Forensic 4cast Awards

The company for which I work has been nominated for an award. This award is not the most significant in the world but if we win I’m sure that we’ll feel a sense of honour and pride.  This award is a business award, not an award for digital forensics. This got me thinking.

Why don’t we have an series of awards for special achievement in the field of digital forensics? There is no reason that I can think of so, on July 19th 2009, in our first live broadcast, we are going to hold the first annual Forensic 4cast awards.

As with any awards ceremony we have formed a series of categories and will give awards for those people that have received the most votes in their nominated categories.

The categories are as follows:

• Outstanding Contribution to Digital Forensics (Individual)
• Outstanding Contribution to Digital Forensics (Company)
• Best Digital Forensic Article/Blog Posting
• Best Digital Forensic Blog
• Best Digital Forensic Book
• Best Computer Forensic Hardware Tool
• Best Computer Forensic Software Tool
• Best Phone Forensic Hardware Tool
• Best Phone Forensic Software Tool
• Digital Forensic Examiner of the Year
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• The Huh? Award (chosen by Simon)

All but the ‘Huh?’ award are open for nominations and voting.

The Rules

Nominations are open now. All nominations should be sent by email to ‘nominations@forensic4cast.com’. Nominations will be open until 21st June 2009. After this time the nominations will be closed. The top three nominations in each category will go forward for voting. A list of the nominees will be posted on the Forensic 4cast website and all voting will commence on 23rd June 2009.  Voting closes on 17th July 2009.  The awards will be given to the those with the most votes. You can not nominate or vote for yourself.

You can nominate more than one person in any category but, once voting commences, you may only vote once in each category. If I have reason to believe that someone is cheating the system their votes will be vetoed.

The winner in each field will be sent a digital trophy that they can place on their website, blog, or email communications.

I am trying to make this a big deal not only to show people in the field that we appreciate them, but also to help others aspire to improve themselves and the community. Please let your colleagues know about these awards, who knows, they may nominate you.

Best of luck.