National Coding Week Awards 2016

 

Watch highlights from the 2016 National Coding Week Awards:

 

 

We are delighted to announce the winners in each of the regions. National Coding Week saw over 100 events and 1000 people getting involved. We are very grateful to all those who took the time to organise events and help inspire others to learn digital skills.

 

These awards recognise this commitment to supporting those in each local community who want to take the first steps in building their confidence and digital skills. Awards presented in 2016 include all those who gained recognition for the following statuses: Commended, Highly Commended and Winner. We also single out two organisations for special awards in recognition of their outstanding contribution towards the promotion of diversity and opportunity within the digital community.

 

England

 

Category: FE College — Winner: Barking and Dagenham College.

This College won because they organised coding sessions throughout the week. Sessions were aimed at young adults who had little or no coding experience. Over 270 students took part. The students were enrolled at the college and were studying subjects as diverse as forestry and sports studies. The college also encouraged and supported students who had learning disabilities or who were disabled. The college went the extra mile to inspire as many young adults as possible during National Coding Week and was a clear winner.

 

Category: Partnership — Winner: MadLab and CodeUpManchester.

This was an outstanding entry, the partnership worked hard to reach out into the immediate community and to the wider community. Coding sessions included learning python, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Java and Ruby.

 

People traveled from far and wide to attend the events including Manchester 79% ­ Bolton 4% ­ Preston 4% ­ Liverpool 2% ­ Wakefield 2% ­ Oldham 2% ­ Wigan 2% ­ Wirral 2% ­ Huddersfield 2%. It was great to see that of the 87 attendees ­ over 50% were female ­ 23% were from a black or minority ethnic background (both groups are very underrepresented in the digital sector).

 

It was good to see that the event lit up their twitter feed with over 14,000 engagements.

 

Category: Primary School— Winner: Mereside Primary School, Blackpool.

Primary schools are always busy places and it is sometimes difficult to organise events that are not part of the curriculum. It was clear from the entry that Mereside is an ambitious school that relishes it’s place in the heart of the community.

 

During the week the school held coding sessions every evening for parents and teachers. These sessions were advertised and available to teachers in other schools, therefore ensuring that skills and confidence were being developed in the community. This is a clear example of a small school having a big impact. Mereside is the only Computing And Science (CAS) lead school in Blackpool.

 

Category: Teacher – Winner: Thomas Sale, Mereside Primary School.

 

Thomas Sale is an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher who is constantly seeking ways to improve the skills and confidence of teachers and parents. He was responsible for the success National Coding Week within the school’s community and beyond. The impact is still being felt, with parents keen for follow-up sessions. The key to improving learning outcomes for children lie in building skills and confidence in parents and teachers and the community. Thomas did a great job during the week.

 

Category: Hub – Highly Commended: SpacePortX, Manchester.

 

SpaceportX Manchester is a thriving and well used hub which held a number of very successful events during National Coding Week. It is run by people who obviously have a passion for tech but also it is clear that they enjoy sharing this passion with the local community. The success of the week was helped by the hard work and energy of Vimla Appadoo.

 

Category: Training provider – Highly Commended: Cambridge Coding Academy.

 

Cambridge Coding offer a wide range of courses covering all aspects of computer science. They took a proactive and energetic approach to encouraging people during National Coding Week.

 

Category: Libraries: Highly Commended — Leeds Central Library and Headingley Library.

 

It was very pleasing to see libraries embracing the concept of National Coding Week. Both of these libraries worked together to ensure events were organised and advertised to the public. The impact of the week has been follow up courses including parent and child coding events.

 

Wales

 

Category: Not-for-Profit – Winner/ Enillydd: WEA YMCA CC Cymru.

It was clear from the start that this organisation had ambitious plans to put Wales at the forefront of coding by offering numerous taster sessions called “Coding for Adults — a Beginners Guide”. Follow-on courses were then delivered throughout the year.

 

WEA YMCA CC Cymru teamed up with the Library Service, Welsh Government’s Digital Inclusion programme — ‘Digital Communities Wales’, and regional partners to offer beginner courses in local libraries and community venues throughout Wales.

 

There were sessions in every Unitary Authority in Wales, from Holyhead and Wrexham in North Wales, to Chepstow and Pembroke Dock in the South — and everywhere in between.

Sue Leslie the WEA YMCA CC Cymru Digital Learning Manager was a key person in making this a successful initiative.

 

Category: Training provider – Highly Commended / Gyda Chymeradwyaeth Uchel: Codez Academy.

