Windsor, Ontario – Monday, October 29^th 2018 – Close to two hundred attendees walked the red carpet tonight for the 2^nd Annual YQG Tech Awards that recognized outstanding tech leaders in Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent.

The Tech Awards were organized by WEtech Alliance, sponsored by AlphaKOR Group and hosted at the swanky J.P. Wiser’s Brand Centre.

“This is a night to bring our tight knit tech community even closer together and celebrate the professionals and companies moving tech forward in our region,” says Yvonne Pilon, President and CEO of WEtech Alliance.

The winners of this year’s Tech Awards included:

·    Aphria – Tech Company of the Year
·    Janice Kaffer – Tech CEO of the Year
·    Dr. Tricia Carmichael – Tech Researcher of the Year
·    Renee Pare – Tech Professional of the Year
·    Noah Campbell – Young Tech Professional of the Year
·    Fouada Hamzeh – Tech Teacher of the Year
·    Sheri Lynn Koscielski – Tech Mentor of the Year
·    Orangeline Farms – Technology Adoption
·    Scribendi – Technology Innovation
·    Deliverbae – Tech Startup of the Year
·    Paul Riser – WEtech Choice Award (Individual)
·    Libro Credit Union – WEtech Choice Award (Organization/Company)

The winners were selected through a two-part process that included unique public voting via Facebook (1/3^rd) as well as deliberation from our distinguished panel of judges (2/3^rd). Over 3,300 votes were cast by the public over one week in September. Winners also received a unique award created by local artist, David Creed.

The Tech Awards were followed by the Nerd Olympics Closing Ceremonies powered by Green Shield Canada. The three month-long Nerd Olympics pitted sixteen tech companies and organizations against each other in a series of Olympic style challenges such as bubble soccer, go-karts, lawn bowling, foot golf, darts and board games.

The winners of the Nerd Olympics – and the hosts of the Nerd Cup for 2018/19 – are Team Brave Control Solutions.

“Nerd Olympics is a great way to build camaraderie within tech companies and also between tech companies and organizations,“ says Frank Abbruzzese, President of AlphaKOR and founding member of WEtech Alliance. “It strengthens what we are trying to build here, and that is a vibrant tech community that works hard, plays hard and looks after each other.”

The evening also featured a stirring keynote by Nicholas Shields and Cameron Hucker – co-founders of Suede Productions – on the importance of community storytelling and featured the official release of the third #yourWindsor video that highlights our amazing community as a destination for tech talent.

The Tech Launch evening was sponsored by the University of Windsor’s EPICentre.

“The EPICentre is proud to support initiatives like Tech Launch, which are all about supporting and celebrating entrepreneurs, innovation and tech talent,” says Wen Teoh, Venture Start Director at the University of Windsor EPICentre.