Our 2023 Technical.ly Awards program kicked off nearly two months ago, when we appealed to you and scoured our archives for nominees across our five signature categories. We then curated lists of 25 nominees before turning back to you, our tech communities, for votes.
And vote you did. We counted over 8,000 ballots in total, with DC accounting for about a quarter of them, by the time the virtual polls closed on Nov. 30.
Before you find out who won, remember to prep for next year by checking out Technical.ly’s 2024 editorial calendar, with 12 themes we dedicate additional reporting to each month. And if you can’t get enough of our awards, you can always nominate a person or company for one of our RealLISTs. The first of these, our RealLIST Startups, returns early in 2024!
“We’re still in 2023!” you might be thinking. “Tell us who won this year!”
Of course, DC. Meet your winners:
Invention of the Year — Gallaudet University’s AR football helmet
Athletes and coaches from the DC school partnered with AT&T to create a football helmet that helps deaf and hard-of-hearing players communicate with the sideline through augmented reality. Coaches choose a play via a connected tablet, and players can see an AR version on a lens built into the helmet.
Tech Community Leader of the Year — Kiante Bush
Bush created Venture for T.H.E.M. to fund early-stage entrepreneurs from historically Black colleges and universities. The accelerator and funder hosts weekly Founder Fridays workshops, hosts monthly Rocket Pitches pitch competitions and connects founders to mentors. The social enterprise startup was recognized as a top 50 finalist for Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition contest.
CTO of the Year — Viveca Pavon-Harr
Pavon-Harr left a career in academia to work as the chief data scientist of Accenture’s govtech arm Accenture Federal Services, as well as an innovation lead and director of the Applied Intelligence Discovery Lab. In these capacities, Pavon-Harr oversees 800 workers.
Tech Company of the Year — Adlumin
The NOMA-area cyber and managed security company closed a $70 million Series B round this year, as well as ranked on the Inc. 5000 list for the third time and earned a Deloitte Fast 500 designation.
Culture Builder of the Year — Tremain Davis
The chief strategy officer at Gaithersburg-based University Startups manages how the edtech company works in the communities it serves. He’s also a longtime community leader and founder of social impact consulting firm Think PGC. His nominator said he embeds impact and mission into every touchpoint of University Startups.
Technical.ly Awards 2023 is underwritten by Comcast. This article was independently reported and not reviewed by Comcast before publication. Comcast is a Technical.ly client.
Before you go...
Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.
3 ways to support our work:- Contribute to the Journalism Fund. Charitable giving ensures our information remains free and accessible for residents to discover workforce programs and entrepreneurship pathways. This includes philanthropic grants and individual tax-deductible donations from readers like you.
- Use our Preferred Partners. Our directory of vetted providers offers high-quality recommendations for services our readers need, and each referral supports our journalism.
- Use our services. If you need entrepreneurs and tech leaders to buy your services, are seeking technologists to hire or want more professionals to know about your ecosystem, Technical.ly has the biggest and most engaged audience in the mid-Atlantic. We help companies tell their stories and answer big questions to meet and serve our community.
Join our growing Slack community
Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!