1st annual Open Knowledge Awards announces the winners

Stockholm, 2016/12/05 – By giving seven well deserved prizes in seven different categories, Open Knowledge Awards(OKA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 1st annual event: The purpose with the Open Knowledge Awards is not only to raise awareness on the use of open knowledge for transparency and innovation, but also to give recognition for their work. Each awardee has through the prize now received recognition, appreciation and a quality mark for the best use of open knowledge in Sweden. Members of jury were Serdar Temiz, Jessica Cederberg Wodmar, Annika Lidne, Terrence Brown and Peter Krantz, where Jessica Cederberg Wodmar and Terrence Brown also were moderators.

The winners for the 2016 Open Knowledge Awards are:

Helena Löfving for Best Data Journalism - Visualization datasets for news is a good way of creating meaning. Helena Löfving works as data journalist and used open data for journalism, she also presented a role model to other journalists on usage of datasets.

Jonas Nordin for Best Public Servant - This is an important year, and Jonas Nordin has done a wonderful job in 2016 to get different actors and parts of Sweden to uphold and celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our constitutional law – our Freedom of Press and Freedom of Information. He is a tireless advocate for an open democratic society through the importance of Freedom of Press and Freedom of Information.

Helsingborg Kommun for Best Municipality/Region - They have been a role model for all other municipalities which is pushing itself and others the most about open data in all of Sweden. They provide free support and ask citizens to submit what data they want them to prioritize and open.

Westander for Best Transparency Initiative - Westander is a PR-bureau in Sweden that performs self-regulation and has an “openness”-demand. They also openly publish all their client assignments to show who pays them to influence the democratic system, public opinion and political representatives. They also lobby to change the law to increase transparency among PR and lobbying companies.

Dopter AB for Best Business Initiative - Dopter has been helping many municipalities and organizations with their open data projects, such as Trafiklab, Nobel Prize API and their activities for Nordic Api conference.

Anslagstavlan (Christopher Kullenbergs & Fredrik Brouneus) for Best Open Science Anslagstavlan is an open science project involving thousands of school children in a real research project run by project manager Fredrik Brouneus, with Christopher Kullenberg as the main researcher.

Allmanhandling.se for Best Civil Society - The civil society initiative not only provides a free FAQ for all citizens online at the website but also gives the latest updates / examples on the use of Freedom of Information. The initiative started by Per Hagström.

Open Knowledge Awards is sponsored by Wikimedia Sverige, which has been the financial backbone for the event. Open Knowledge is also partnering with KTH’s Industrial Marketing and Entrepreneurship Division, which has been letting us use their building for the event, this in itself has a symbolic value as KTH is a centre for knowledge and innovation.

Further information and pictures - The Open Knowledge Awards website: www.okawards.org

Contact person - Asmen Gül, Project manager: asmen@okfn.se Phone: 0739753018