March 11: SXSW Innovation Awards
The Forrest Four-Cast: Feb 19, 2019
50 of the world’s top startups will be showcased at SXSW Pitch 2019. Read interviews with many of these young companies via this Medium page. Another great spot to find emerging talent is the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards presented by KPMG on the evening of Monday, March 11 at the Austin Convention Center. For more information on this fun-filled ceremony (as well as the one-day Interactive Innovation Awards Showcase on March 9), we connected with the producer of this year’s show, Christine Auten.
Why are they called the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards?
The SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards recognize some of the most exciting tech developments in the connected world. The annual Interactive Festival awards program began in 1997 as the Texas Interactive Media Achievement Awards, and was re-named the SXSW Web Awards the following year. As the range of ingenuity in the digital space grew, the competition evolved to become the Interactive Awards, and ultimately expanded into the Interactive Innovation Awards, reflecting the increasingly multifaceted and diverse ecosystem of technological achievement and creative work.
How long has this event been going on?
2019 marks the 22nd year for the Awards Ceremony, and the 4th year for the Finalist Showcase.
What are some of your favorite moments from event in the past?
The Awards ceremony has always been a highlight of the event for me, even well before I took the helm. SXSW audiences were among the first to witness the emergence of Twitter when they won the Best New App in 2007. Otherwise, the world just said goodbye to the NASA Mars Opportunity Rover this year, but the Interactive Awards helped to introduce its feisty interplanetary cousin, Curiosity, to its adoring fans as the 2013 winner of the Social Media award, just after it touched down in 2012. The awards emcees and entertainment guests have also been one of my favorite parts of the ceremony — particularly the year The Gregory Brothers serenaded us from the headlines with their Auto-tune the News (now Songify the News) antics.
When did the entry process for the 2019 awards begin and end?
The early entry process for the 2019 awards opened on June 25, 2018, with regular entry running from August 17 to October 11. Due to popular demand, we offered a late entry period this season through November 18.
What kinds of categories were entries accepted in for 2019?
Several categories were added or expanded this year to keep up the trends that we see emerging at SXSW. Joining the already strong “AI & Machine Learning” and “Health Med & BioTech” categories this year are “Robotics & Hardware,” “Social & Cultural Impact,” and “Speculative Design.” The “Smart Cities” category was expanded to include Transportation and Delivery, and AR was added to “VR & MR.”
How are the finalists in each category determined?
A panel of more than 100 industry peers with expertise in each of the categories’ respective fields, carefully evaluated each entry to determine our 65 finalists across 13 categories. This meticulous selection process involved hundreds of collective hours of review and testing. Each entry was assessed based on four criteria: Creativity, Form, Function, and Overall Experience. Judges scored each criterion between 1 and 5 stars, and were then asked to weigh whether each entry should be considered a finalist. The five entries in each of the 13 categories with the highest scores are also invited to exhibit their work at the Finalist Showcase.
When and where does the Interactive Innovation Awards showcase occur?
The 4th annual Interactive Innovation Awards Finalist Showcase is open to SXSW badgeholders from 12pm-6pm on Saturday, March 9 in Exhibit Hall 1 of the Austin Convention Center.
From the five finalists in each category, how are the winners determined?
Not only does the Finalist Showcase provide an opportunity for SXSW attendees to experience the hottest new tech developments of the last year, it also gives the Finalist Judges the chance to experience all 65 entries hands-on before ranking each entry between 1–5 within their category. The Finalist with the highest score in each category will be awarded top honors at the Awards ceremony on the evening of Monday, March 11.
Why should I stop by the Finalist Showcase?
It’s not every day that you get to communicate with a socially aware robot, touch the first handheld whole-body ultrasound system, travel back to 1953 to experience the Queens Coronation, swim with the Humpback Whales of Hawaii, or perform AR surgery. That is only a small sampling of what the Finalist Showcase has in store for 2019!
When does the Interactive Innovation Awards ceremony occur?
It all comes together at the 22nd annual SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards Ceremony presented by KPMG on Monday, March 11 at 6:30pm in Ballroom D of the Austin Convention Center. Come early and stay late for drinks and snacks!
Is there food and drink at this event?
Yep! Starting at 6pm we will be serving drinks and light snacks at the Opening Reception. Then after the ceremony concludes, we invite you to stick around for more drinks, food, and the opportunity to chat up the Finalists and winners at the Closing Mixer.
What other kinds of awards are given out at the event?
In addition to the 13 category award winners, the Awards Ceremony will honor this year’s Hall of Fame Inductee Kimberly Bryant. The People’s Choice award winner, as voted by SXSW attendees at the Finalist Showcase, and the Best of Show award winner will also be revealed at the ceremony.
Who is this year’s emcee at the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards?
We are very excited to have Chicago-bred comedian, writer and actor Beth Stelling. She’s written for I Love You America with Sarah Silverman, HBO’s Crashing, Comedy Central’s Another Period and most recently the film Good Boys premiering here at SXSW. Beth has also guest starred on Comedy Central’s hit show Corporate and Amazon’s Red Oaks opposite Jennifer Grey.
What other kinds on entertainment can we expect at the event?
This is really cool — this year our special guest combines great music with one of our new categories, “Robotics & Hardware.” Performer, musicologist, and robotics engineer Moritz Simon Geist will introduce us to “Tripods One,” a futuristic robotic sound performance that sketches a possible future of human-machine interaction — with robots and electronic music.
What are you most excited about for this year’s Interactive Innovation Awards ceremony?
This is such a strong group of Finalists this year it’s hard to pick a favorite, but I am particularly excited to see what the Finalists in the “Robotics & Hardware” category will be bringing for us to see. I love gadgets! And the projects Showcasing this year promise to be very gadget heavy. I am also really looking forward to experiencing the entries in the Visual Media Experience and the “VR, AR & MR” categories — immersive technologies have come so far in the past year.
Are most of the finalists for the SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards from the United States?
The increasingly international nature of the SXSW audience is likewise seen at this event. For 2019, finalists come from Australia, India, Sweden, France, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and the UK.
If people want to enter for the 2020 SXSW Interactive Innovation Awards, when does that process begin?
The entry period for 2020 will open in late June of this year for projects or products launched or completely redesigned within the calendar year 2019 (between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019).
Hugh Forrest serves as Chief Programming Officer at SXSW, the world’s most unique gathering of creative professionals. He also tries to write at least four paragraphs per day on Medium. These posts often cover tech-related trends; other times they focus on books, pop culture, sports and other current events.