 

Had a clear strategy for National Coding Week which was to offer a week of free web-coding sessions in order to raise awareness of not only the need for digital skills in the UK economy, but to show people that anyone can get involved. They utilised social media to raise awareness and advertise the free sessions and had good attendance throughout the week.
What was very pleasing was that Dean Jenkins the Founder of Codez Academy had a strong commitment to offer free workshops and to support digital skills within the community even after National Coding Week had finished.

 

Category: Library – Highly Commended / Gyda Chymeradwyaeth Uchel: Newtown Library and Wrexham Library.

 

Newton library and Wrexham library were proactive in engaging with the local community and both worked hard to ensure that the coding sessions were a success.

Wales also had 18 libraries Commended for their work during the week — all of them offered courses to the public. For many libraries it was the first time offering such courses and they are to be commended for their hard work.

 

Commended / Cymeradwyaeth:

Chepstow Library; Risca Library, Bettws Library.

Brecon Library; Merthyr Library; Barry Library; Anglesey O’Toole Centre.

Bridgend Pyle Library; Pembroke Dock Library.

Swansea Library; Neath Library; Aberaeron Library.

Cardiff Central Library; Llanelli Library; Flint Library.

Prestatyn Library; Upper Colwyn Bay Centre.

Blaeanavon Library; Llantrisant Library.

Scotland

 

Category: Business – Winner: Yard Digital, Edinburgh.

Yard Digital offered a workshop on responsive web design, this was very popular and places on the day long course were filled very quickly. What stood out for this entry was the company’s ethos. It has a clear and effective long-term strategy of “giving back” to the local community.

 

Category: Not-for-profit – Highly Commended: Coderdojo Scotland.

 

Coderdojo Scotland ran two coding session directly to Scottish Government officials during National Coding Week.
This brought coding skills awareness to numerous policy areas but it also gave a practical demonstration of how accessible learning the basics can be.

 

Category: Business – Highly Commended: Add Jam, Glasgow.

 

As part of National Coding Week 2015 Glasgow based mobile development company Add Jam ran an “Introduction to mobile development” workshop. This event was well attended and took place in Rookie Oven a new tech hub on the banks of the river Clyde.

 

The participants were all looking to gain new skills and retrain in mobile development. The 2 hours session was wide ranging looking at iOS and Android development environments, tools of the trade and where to find resources online. The session acted as introduction to Glasgow tech for the attendees with many of them now engaged in the Glasgow tech community and attending meet-ups and other learning opportunities.

 

Northern Ireland

 

Category: Volunteer – Highly Commended: Pat Lismore.

 

Pat is passionate about technology. He jumped at the chance to share his knowledge and skills during National Coding Week holding two well-attended events over a weekend.

 

Channel Islands

Guernsey

 

Category: University Centre – Highly Commended: The GTA University Centre.

 

Guernsey is a small island but with big ambitions to re-skill its population. The GTA University Centre has been offering digital skills courses (including coding) to members of the community throughout the year. During National Coding Week the GTA was keen to play its part and worked in partnership with Gocher Computing to offer a coding course. In addition to this throughout the year the GTA facilitated / hosted the Global Games Jam; worked with GCFE on an event called Games with Everything ; ran some coding tasters and a 2 day web design course. They also ran courses on Google Analytics and several courses on Cyber Security.

 

Jersey

 

Category: Hub – Highly Commended: Digital Jersey.

 

Working with CodexDLD and JT sponsors of National coding Week, Digital Jersey supported a number of events in the Hub. The events were aimed at Children, Parents, industry professionals and those wanting to take their first steps into the world of code.

 

USA

 

Category: Training provider – Highly Commended: Eleven Fifty Academy.

 

Eleven Fifty Academy was only established a year ago but it has had a great start as a training academy. During National Coding Week it offered free taster sessions to the public and was even featured on local TV promoting the initiative.

 

Special Awards

 

In recognition of their outstanding contribution for promoting diversity, opportunity and support in the digital community

 

special awards go to:

 

Women Who Code and Dot Everyone.

Women Who Code is a non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. They connect amazing women with other like minded amazing women around the globe who unite under one simple notion — the world of technology is much better with women in it.

Dot Everyone’s public purpose is to advance understanding and use of digital technology to deliver prosperity and social well-being. They champion and show how the UK could leapfrog into the future to the advantage of all citizens.

Summary — 40 Awards

 

2 Special Awards, 6 winners, 13 Highly Commended, 19 Commended.

Take part in this year’s National Coding Week on 19th September 2016… where will code take you?