GII Award
| National Information Infrastructure Awards | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States of America |
| Presented by | Access Media Inc. / Ziff-Davis |
| First awarded | 1995 |
The NII Awards was an awards program designed to recognize excellence and innovation in use of the Internet. The National Information Infrastructure Awards, later known as the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Awards were given from 1995 though 1999.
The NII Awards were created in 1995 by Access Media Inc. (based in Santa Monica, California), with James Hake as Chairman. By 1999 Melanie McMullen was General Manager of the GII Awards. The Awards were supported by more than 70 corporate, media, government and public sponsors. Businesses, community organizations, government agencies and individuals were all eligible to submit entries to the competition. Winners of the GII Awards include Yahoo!, The Schwab WebSite/Charles Schwab & Co., ThinkQuest and The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition.
In 1996 Vice President Al Gore was quoted in a press release: "The winners of the NII Awards represent real-life benefits delivered through the NII and give us an encouraging look at what is possible in the future. These examples help all Americans understand the promise and potential of the information superhighway."
The 1995 NII Awards attracted more than 550 entries and 180 judges. Entries were submitted from February to May, and the winners were announced on July 12, 1995. The Awards were presented in Washington, D.C. at a dinner emceed by talk show personality Dick Cavett.
The 1996 NII Awards attracted more than 850 entries and 200 judges. From 60 finalists, the winners' Awards were presented on December 3, 1996 in Washington, D.C.
By 1997 the name was changed to Global Information Infrastructure (GII) Award, although entries were required to be in English, and based principally in the United States.
The deadline for entries was originally July 7 - August 27, 1997, but was extended to November 24, 1997. From over 800 entries from 41 states, an average of 31 semi-finalists advanced in each of the eleven categories, with 68 entries announced as Finalists on March 6, 1998. Recipients of the 1997 GII Awards were expected be announced at the annual GII Awards Ceremony scheduled for December 2, or in the spring of 1998, in New York City. In fact, winners presentations were held during the Comdex show in Chicago, on April 20, 1998 in the Grand Ballroom at the Chicago Hilton and Towers, emceeed by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
...
Wikipedia