Public Interest Registry launched their .2021 .ORG Impact Awards Tuesday with a call for nominations, an increase in prize money and updated categories.
Now in their third year, the awards seek to honour innovative and inspiring organisations and individuals making the world a better place.
“Every day, the global .ORG Community devotes itself to meeting society’s most pressing needs,” said Jon Nevett, CEO of Public Interest Registry. “These mission-driven and community-based organisations are tackling everything from promoting health and healing during the pandemic to addressing global climate change and fighting hunger and poverty. It’s our honour to recognise them.”
“Now in our 3rd year, the .ORG Impact Awards will honour and celebrate these incredible organisations with updated categories and increased award values. Last year, more than 500 organisations from around the world submitted entries. This year, PIR expects even more entries to showcase how mission-driven organisations are making our communities a better place.”
The winner of the .ORG of the Year award will receive a donation of US$35,000, while the category winners will receive $10,000 each. In 2020 award finalists competed for up to $30,000 in donations to the approved charity of their choice with Days for Girls International named 2020 .ORG of the Year along with 8 other award winners.
Days for Girls International won for its efforts to eradicate menstrual poverty around the globe. They also took home the prestigious Combating Coronavirus award. Since its founding in 2008, Days for Girls has provided menstrual health kits and provided health education worldwide, reaching more than 1.8 million women and girls in 144 countries on 6 continents.
Some of the other 2020 award-winners included:
- Change Labs, which won the Championing Equity, Equality and Inclusion award for its work to increase the number of Native-owned small businesses operating in Native communities
- SMASH, which won the Promoting Education award for its work empowering dedicated students of colour with intensive science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) coursework
- Crisis Tracker, which won the Innovation Award for its community-based project developing a geospatial database and reporting tool to track and analyse armed group activity and conflict-related incidents in remote regions of Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
The 10 categories for the 2021 awards include:
- Health and Healing in a Period of Pandemic
- Overcoming Climate Change
- Championing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Fighting Hunger and Poverty
- Providing Quality Education for All
- Building Better Communities
- .ORG Rising Stars
- .ORG of the Year
Full rules and applications can be found at www.orgimpactawards.org. Submissions are open until July 30, 2021 and will be reviewed by judges who are leaders in the Internet, non-profit and marketing sectors. The top five entries per category will be named as finalists on September 14, 2021. All nominations must be tied to an active website with a .ORG domain name.