual appeal, appropriate design for target group
- TECHNOLOGY | State of the art in technology and quality of technical realisation, appropriate use of technology (local context/target group)
- INNOVATION | Originality and newness to targeted users, society and market, local ecosystem, financial sustainability
2 Strategic Criteria – social / societal
- IMPACT | Local Impact / Impact on community & society
- VALUE | Addressing UN SDGs, narrowing digital divide, global relevance, potential