BPN 1432: New York: Here is the WSYA (4)

For many of the winners the Monday was the focal point of their trip to New York: the award ceremony. The ceremony was held in the center of New York. And it looked like NYC was prepared for it, for there was police on every corner around the Roger Smith Hotel. But with so many government heads around such as the Iranian Ahmadinijad, New York had another traffic infarct. But the Roger Smith Hotel is a fountain of inspiration among this crazy city. Outside and inside there are statues.
The ceremony itself was attended by a number of dignitaries. There was the minister of Information Society in Macedonia. From the mobile world there was the president of Mobile Communication. From Bahrain was there the CEO of Alnadeem Information Technology. A long-time supporter of the WSYA is ISOC. Also present was the representative of the Knight Foundation, a sponsor for the WSYA. New in the group of sponsors and friends of WSYA was Telfree from South Africa. And it was a pleasure to see Ramon Alberto Garza Garcia, the president and CEO Indigo Brainmedia in Monterrey (Mexico), a winner of World Summit Award in 2007 and the host of the WSA Gala in Monterrey in 2009.

The award consisted of a certificate, a statue of liberty and a pin of the WSA. There is no prize money as there is a lack of prize money. In this competition money is not the objective. It is recognition of the efforts made by the winners. Part of the recognition is the publication of all winning projects in a brochure and on online.

In the afternoon the WSYA winners were treated to a visit to Bloomberg, the financial data and news company. The visit started with a registration at the entrance desk. Identifications were copied and checked and photographs taken for the tag. Then the tour through the Bloomburg started. It is a very open building with glass. In this way you could see the radio and television stations and a lot of desks, where people collect financial data and aggregate news from several countries. Bloomberg has come up fast since 1981 pushing old organisations such as Reuters aside. Bloomberg uses all media possible like a cloud: radio, tv, mobile and internet. Having bought Business Week it is now also a print publisher.

BPN 1432