Winners announced for 2021 Digital Event Awards

The inaugural Digital Event Awards (DEAs) took place on 18 March at Aztec Studios, UK, where 21 winners were announced from a shortlist of hundreds of entries.

The free-to-attend event celebrated the excellence in digital events where there have been crucial developments over the past year. It was hosted by comedian Zoe Lyons.

The event covered a range of categories including awards ceremonies, webinars, training programmes, conferences, exhibitions, festivals and charity events.

Martin Fullard (pictured), editorial director at Mash Media, and who introduced the awards, said: “Twelve months ago this event and its associated magazine, Digital Event News, hadn’t even been conceived.

“The shortlists represent only the tip of the iceberg that is the variety of digital expertise. The vast majority of entries represent more than just immediate client engagement, but rather represent an industry faced with the Herculean challenge of needing to connect people with people, all the while unable to leave their homes.

“These entrants had to think on their feet, to work with their clients to understand their business needs, clients who themselves probably didn’t know what they needed.

“They have had to rethink their entire strategy, what they offer, the skills they need, and they did all this against a backdrop of unprecedented economic uncertainty.

“The bar has been raised in the digital event world, and I look forward to seeing how this part of our industry evolves over the next 12 months.”

The event’s headline sponsors were Showcase, Collaborate Global, Ivent and Circdata, while the event sponsors included ON24, Scoocs.co, The Event Site, Visions and Virtway Events.

Guests attended the afternoon online thanks to software platform Evessio, which provided the Awards Rooms.

The winners of the 2021 Digital Event Awards:

Best Audience Engagement Model, sponsored by ON24

WINNER – ACT’s Not The Annual Dinner by Association of Corporate Treasurers

Best Digital Awards Event, sponsored by EFX

WINNER – Emerging Payments Awards by 73 Media

Highly Commended – EGR Operator Virtual Awards by Pageant Media

Best Digital Conference – production budget less than £5,000, sponsored by Virtway

WINNER – CPC 2020 Live! By CloserStill Media

Best Digital Conference – production budget over £5000, sponsored by Visions Group

WINNER – Digital Transformation World Series by TM Forum

Highly Commended – Redken Symposium, The Virtual Connection by Wolf and White

Best Digital Equality Event or Series, sponsored by Scoocs.co

WINNER – #YouTubeBlack Black History Month (And Beyond) by YouTube

Best Digital Event Marketing Campaign, sponsored by Circdata

WINNER – Top Drawer On Demand by Clarion Events

Highly Commended – Guidelines Live 2020 by MGP Ltd

Best Digital Event Production Company

WINNER – GDS Group

Highly Commended – 73 Media

Best Digital Event Revenue Model

WINNER – Diabetes Professional Care by CloserStill Media

Best Digital Exhibition, sponsored by Showcase

WINNER – ConneXion by The Virtual Event Company

Highly Commended – Zukunft Personal Europe Virtual by CloserStill Media

Best Digital Fundraising Event, sponsored by

WINNER – BGC Virtual Charity Day 2020 by Brandfuel

Highly Commended – Specsavers Scottish Music Awards 2020 by Nordoff Robins

Best Digital Internal Communications Event

WINNER – Product Launch Summit by Roche and The Creative Engagement Group

Highly Commended – Festival of Culture by Skipton Building Society and simplybetter

Best Digital Festival

WINNER – Lost Horizon Festival by Lost Horizon

Best Digital Participation Event, sponsored by IVent

WINNER – [LIVE] SIG 2020 by esri France and Eventmaker

Best Digital Product Launch, sponsored by Collaborate Global

WINNER – Life Unstoppable by Samsung and Smyle

Best Digital Training Series

WINNER – Lockdown Webinars by The Square Metre Group

Best Live Streaming Experience

WINNER- New York Evening Auction by Sotheby’s and Anna Valley

Best Sponsorship Delivery and Fulfilment Model

WINNER – Finance in Sport Conference by Premier Sports Network

Best Stand-Alone Webinar

WINNER – Ahead Global – by Sleeper Media and Silverstream TV/H2

Best Technology Platform, The Event Site

WINNER – Swapcard

Highly Commended – ExpoPlatform

Best Venue offering Digital Event Facilities

WINNER – Pixl in Partnership with John Henrys

Best Webinar Series