Vint Cerf

Internet Governance Impact Awards
Vision & Background Context

The Vint Cerf Internet Governance Impact Awards as an IGFSA Fundraising Gala Feature Event

Vint Cerf at Elon University

Photo credit: Elon University (CC by 2.0)

The Internet Governance Forum Support Association (IGFSA) was established to support the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and its National and Regional IGF Initiatives (NRIs). As a not-for-profit association, IGFSA plays a unique and widely valued role in mobilizing additional and flexible resources to complement the IGF Trust Fund, supporting the IGF Secretariat and NRIs, particularly those from the Global South. This support is vital to sustaining inclusive and effective multistakeholder Internet governance dialogue worldwide.

Building on this commitment, IGFSA is pleased to announce the inaugural Vint Cerf Internet Governance Impact Awards, recognising individuals and groups whose work has translated Internet governance dialogue into meaningful and demonstrable impact.

The Awards are named in honour of Vint Cerf, a pioneering figure in the development of the Internet and a longstanding supporter and substantive donor to IGFSA. His enduring leadership and contributions to the IGF and the wider Internet governance ecosystem embody the spirit of collaboration, innovation and public service that these Awards seek to celebrate.

Award Categories

Youth Impact Award

A youth leader (or group) in Internet Governance who demonstrated commitment and achievement towards the promotion and/or realization of meaningful youth participation in Internet Governance discussions locally, regionally or globally.

Policy Impact Award

A person (or group) who has shown success in advocating for and/or achieving policy changes or implementation that had stemmed from local, regional or global IGF discussions and made an impact on legislations, regulations or policies related to Internet Governance.

Community Impact Award

An active participant (or group) who has achieved meaningful compromises, progress, and/or advancement in other dimensions for facilitating effective Internet Governance policy discussions and dialogue at local, regional or global level, especially in promoting accessibility, diversity, inclusion, interoperability and/or the continued constructive utilization of the Internet.

Eligibility

The individuals or groups are recognized on the IGF official website. Individual nominees must be affiliated with as least one initiative recognized in the IGF official website – https://www.intgovforum.org/en. Should there be questions on eligibility of nominees, the decision of the evaluation committee is final.

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Criteria for Nomination of the Youth Impact Award

Youth for the criteria of this award means persons between the ages of 18-35 at the time of nomination.

    1. Leadership: Demonstrated ability to move past tokenism in youth participation, facilitate intergenerational dialogue and open discussion in a spirit of inclusivity and collaboration, and active pursuit of peer empowerment that lower the barrier to entry for other young people.
    2. Impact: Demonstrated measurable impact to bringing youth perspectives into formal outcomes, outputs, consultations, workshops, stakeholder working groups or committees.
    3. Commitment: Demonstrated sustained commitment to achieving meaningful youth participation in Internet Governance discussions locally, regionally or globally

  2. Criteria for Nomination for the Policy Impact Award

    1. IGF link: Demonstrated clear linkages that discussions started or substantively advanced by nominee are rooted in the IGF multistakeholder ecosystem, intersessional work (including National, Regional, Sub-regional and Youth initiatives, Dynamic Coalitions, Policy Networks, Best Practice Forums, MAG working groups), annual meeting (including any session on the official agenda), or related side-events, multistakeholder groups or coalitions.
    2. Advocacy: Demonstrated sustained, inclusive and effective advocacy efforts in the respective legislative, regulatory, or policy arenas related to the respective piece of policy or policy implementation.
    3. Impact: Demonstrated concrete results that the policy change (new or amended legislation/regulation/policy, blocking of legislation/regulation/policy contrary to multistakeholder Internet Governance principles) upholds or aligns with multistakeholder Internet Governance principles; has happened or will be implemented within the calendar year of the nomination.

  3. Criteria for Nomination of the Community Impact Award

    1. Impact: Demonstrated evidence of leading or substantively advancing, facilitating or creating effective policy and structural progress, discussions, frameworks or mechanisms that move the needle on concrete operational improvements or measurable impact on the governance of the Internet and local, regional or global level (non-exhaustive list, for example: improvements to infrastructure, implementation or adoption of standards, consensus policy, content, rights-based frameworks etc.).
    2. Consensus building: Demonstrated active and sustained engagement to brokering and facilitating inclusive dialogue and ability to work across community lines with both familiar and unfamiliar stakeholders to build multistakeholder consensus.
    3. Advancing the Internet for Good: Demonstrated active and sustained promotion of accessibility, diversity, inclusion, interoperability and/or the continued constructive utilization of the Internet to create positive impact in the community

Submission & Application Process

Nomination Submission Form

Deadline of submission: 26 November 2026 at 23:59 UTC

Key Milestones & Timeline

Date Event/Milestone
6 November 2026 Announcement and call for nominations/nominating period
26 November 2026 IGFSA Secretariat due diligence/vetting of nominations
30  November – 4 December 2026 Review period for Evaluation Committee
December 2026 Announcement at IGF 2026