VANRATH were delighted to sponsor and attend Belfast Telegraph's IT Awards 2021 celebrating the biggest achievers in Northern Ireland’s IT industry at the awards ceremony held on Friday night in the MAC Theatre in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.
We watched on as IT firms and teams across 17 categories were awarded during the night of celebration.
IT company Codec had been honoured for its response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Belfast Telegraph IT Awards in partnership with Telefónica Tech Ireland.
And medical testing firm Randox Laboratories has been named Overall IT Company of the Year as well as taking home an impressive three awards.
Its IT team triumphed in the categories of Digital Project of the Year, IT Project of the Year and IT Team of the Year, as well as winning the most coveted category of Overall IT Company of the Year.
Peter Russell, managing director of Telefónica Tech Ireland, said: “The winners of the awards reflect the depth and quality of the IT sector in Northern Ireland and the quality work being done here by a wide range of companies.
“We’re very proud to sponsor this year’s awards which in many respects showcase the contribution that the IT sector made during the pandemic, helping keep people and companies safe and connected, and supporting vital efforts across sectors including health, the public sector, and retail.
“Congratulations to all of the winners.”
In comments on Randox’ achievements, the judging panel - led by Professor Karen RaffertyofQueen’s University- said: “While there were a number of very strong contenders, the judges felt that Randox were worthy winners of the Overall IT Company of the Year because of the way in which the team at Randox worked together at speed, to rise to the challenge of Covid.
“They were able to deliver a highly effective end-to-end solution to support the nationwide testing programme on a 24/7 basis, which has been hailed as a significant success in the fight against Covid-19.”
Codec triumphed in the Covid Response category for working with Queen’s University to deliver solutions including an online portal for Covid-19 campus contact tracing.
The judges said: “Codec demonstrated speed, technical ability and team working to react very successfully to the needs of their Client Queens University to help prevent the spread of Covid 19 among staff, students and visitors to the University.
“Partnership and collaboration were the key elements of success in this project.”
Eoin Brannigan, Editor-in-Chief of the Belfast TelegraphandSunday Life, said: “We have been thrilled to hold our IT Awards this year, and it’s been a brilliant night of celebration of all the achievements of the sector.
“IT has been at the vanguard of helping us cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, from facilitating medical advances to enabling us all to work from home.
“Across 16 categories our judges have selected a range of fantastic, deserving winners.
“Thank you so much to the judges for their hard work.
“We are grateful to Telefónica Tech Ireland for their support as headline sponsor, and to all the sponsors across our 17 categories.
“We look forward to seeing everyone again next year.”
Ryan Quinn, managing director of VANRATHsaid "We were honoured to be in the room with the best of the best of NI tech talent on Friday, it doesn't get better than this. Congratulations to each of the winners and to all those who had been shortlisted."
2021 Belfast Telegraph IT Awards in partnership with Telefonica Tech Ireland: Winners and category sponsors
Best Place to Work in IT (Large)
Winner - Alchemy Technology Services
Best Place to Work in IT (Small)
Winner – Covernet
Best Use of Cloud Services
Winner - George Best Belfast City Airport
Covid Response
Winner - Codec
Cyber Security Project of the Year
Winner - Allstate
Digital Project of the Year
Winner - Randox Laboratories
Ecommerce Project of the Year
Winner - Built for Growth Digital
IT Professional of the Year
Winner - Seamus Wilkinson, Version 1
IT Project Team of the Year
Winner - Randox Laboratories
IT Team of the Year
Winner - Randox Laboratories
IT Woman of the Year
Winner - Rachelle Reid, Allstate
Mobile App of the Year
Winner - RotaPal
Best ‘Not for Profit’ Sector IT Project of the Year
