Since 2023, the UW IT Accessibility Task Force has presented UW Digital Accessibility Awards in a hybrid ceremony to honor individuals and teams who have demonstrated a commitment to digital accessibility over the last year. The ceremony takes place as part of a full day of activities held to commemorate Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
See below for specific criteria, eligibility, and submission information for the two awards that were distributed in 2023 and 2024:
- UW Digital Accessibility Individual Award
- UW Digital Accessibility Team Award
This information may change in 2025, so please check back again early in the new year for updated information about the Third Annual Awards.
Eligibility for Digital Accessibility Awards
- Nominations must be made by members of the UW community (UW NetID is required).
- Nominated individuals and teams must be affiliated with UW Seattle, UW Bothell, UW Tacoma, or UW Medicine. Awards are open to faculty, staff, or students.
- Self-nominations are accepted.
- Winners of the IT Accessibility Capacity Building Award (for departmental units) from the past two years are not eligible for the UW Digital Accessibility Team Award.
- Winners of the IT Accessibility Trailblazer Award (for individuals) from the past two years are not eligible for the UW Digital Accessibility Individual Award.
- Individuals or teams with representatives on the IT Accessibility Task Force are eligible, but if nominated their Task Force representatives must abstain from voting.
- Individual members of the IT Accessibility Task Force are eligible, but if nominated must abstain from voting.
Criteria
The criteria for both the UW Digital Accessibility Individual Award and the UW Digital Accessibility Team Award are the same. There is a field on the nomination form for you to specify whether yours is an individual or team nomination.
Selection of recipients for Digital Accessibility Awards is based on the degree to which a team or member of the UW community (faculty, staff, or student) exemplifies and provides evidence of the following:
- Impact – Nominated individual’s or team’s work has produced tangible results to improve digital accessibility.
- Longevity – Nominated individual’s or team’s work has included institutionalizing accessibility by establishing policies, procedures or workflows that assure digital assets will continue to be accessible in the future.
- Collaboration – Nominated individual’s or team’s efforts have involved collaborating with other individuals, departments, or units throughout the UW, thereby helping to build bridges and community in support of digital accessibility efforts.
- Alignment with UW’s Aspirational Policy Statement on IT Accessibility – Nominated individual’s or team’s work contributes toward the UW’s goal of “striving to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the same services and content that are available to people without disabilities, including services and content made available through the use of information technology,” as expressed on the UW policy- IT accessibility web page.
- Alignment with UW’s Diversity Blueprint Goals – Nominated individual’s or team’s work contributes to the Diversity Blueprint Goals defined by the UW Diversity Council, especially those goals related specifically to access and accessibility:
- #1. Cultivate an Accessible, Inclusive and Equitable Climate
- #6. Improve Accountability and Transparency at All Levels
Additional Support (Optional)
Evidence of nominated individual’s or team’s impact and efforts supporting Digital Accessibility, may include:
- A website
- An online document or slide deck
- A video
- Another online resource
The nomination form includes two fields for sharing the evidence:
- The URL to the online resource
- A description of the resource
Timeline and Submission Process
Digital Accessibility Awards winners for 2024 were announced on May 16. A new timeline for nominations for the 2025 Awards will be announced early in 2025.
Questions?
Contact Mary-Colleen Jenkins, mcj6@uw.edu