Tech Awards 2023 – Cast your Vote

YOUR VOTE MATTERS!

It’s time to have your say at the 2023 Prolific North Tech Awards. We’re on a mission to celebrate the individuals that are challenging the status quo in their respective fields. From experienced leaders to rising stars, our nominees are building teams and businesses that will change the way you think about tech. Read more about them all below and have your say.

Voting has ended!

TECH YOUNG RISING STAR

Polly Price - Axiologik

Polly Price

Polly Price, Principal Product Manager at Axiologik, is a real rising star. It's not just her digital product management skills that are truly admirable; her rare combination of professional skills and personal attributes make her a genuine innovator within her field.

Polly uses her potent combination of attributes to really make a difference. At her current level, she has already made a significant contribution to the nation's health, significantly impacting society. Polly is making natural waves at this early stage of her career; imagine what she can do in the future. As an advocate for women in tech and eager to encourage many of the younger female generation to consider a role in technology, Polly has a genuine drive to change the narrative, shape the future and inspire others. She deserves this reward for her outstanding achievements.

Vote for Polly by completing the voting form at the bottom of the page.

Caitlin Brown - Newcastle Strategic Solutions

Caitlin Brown

Caitlin truly is a rising star, not only in how her skills are developing but in how she is developing as an individual. Having recently finished her degree while working for Newcastle Strategic Solutions, Caitlin has been integral to the success of the Early Talent programme as both an example for future applicants, and as a supporter.

Caitlin’s talent and passion for tech shines through within the business and in the wider sector. She often goes above and beyond to inspire the next generation of tech talent – including presenting her Machine Learning findings at the TechNExt Festival, and volunteering to teach after school Coding Clubs for primary school children.

Caitlin deserves this award because not only is she very talented and will no doubt achieve big things, she’s also using her knowledge and experience to bring others on the journey with her.

Vote for Caitlin by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Martin Sabucha - Stag Strat

Martin Sabucha

Martin possesses a diverse background. Originally from Slovakia with a STEM background in Electronic Engineering from the Tesla Institute, he later moved to the UK for work. After three years in the UK, he decided to return to university, earning a BSc in Financial Management and a master's in Finance from the University of York.

In a world where certainty often takes the lead, few individuals possess the humility to openly admit their lack of knowledge or their capacity for error.

Even rarer are those who willingly challenge their own beliefs and acknowledge when they are wrong, this is not Martin's case.

He's all about keeping an open mind and not holding on too tight to his own ideas. Believing in a world that's always changing, where fresh thinking and good ideas matter most.

Martin should win because gets straight to the point and saves you enough time to enjoy an extra cup of coffee.

Vote for Martin by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Tom Reynolds - EdenFiftyOne

Tom Reynolds

Four days after completing his English degree in Manchester, Tom was diagnosed dyslexic. Within twelve months, he had fast-tracked as a state-school English teacher and set out on a career-mission to demystify the learning process. As a classroom teacher, 5x 'Head of English' and a nationwide 'Specialist Leader of Education', Tom has helped 1000s of students, 100s of teachers and state secondary schools all over the country to achieve their best-ever results! Having studied and deconstructed English exam board specifications from across the world, Tom identified only 51 universal skills at the core of global English education. Re-imagined and re-engineered from his trusty Excel spreadsheet, EdenFiftyOne is the award-winning edtech platform that empowers teachers, engages learners and encapsulates Tom's step-by-step and skill-by-skill approach.

Winning the Prolific North ‘Tech Rising-Star Award’ would mark a monumental month for Tom and for EdenFiftyOne™.

This September:

Tom presented the latest EdenFiftyOne platform to education leaders across Greece
Tom became a ‘full-time-founder’ and EdenFiftyOne’s ‘Mission Lead’
EdenFiftyOne welcomes two new members of staff [technology and marketing]
Two grant-funded projects begin [including an Innovate UK ‘AI Feasibility Study’ and a ‘Workplace Literacy’ project with UFI VocTech
The platform is launched to UK schools/MATs
Tom finalises meetings with the DBT/ ASEAN state education leaders at the BETT Asia expo, in October
EdenFiftyOne begins its first investment raise!

