The WSYA is jointly organised by the World Summit Award (WSA) and the WSIS Youth Caucus. It was initiated in Phase II of the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to celebrate best-practice youth-led projects around e-content and creativity. The WSYA Coordination Team is based at the International Centre for New Media (ICNM), an independent non-profit organisation based in Salzburg, Austria (www.icnm.net).

The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best in e-Content and creativity. It involves representatives from numerous countries on each continent and sees the bridging of the digital divide and narrowing of the content gap as its overall goal. In highlighting outstanding Internet content and applications around the world, the World Summit Award is helping businesses, policy makers and civil society organizations everywhere to harness the potential of ICT for empowering people and promoting development. (www.wsis-award.org)

The WSIS Youth Caucus, formed on the occasion of the 1st WSIS Preparatory Committee Meeting in July 2002, is acting as an umbrella group for all young people and youth organizations interested and/or involved in the WSIS process and ICT policy formulation. One of the most active civil society groups, the Youth Caucus aims to mainstream youth perspectives into civil society, the private sector and government inputs throughout the WSIS process. (www.wsisyouth.org)

To get involved with WSYA or if you have any inquiries, please contact Thomas Biebl
(biebl [at] icnm.net), WSYA Project Manager, or Alex Fielding (fielding [at] icnm.net), WSYA Marketing Communications Coordinator.