The 12th Annual Lovie Awards

Meet the New Judges for the 12th Annual Lovie Awards

The Lovie Awards and its international sister award programme The Webby Awards are presented by the International Academy of Arts & Sciences (IADAS), an esteemed group of industry experts shaping the future of the Internet from around the world. Meet some this year’s new members in Europe.

With over 500 members across Europe, IADAS is the member body of Internet visionaries who devote their time to reviewing all Lovie submissions, and carefully select the very best work created for the Internet each year. As the Internet grows and evolves, so does IADAS, and we’re proud to welcome a range of new judges this year.

To best recognise the breadth of work being made across the European Internet, this year’s Lovies has introduced new honours for exciting emerging technology including Web3, NFTs, the Metaverse, and more. The first Lovie Award winners in these new categories will set the benchmark for excellence in this space, and our new judges will help pave the way.

Stephanie Ijoma - Founder & CEO of NNESAGA, and Co-Founder of ION agency

Stephanie Ijoma is the CEO & Founder of U.K’s leading premium gaming & entertainment platforms NNESAGA. NNESAGA focuses on championing diversity, inclusion, representation and equity for marginlised communities. Clients include; Playstation, XBOX, 2K, Beats by Dre, Pandora, H&M, Ubisoft, Nike, Twitch etc. Stephanie is also CEO and co-founder of U.K’s first black owned Influencer & marketing Gaming/Tech agency; I.O.N Agency. Client include; Coolermaster, SEGA, Ubisoft.

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Eliot Higgins - Founder, Bellingcat

Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, a multi-award winning investigative collective focused on online open-source investigation. Higgins is currently creative director of Bellingcat’s investigative arm, Stichting Bellingcat, and director of Bellingcat’s production company, Bellingcat Productions BV. Higgins launched Bellingcat in 2014, a new website intended to provide a place for readers to learn how to do their own open-source investigations, and to contribute their own investigative work to the website.

Bellingcat was launched with funding raised through Kickstarter, and quickly became known internationally thanks to the work of its community on the downing on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) on July 17th 2014, ultimately identifying the missile launcher that shot down MH17 as originating from Russia’s 53rd air defence brigade.

In 2021 Higgins published the Sunday Times best-seller, We Are Bellingcat, about the work of Bellingcat and the development of the field of online open-source investigation.

Most recently Higgins has been involved with the launch of Bellingcat Productions BV, which aim to build on the success of Bellingcat’s podcasts and documentaries about Bellingcat’s work to produce films, podcasts, and television series based on the work of Bellingcat.

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Alex El-Meligi - Co-Founder, Demodern

Alex is the Co-Founder of Demodern, an award-winning creative technology agency. Founded in 2009, Demodern has been spearheading innovative work for international brands. Since then, its projects have put clients at the forefront of digital transformation. From immersive AR and VR experiences, to cutting-edge websites and apps, to entire virtual events and interactive installations. Clients range from Daimler, IKEA, and Nike, to name a few.

Alex is a recognized thought-leader, just as comfortable leading with his vision, as he is diving into the details of software development or product design. He also has a passion for people and processes, especially on how to find the right processes and structures for a long-term culture of innovation.

In 2021, he followed his passion for D&I and took over as a member of the ADC Diversity Board, a group committed to securing wider systemic change in the creative industries.

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James Delaney - Founder & Managing Director of Blockworks, and Chairman of Block by Block Foundation

James Delaney is the Chairman of the Block by Block Foundation, a non-profit partnership between UNHabitat, Mojang and Microsoft which uses Minecraft as a community participation tool in urban design, helping those who often have no voice in public projects to design their own city spaces. The Foundation has helped create 134 public spaces around the world, with more than 2.3 million people now enjoying safe access to spaces designed in Minecraft.

James is also the founder and Managing Director of BlockWorks, a collective of designers, artists, and developers from around the world with a shared passion for Minecraft. BlockWorks has grown from an informal group to a global design studio that has pioneered the use of Minecraft as a design tool with film studios, marketing firms, and educational institutions. In 2016, James published Beautiful Minecraft, a compendium of stunning artworks built in the game by the BlockWorks team.

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Raphael Sofoluke - Visionary, Founder & CEO of the UK Black Business Show

Raphael Sofoluke is the Visionary, Founder and CEO behind The UK Black Business Show & UK Black Business Week.

The UK Black Business Show, founded in 2017, is an annual conference and exhibition show which takes place during Black History Month to highlight and promote the amazing businesses founded by people from the black community.

Raphael has spoken for and featured on several well-known platforms including NatWest, BBC, ITV News, Forbes, Mastercard, CBS, Facebook & BET as well as a personal invite to 10 Downing street in Black History Month.

