Dynamites24 celebrate region’s tech superstars

The Dynamites24 Awards attracted more than 450 attendees and more than 120 entries across 14 award categories.

This year’s awards were hosted by comedian Suzi Ruffell and were organised by Dynamo, the region’s industry-led tech network. Duncan Leatherdale, an award-winning journalist, interviewed guests throughout the evening.

The eleventh annual awards were held in Newcastle Civic Centre’s Banqueting Hall and sponsored by Nigel Wright Recruitment.

In a welcoming speech Dr David Dunn, CEO at Dynamo, congratulated the winners and those shortlisted and thanked the awards sponsors. David also announced a new Dynamo Digital Inclusion Fund (in partnership with the Community Foundation) which will raise money to help combat digital exclusion in the region.

Chair of Judges Pete Daykin, CEO and co-founder at Wordnerds, and Megan Johnson, Associate Director at sponsors Nigel Wright Recruitment, also gave welcome speeches.

There was a wide spread of winners, with tech companies large and small scooping awards, as well as organisations with IT departments.

The first winner of the evening was Kinewell Energy, who won the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Award. The company’s CEO and founder, Dr Andrew Jenkins, said: “We’re thrilled to win this category – EDI runs through the business, everything we do is from an EDI perspective.

“We have a number of incentives to help people from diverse communities and disadvantaged backgrounds into the business, and we’re delighted this work has been recognised.”

Charlie Hoult, co-founder of Dynamo and co-founder and Chair of Newcastle-based tech consultancy Opencast, was a popular winner of the Tech Champion Award. Charlie said: “I’m chuffed to win. I’ve been grafting for the tech sector for a dozen or more years, championing the work done in the region down in London and shining a light on all the great stuff we do.

“The joy of Dynamites is to see the work of so many recognised and rewarded. It’s lovely to see the spotlight turned on the talent we have here, for them to have their moment, especially those who don’t expect the recognition but fully deserve it. For some, these are life changing moments.”

Jack Gooday, who was at the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC), but is now working for cyber-security specialists Evalian, won the Rising Star category.

Jack worked part-time at NEBRC while completing his cyber security degree at Northumbria University. Jack said: “I’m surprised, but delighted at winning the award, it’s the highlight of my career so far.

“I really enjoyed my time at NEBRC and learned a great deal – I’m now a Penetration Tester at Evalian.”

The Dynamites24 award winners were:

·      Best Use of Data, sponsored by Oliver Wyman

Winner – Northumberland County Council

·      Equality, Diversity & Inclusion, sponsored by Gateshead College

Winner – Kinewell Energy

·      Growth Explosion, sponsored by LDC

Highly Commended – iamproperty

Winner – Leighton

·      International Success, sponsored by Invest Newcastle

Highly Commended – Wootzano

Winner – Inflo

·      North East Tech Startup, sponsored by the North East Business Resilience Centre

Winner – SQCDP

·      Project Excellence, sponsored by Neptune North

Highly Commended – Pandas-V Overhead Line and Pantograph Monitoring Solutions by Transmission Dynamics

Winner – The DWP Garage – Whitemail by DWP and Accenture

·      Remarkable Innovation (SME), sponsored by Greggs

Winner – Transmission Dynamics

·      Remarkable Innovation (Large Org), sponsored by Greggs

Winner – LNER

·      Rising Star

Winner – Jack Gooday, Evalian Data Protection Services

·      The Skills Developer

Highly Commended – Layers Studio

Winner – Bede Gaming

·      Sustainability in Tech, sponsored by Sage

Winner – Aspire Technology Solutions

·      Tech Champion, sponsored by Nigel Wright Group

Highly Commended – Jo York

Winner – Charlie Hoult

·      Tech for Good, sponsored by tombola

Highly Commended – Virtual Memory Box

Winner – GL Assessment

·      People’s Choice

Winner, with 12 per cent of the overall vote – Layers Studio

James Bunting, Chair of the Dynamo Advisory Board, added: “The awards are a reminder of how many innovative, ambitious and successful tech companies we have in the north east, and the talent within those companies and organisations. The Dynamites are a really important date in the regional tech calendar – and they’re always a terrific night of fun, pride and celebration.”

This year’s main judging panel consisted of: Danielle Phillips, Director and Principal Consultant at Inside Out Communications; Phil Scott, Director of Software Delivery at NBS; Janet Onyia, Director of Transformation and Change, Opencast; Nathanial Ray, Head of Technology and Business Intelligence at St Oswalds Hospice; Veronica Spowart, Director of Faculty: Digital and Creative Industries, Newcastle College; Pete Daykin, Founder, wordnerds; Suzanne Sheriff, Technology Delivery Lead Senior Manager, Accenture; Lauren Bradshaw, Deputy Director, Communications and Development, Teesside University; Chris Dresser, Managing Consultant, Nigel Wright Group; Rachel Burdis, Inward Investment Manager, Invest North East England; Fiona Yip, External Technology Relations Manager at Sage, and Graeme Fletcher, Technical Director at mkoko.

For more coverage of Dynamites24 go to  https://dynamitesawards.co.uk