Vote for Tom by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

TECH LEADER OF THE YEAR

Gemma McCall - Culture Shift

Gemma McCall

Gemma has a background in sales but felt the male-dominated and high pressure environment that often bordered or crossed over into a toxic one was not one she wanted to be in but one she wanted to challenge and change.

Gemma should win because she is a transparent, empathetic and personable leader and an inspiration to many within and beyond Culture Shift as our Co-Founder, CEO, a woman and a working mother.

Her mindset is that we are collectively striving to be a tech for good organisation that is mission-led, perfectly balancing the passion needed to spread that mission and encourage the team to continue pushing sales that will ultimately help it - she understands both go hand-in-hand and believes it can be done.

Additionally, her previous awards and many nominations prove she is a leader to look up to.

Vote for Gemma by completing the voting form at the bottom of the page.

Stewart Boutcher - Veracity Trust Network

Stewart Boutcher

Stewart Boutcher is Chief Technology Officer and Data Lead for Veracity Trust Network [VTN], specialists in protecting websites and online advertising from fraud.

The Veracity Trust Network initiative is a UK success story, and Stewart is hugely proud of the role he has played in the business. In his role at VTN and throughout his career, Stewart has become a leading voice in the sphere of cybersecurity, and his thought leadership articles and interviews regularly featured in print and online media.

His contributions to the industry have been outstanding, and he remains committed to the important task of raising awareness of the threats that bots pose to online businesses of all types and sizes. As such, he should win this year’s award.

Vote for Stewart by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Nick Foster - CYFOR Legal

Nick Foster

Meet Nick Foster, our visionary eDiscovery Technical Manager at CYFOR Legal. With over a decade of experience, Nick's journey began in Police DFU and transitioned to the Public Sector before assuming key roles in an FTSE100 company, UK vendors, and respected consultancies.

Nick has demonstrated himself as an invaluable asset not just to his team, but to the entire business. Nick is not one to give himself the credit he deserves for the work he does here at CYFOR Legal. The team acknowledges the immense value he brings, and we believe it's essential to recognise his worth.

Nick's remarkable work and achievements within the company exemplify his dedication and expertise. His role as a tech spearhead is indispensable to the CYFOR Legal team, driving them to surpass targets and ensuring that his absence would create a significant gap in our capabilities.

Vote for Nick by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Louise Toal - The Distance App Agency

Louise Toal

Louise Toal is a remarkable leader and Managing Director of The Distance, a thriving App Agency founded 14 years ago that she has been an integral part of.

Why Louise deserves this award is crystal clear. Her journey from Project Manager to Managing Director is a testament to her relentless pursuit of excellence. Her mentorship, leadership, and humour have been a ray of sunshine.

Vote for Louise by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Tom Dunlop - Summize

Tom Dunlop

Tom is the CEO and Co-Founder of Summize, a Manchester-based high-growth legal tech business founded in 2018.

Summize is a unique and high performing business where the results are speaking for themselves under Tom’s leadership.

Summize’s company values are based around the memorable concept of GROW, a notion that really sums up the ethos of the journey so far. Like Tom, the company never stands still, regularly announcing new benefits or enhancements that will drive things forward. This includes a 1% improvement award (issued monthly to the best small idea) and a flexible personal development fund.

Tom has a talent for inspiring those around him, resulting in exceptional results for a young SaaS company based in Manchester.

Vote for Tom by completing the voting form at the bottom of the page.

Liz Rhodes - Art of Cloud

Liz Rhodes

Liz Rhodes is Art of Cloud’s inspirational CEO - an inspiring, female leader who uses her combination of personal and professional skills to do tech differently.