Raphael has also launched the Black Tech Achievement Awards which is set-up to celebrate and acknowledge black role models and innovators within the tech sector and to help illuminate the pathways to greater black representation of the community within the industry. The first show was also sponsored by JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, BT and Facebook with BBC News Filming and broadcasting the event on the day. In 2020, Raphael was also listed as one of Forbes 25 Leading Black British Business people to follow.

Raphael is also the Co-Author of Twice as Hard book alongside his wife. In 2021, Raphael launched the UK Black Business Week, the first dedicated week in the UK for Black Business Owners, Professionals and Allies of the Black Community. The week had up to 8,000 attendees and included sponsors such as JP Morgan, HSBC, American Express, Moody’s, EY and More. With Speakers such as Sir Trevor McDonald, June Sarpong and more.

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Marvyn Harrison - Founder & CEO, Dope Black Dads and BELOVD

Marvyn Harrison is an inspirational community leader and businessman who is able to deliver business goals and vision using sound strategy, communication, and people management. Respected as a credible source of knowledge of community and Cultural strategy, Marvyn is able to drive cultural change and deliver tangible results across business, projects, and campaigns.

His leadership experience as the founder and driving force behind Dope Black CIC, an educational and healing platform designed to improve the outcomes of black people, has seen him become the voice of the Black community across the UK, US, and African continent.

Marvyn is the co-founder and VP of Strategy, Marketing and Sales of BELOVD Agency, a DEI consultancy working for the advancement of all intersections of humanity in the workplace and places of education.

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Maggie Philbin - Founder, Teen Tech

Maggie Philbin has worked in radio and television for over 30 years on a wide range of science, medical and technology programmes from Tomorrow’s World to Bang Goes The Theory. In 2008 she co-founded TeenTech, an award-winning organisation which works across the UK getting young people innovating, creating, building skills and preparing for a fast changing future. TeenTech helps students, parents and teachers understand the real opportunities in contemporary industry.

She received the WISE Award for Communication and Outreach for her work promoting diversity in 2013. In June 2016 she was voted most influential woman in UK IT by Computer Weekly and also named 2016 Digital Leader of the Year. She was awarded an OBE in Jan 2017 for her work to promote careers in STEM and the Creative Industries. In July 2017 she received the Tech4Good Special Award.

She is patron of the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing and has been awarded ten honorary degrees and fellowships for her work with the most recent due to be presented in May 2022.

TeenTech helps young people understand opportunities in contemporary industry, no matter what their gender or social background. Their engaging, sharply focussed initiatives reach students aged 8-19 and are carefully planned to involve teachers and parents as they are the main influencers in career decisions. Over 300 companies and 40 UK universities work with TeenTech helping deliver their exciting programmes to students across the UK.

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Kayleigh Oliver - VR Specialist and Founder of FOBBS Platform

Kayleigh Oliver is a mum of 2, a small business owner and development professional with over 14 years of experience in development and testing roles within award-winning tech companies. Her experience within development and testing for web, games, cloud services, mobile, and virtual reality apps spans over 14 years within award-winning tech companies.

She has been featured in both Forbes and the Financial Times, was a finalist for the UK Black Tech Achievement Social Good 2020 award, was named one of fifty most Inspiring Women in Tech in the UK 2021, and recently won the Precious Awards Leadership award 2021.

Kayleigh is also the founder and developer of the app development company Junction 5 Studios. It aims to build unique applications that create a positive impact on the lives of its users.

Because of her first-hand experience being a minority in the tech space, Kayleigh is passionate about helping and encouraging women and other black individuals into the tech industry. She started this by sharing on her own website, guest posting, and speaking at events. She intends to use Junction 5 to help further this cause with her latest project, Figures of Black British Society (FOBBS). FOBBS is intended to be a comprehensive resource to learn about Black British figures both historical and current-day leaders. With this app, exposing the great achievements of Black Britons, she hopes to help inspire the next generation to dream bigger, be better, and achieve whatever they want.

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Ebba Grenninger - Deputy CEO and Creative Director, Jung

Ebba Grenninger is an award-winning Creative Director working in the advertising and pr industry in Stockholm, Sweden. Ebba is the Deputy CEO and Creative Director at acclaimed boutique creative agency Jung Relations. Ebba regularly sits on creative advertising award juries and holds lectures on creativity. Her capability to capture the zeitgeist and create communication that bridges the gap between innovative PR and traditional advertising has led to many successful campaigns for world renowned brands.

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Dan Heyman - Co-Founder & CEO, Palm NFT Studio

Dan Heyman is a blockchain industry veteran with experience building and leading organizations through the design, development, and implementation of enterprise-grade blockchain protocols. Prior to co-founding Palm, Dan was the Co-Founder of PegaSys, which is now ConsenSys’ Protocol Engineering division. During his 3+ years at PegaSys, Dan built out a team that worked across Ethereum 1.0, Ethereum 2.0 and Enterprise Ethereum blockchain protocols, the last of which serves at the foundation for the Palm blockchain.

