Media Alert

4th Annual DCFemTech Awards Celebrate 54 Power Women in Code, Design and Data

Strength of the Regions’ Women Tech Talent Reflected in More than 600 Nominations

April 23, 2018 —Washington, DC — DCFemTech, the coalition of women leaders aimed at lowering the barriers to entry for women in tech by amplifying the efforts of women in tech organizations, will recognize 54 women at its 4th annual DCFemTech Awards reception. On May 7th, the organization and its members will host a reception at The Washington Post to celebrate the recipients and nominees.

The call for nominations for outstanding women in code, design and data based in the DC region was announced on February 22nd at DCFemTech’s Inspire event, which encourages women to celebrate and share accomplishments from the previous year. The organization received 620 nominations, representing a 58 percent increase in nominations from 2017. New nomination criteria for 2018 restricted the eligibility of recipients from the previous year in an effort to prioritize inclusivity and a broader opportunity for recognition.

DCFemTech works to support organizations that enable women to build their skills and create communities while also encouraging companies to make it a priority to hire talented women coders, designers, data scientists and other tech leaders. The awards program was conceptualized to focus exclusively on the DC region’s women engineers and designers, as opposed to awards that recognize women working in non-technical roles at technology companies.

“In our 4th year of the DCFemTech Awards, the fervor tied to the program is no longer exceeding our expectations——it’s become clear that the program is a direct reflection of the DC region as the country’s epicenter for women in technology,” said Shana Glenzer, CMO of Crowdskout and cofounder of DCFemTech. “Our nominations have grown 685 percent in 4 years and 58 percent in the last year alone. Our judging pool has more than doubled as have our marquee sponsors. We are proud to be a bellwether and chief celebrant of the quality and volume of talented women in the DC Tech ecosystem.”

Nominations were down selected by a committee of more than 40 judges comprised of engineers, designers data scientists, and executives for each category and this year’s recipients were chosen based on each woman’s impact on the organization they work for, the complexity of the issue they addressed with code or design or data, and their work with the community, or open source contributions. The final awardees ranked in the top 20 percent of their respective categories.

We are pleased to announce that the award recipients are:

CODE

DESIGN

DATA

“For years, DC has been ranked as the best city in the country for women in tech to thrive. Is it any surprise then that this region is a magnet for top talent?” said Shannon Turner, founder of Hear Me Code and member of the DCFemTech Leadership Team. “It’s challenging to narrow down the long list of nominees to select just a few award recipients, but this year’s honorees really stood out for their contributions to groundbreaking projects and in creating change and lasting impact. We couldn’t be more proud of this year’s honorees and can’t wait to celebrate their accomplishments at the ceremony in May.”

What: DCFemTech Awards Reception

When: Monday, May 7th, 2018 from 6-8:30pm (Doors open at 6pm. Program begins at 6:45pm)

Where: The Washington Post, 1301 K Street NW (West Lobby), Washington, DC

Media can RSVP: https://nvite.com/dcft18/od1y8g or by e-mailing Lisa Throckmorton at [email protected]

The DCFemTech Awards are made possible through the generous support of Mapbox, Amazon Web Services, Booz Allen Hamilton, Capital One, Contactually, FlatIron School, GoKart Labs, NAVA, Optoro, Osha Liang, Social Tables, Wingate Hughes, & The Washington Post Engineering. The organization also like extend its gratitude to the DCFemTech Awards Committee made up of Ally Palanzi, Shannon Turner and Shana Glenzer for their countless hours invested in making the awards and event possible.

About DCFemTech

DCFemTech is a coalition of women leaders aimed at amplifying the efforts of women in tech organizations, sharing resources, and bringing leaders together to close the gender gap. Members are affiliated with organizations with women attendance that is 50% or higher, who have a focus on technology and who have a primary focus in the mission statement about gender or women.

DCFemTech also shares a list of resources for women seeking places to learn specific skills (development, design, networking, etc.). For up-to-date information follow @DCFemTech on Twitter.