The recently created drone award show Airwards has announced its large list of judges for its first year in the business. The judges include people from DJI, DRONERESPONDERS, INVOLI, SkyBound, DronePrep, CAA, African Drone Forum, and many more organizations worldwide.
Airwards is the brainchild of digital entrepreneur Richard Nichols and is a nonprofit awards platform that focuses on the people and companies doing the most in the drone industry. This means the solutions are innovative while still staying safe and in the real world.
The digital awards will recognize more than 20 disciplines in the drone world. They will recognize the very best UAV projects, companies, and individuals leading the way in innovation, responsibility, and real-world solutions.
To be considered for the awards, entrants must meet the criteria set out by Airwards:
- Innovative: Promoting pioneering ideas that are successfully challenging the perception of what a drone is and can be.
- Responsible: Recognizing the key aspect of safety in every drone flight to advocate legitimate behavior as a standard best practice.
- Real-world: Asking the question: “How are drones making a difference?” by demonstrating quantifiable outcomes and tangible solutions.
Richard Nichols, Airwards founder, shared:
We’re extremely proud to announce this year’s Airwards judges. We’re committed to recognizing best practice drone work across a large number of fields and disciplines. We believe our year one judging line-up reflects the diverse range of innovation and incredible work being accomplished by the global drone industry.
Nichols continues on about the decision to make the awards free this year:
We’ve also been aware that the past year has been tough for most people, as well as for businesses, so we decided to make all award entries free for our inaugural year as a way to alleviate any financial barriers to entering. Airwards is open to all, and we can’t wait to champion our winners demonstrating how drones are changing the world for the better.
The judges for Airwards 2021 are:
- Gemma Alcock, founder, SkyBound Rescuer
- Wayne Baker, director of public safety integration, DJI
- Will Barnes, UAS service lead, Frazer-Nash
- James Bell, acting innovation strategy lead, CAA Innovation Hub
- Gareth Beverley, managing director, Consortiq
- Dr. Olivier Defawe, director, VillageReach
- Romeo Durscher, vice president, Auterion
- David Guerin, safety, operations, & regulations adviser, African Drone Forum
- Mahmood Hussein, CEO, Global Drone Solutions
- Louise Jupp, founder, Terreco Aviation
- Duncan Lees, 3D-scanning specialist, Visualskies
- Manu Lubrano, cofounder, INVOLI
- Ellie Mackay, founder, Ellipsis Earth
- Dr. Pippa Malmgren, economic advisor and author
- Eugene Maseya, cofounder, MamaBird
- Queen Ndlovu, drone author and CEO & cofounder, QP Drone Tech
- Stephen Oh, founder, XM2 PURSUIT
- Anna Plaster, director, OASIS
- Tiamiyou Radji, director, Senegal Flying Labs
- Simon Ritterband, founder, Moonrock Drone Insurance
- Smit Shah, director of partnerships, Drone Federation of India
- Will Stamatopoulos, airline pilot and director, In Motion Aero
- Hannah Tew, innovation lead, Future Flight at Innovate UK
- Prof. Antonios Tsourdos, director of research, Cranfield University
- Charles Werner, director, DRONERESPONDERS
- Gareth Whatmore, cofounder & CEO, DronePrep
Photo: Visualskies
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