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Matt Mason - Chief Content Officer, Palm NFT Studio

Matt Mason is the Chief Content Officer at Palm NFT Studio, where he’s responsible for developing partnerships and creative strategies with artists, creators and content owners who want to launch NFTs on the Palm Network. A senior executive with 20 years experience in marketing, strategy, product management and content creation, Matt has previously served as Chief Marketing Officer at Kraken, was named by Fast Company as one of its “Most Creative People” for his work at BitTorrent, Inc. as Chief Content Officer building a direct-to-fan content platform that hands control back to creators, and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of RWD Magazine, one of the UK’s leading music magazines. He has launched (and re-launched) global brands and written a best-selling book on innovation, strategy, and culture.

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Guy Gadney - Co-founder & CEO, Charisma

Guy Gadney runs Charisma Entertainment, using Machine Learning to power virtual characters for the entertainment industries and the metaverse. He has previously worked on pioneering interactive entertainment products for global media organizations such as the BBC, Sky, Penguin Books, FOX, and has produced Emmy and BAFTA nominated products for drama and factual television series. Guy is Chair of the Arts at the Old Fire Station venue in Oxford, on the UK5G Creative Industries Working Group, and has given keynote speeches on AI and Creativity around the world. He is a co-founder of The Collaborative AI Consortium, promoting creative leadership in AI developments. With Charisma, Guy is transforming interactive entertainment through the use of advanced technology, producing projects for Sky, the BBC, Warner Bros Discovery, and inspiring a new generation of game designers and developers to pioneer new forms of entertainment.

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Michele Lawrence Jawando - Senior Vice President of Programs, Omidyar Network

As Omidyar Network’s first senior vice president of programs, Michele oversees the program teams’ global mission across impact themes as Omidyar Network works to tackle the biggest, most intractable challenges facing the planet in the decades ahead. Before joining Omidyar Network, Michele Jawando was the head of US strategic engagement and public policy partnerships at Google.

Michele has also served as general counsel and senior advisor to United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as well as Foreign Relations Chair, Congressman Gregory Meeks, where she spearheaded bipartisan legislative achievements on behalf of each of the members, including passage of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act, and the confirmations of Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, among others. A regular commentator for international and US television, print, and radio, Jawando is an author, serial entrepreneur, and afro-tech futurist who believes that we can create and build the future we desire across our differences.

Jawando received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and a B.A. from Hampton University. She is the wife of the Honorable William Jawando, Esq. of Maryland and the mother of four young children.

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Anamitra Deb - Managing Director, Responsible Technology Team, Omidyar Network

As Managing Director on the Responsible Technology team, Anamitra leads Omidyar Network’s work on encrypted messaging, platforms and power, and alternative business models, with a vision for technology that underpins greater individual empowerment, social opportunity, and user safety.

Previously, Anamitra was global lead of the intellectual capital team, which helped to shape Omidyar Network’s strategic direction and incubate areas of work including Digital Identity and the Tech and Society Solutions Lab. Prior to joining the firm, Anamitra was an associate partner at the Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte), where he co-founded the Monitor Inclusive Markets practice in 2007. Globally, he led senior client engagements in financial inclusion, livelihoods, healthcare, and impact investing. His work has been featured in publications like The Washington Post, The Times of India, and the Financial Times, and included in seminal reports on market-based solutions and impact investing. He has spoken at landmark conferences and taught classes on these topics.
Anamitra received two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and is a graduate of Mount Allison University and the Lester B Pearson UWC in Canada.

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Thomas Dixon - Historian; Host, 'The Sound of Anger' Podcast

Thomas Dixon is Professor of History at Queen Mary University of London, where
he researches and teaches the history of emotions. His podcast series, ‘The Sound of Anger’, exploring varieties of wrath, rage, and vexation, won Gold in two categories at the British Podcast Awards in 2020, and a Silver Lovie award in 2021.
Other media work has included a 15-part BBC Radio 4 series ‘Five Hundred Years of Friendship’; a ‘Short History of Solitude’ made during lockdown, also on Radio 4; and the 2019 BBC Free Thinking Lecture, entitled ‘Feelings, and Feelings, and Feelings. He was the academic consultant for two exhibitions, on Joy and Tranquillity, which were part of the “On Happiness” season at Wellcome Collection in 2021-22. Thomas’s books include Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015) and From Passions to Emotions: The Creation of a Secular Psychological Category (2003). He is currently writing The History of Emotions: A Very Short Introduction. He leads the ‘Developing Emotions’ project promoting emotional literacy in UK schools, and is himself a school governor. Thomas lives in Kent with his wife, two sons, and two cats. You can learn more about the work of Thomas and the “Living With Feeling” team on their ‘Emotions Lab’ website, and you can follow Thomas on Twitter @ProfThomasDixon.

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Meet the New Judges for the 12th Annual Lovie Awards

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