Winners eligible for prize donations up to $50,000 USD out of $180,000 USD total prize awards

For the first time since the pandemic, all finalists will be invited to in-person Washington D.C. awards ceremony

RESTON, Va., May 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Interest Registry (PIR), the people behind .ORG, opened the nomination period today for its fifth annual .ORG Impact Awards, an annual celebration that recognizes outstanding mission-driven individuals and organizations from the global .ORG Community for their positive contributions to society.

Public Interest Registry's .ORG top-level domain has powered mission-driven organizations around the globe for more than 30 years. From individuals to large corporations, small community groups to multinational NGOs, each .ORG works to positively impact the communities they serve. Over the past four years, the .ORG Impact Awards have recognized 155 outstanding .ORGs from over 60 countries. Through the Awards, Public Interest Registry has awarded $325,000 for transformative work taking place around the world.

For the first time since the pandemic, all finalists will be invited to an in-person award ceremony in Washington D.C. on November 16, 2023, where they will enjoy an evening of celebration alongside fellow changemakers. Winners will be announced at the event, honoring their work to make the world a better place. Additional event details will be released in the coming months.

"As we celebrate our fifth annual .ORG Impact Awards, we are excited to once again recognize outstanding changemakers across the world who work tirelessly to create change and drive progress for good," said Jon Nevett, CEO of Public Interest Registry. "This year's celebration will be particularly special as winners and finalists will gather for an in-person ceremony for the first time since 2019. If you are, or know, a changemaker committed to mission-driven work, we encourage you to submit a nomination. I hope you join our growing community."

Submissions are open from May 17 to June 28, 2023, and all nominees must be tied to an active .ORG website. Submissions will be evaluated by a judging panel of leaders in the internet, nonprofit, and marketing sectors.

Categories for the 2023 awards include:

• Health and Healing
• Quality Education for All
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Environmental Stewardship
• Hunger and Poverty
• Community Building
• Rising Star
• .ORG of the Year

The top five entries per category will be named as finalists on September 19, 2023, and will be eligible to win the .ORG of the Year award. Winners will be announced on November 16, 2023 at the in-person awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

The winner of the .ORG of the Year award will receive a donation of $50,000 USD while the other category winners will each receive $10,000 USD. For the very first time, all finalist organizations will each receive $2,500 USD, as well as travel and accommodations for two representatives to attend the in-person award ceremony. Beyond the donation, receiving a prestigious .ORG Impact Award will help raise the profile of winning organizations, ultimately to drive donations, funding, talent acquisition, partnership development, and audience reach.

To nominate an organization or individual for a .ORG Impact Award, visit www.orgimpactawards.org.

In 2022, over 940 organizations from 68 countries around the world submitted entries. The winner of the 2022 .ORG Impact Awards .ORG of the Year category was Food Rescue Hero, a nonprofit working to solve hunger and food waste with an app that connects restaurants and retailers with surplus food directly to food insecure households. Leveraging technology similar to delivery apps like Instacart or Uber Eats, the 412 Food Rescue app dispatches local volunteers to pick up prepared food boxes and deliver them directly to households identified by local nonprofit partners as in need of assistance. Since 2016, the Food Rescue Hero network of 14 partners in the US and Canada has diverted 100 million pounds of perfectly good food from landfill and mitigated 66.2 million pounds of CO2 emissions. Food Rescue Hero's growing community of over 34,000 volunteers saved 97 meals per minute in the year 2022.

"The award has helped us spread the news far and wide that people can address climate change and hunger in one fell swoop," said Leah Lizarondo, Founder of Food Rescue Hero. "The honor confirms and supports our efforts to offer an alternative to food waste and provide for those who continue to go hungry, and we have been excited to share this award with our entire team, far and wide, who makes this work possible."

Other 2022 award-winners include: Kageno Worldwide; Limbitless Solutions; Pro Mujer; Mathias Charles Yabe, founder of AkoFresh; and more.

About Public Interest Registry
Public Interest Registry (PIR) is a nonprofit that operates the .ORG top-level domain—one of the world's largest generic top-level domains with more than 10.8 million domain names registered worldwide. .ORG is open to everyone, providing a global platform for organizations, associations, clubs, businesses and individuals to bring their ideas to life. PIR has been a champion for a free and open Internet for two decades with a clear mission to be an exemplary domain name registry, provide a trusted digital identity and help educate those who dedicate themselves to improving our world. PIR was founded by the Internet Society (internetsociety.org) in 2002 and is based in Reston, Virginia, USA. Visit www.TheNew.org for more information. 

Contact: Grace Peacore, pir@berlinrosen.com

Source: .ORG, The Public Interest Registry