Vote for Liz by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Andy Eva-Dale - Tangent

Andy Eva-Dale

Introducing Andy: Pioneering Tech Leadership for a Sustainable Future.

Andy's legacy is etched not just in his achievements but in his ethos of overcoming challenges, fostering sustainability, and giving back both to the industry and the community but to the next generation of tech leaders too. His journey reflects an exceptional blend of technical excellence and human resilience.

By triumphing over personal obstacles, Andy has become an exemplar, deserving of the Tech Leader of the Year award.

Vote for Andy by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Richard Carter - Lenvi

Richard Carter

With over 30 year experience, Richard has spent his entire career working in technology in financial services, specifically the lending industry.

Richard invests his time in promoting the Fintech industry and is widely respected for his expertise and thought leadership.
He is continually looking for ways to nurture, improve and showcase the talent within the Fintech sector. Be that through mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs as an Angel Investor, sharing his business knowledge at events and giving a voice to young industry talent and businesses or advising on the board of organisations that seek to promote the North as a technology powerhouse and connect the UK Fintech sector as a whole.

Vote for Richard by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Rich McIntrye - BJSS

Rich McIntyre

Rich is a versatile full-stack engineer with expertise spanning JavaScript, Ruby, Elixir, Java, and PHP.

Rich is an inspiration to many people across the Leeds tech scene. He continuously shares his knowledge and best practice and influences to get the best from others. His energy, passion and hard work inspires the next generation of technologists from future leaders to early careers colleagues taking their first steps into tech. He engages less technical people in an accessible and engaging way to make tech open to all.

He is extremely selfless with his time and effort running countless initiatives and groups across the Yorkshire tech scene in his own time, on top of his challenging day job.

Vote for Rich by completing the voting form at the bottom of the page.

Sherin Mathew - AI Tech UK

Sherin Mathew

Sherin’s vision is to make the world a better place for all with accountable use of technology. His goal is to provide an abundance of advice to SMEs and communities to build beneficial solutions.

Sherin is an exceptional nominee who deserves to win this award for his outstanding contributions. His role as a Northern AI champion working closely with national and regional governments at the policy level has been truly inspirational. He empowers change and makes a substantial impact through his expertise. Notably, he was appointed by the West Yorkshire mayor as an AI Advisor for the regional digital strategy, highlighting his influential role in shaping AI initiatives.

Sherin's dedication and influence in driving AI advancements make him the ideal recipient, particularly this year, as his work continues to reshape the landscape of AI.

Vote for Sherin by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Sebastian Leaper - Watercycle Technologies Ltd

Sebastian Leaper

The company was founded by Dr Sebastian (Seb) Leaper, who completed the Graphene NOWNANO Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) programme in 2019.

Seb has achieved many remarkable milestones in his career. But this year he has led his company to major breakthroughs that will be absolutely essential for the UK economy, the Northwest (levelling up) and beyond.

He is a dedicated and focused leader with a genuine care for our planet and its people and of course us at Water cycle Technologies.

Vote for Sebastian by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

Adam Roney - Calls9

Adam Roney

From a trainee solicitor at Eversheds Sutherland to the Founder and CEO of Calls9, Adam Roney's career has been a journey driven by his passion for emerging technologies and digital.

Adam exemplifies the ethos of a Tech Leader through his technical acumen and his human-centric approach. He harnesses technology to better the experiences of businesses and their people. 2023 has seen Adam make remarkable strides in demystifying complex subjects like Web3 and Generative AI, helping the community grasp the tangible benefits of digital transformation.

Through innovative programmes and key advisory roles in initiatives such as AI Tech UK and LegalTech in Leeds, Adam has indelibly shaped both his business and the tech sector. His timely and transformative influence makes him an ideal candidate for this year's award.transformation.

Vote for Adam by completing the form at the bottom of this page.

cast your vote

Voting has now been suspended. Keep an eye out at the ceremony on November 9 for the winners!

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