Entertainment industry group DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group has announced two new awards for women the entertainment technology sector: The Hedy Lamarr Award for Innovation in Entertainment Technology, and the Hedy Lamarr Achievement Award for Emerging Leaders in Entertainment Technology.
The former recognizes female executives in the entertainment and technology sector, while the latter recognizes female college students in their junior year who show promise in the field. Both will be awarded for the first time in November2017, coinciding with the 103rd anniversary of the actress’ birth.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to honor such an inspirational and talented woman,” said DEG president Amy Jo Smith, in a statement. “We feel that these two awards are a perfect embodiment of Ms. Lamarr and look forward to continuing her legacy through the innovations and achievements of her successors.”
The Achievement Award will also include $25,000 for the winner, to help them during their senior year of undergraduate study. DEG has selected a panel of judges from the entertainment, technology, consumer electronics academic and IT industries, to pick the winners.
Besides her roles in classic films like Samson and Delilah and The Strange Woman, Lamarr also pioneered "frequency hopping" technology, which is still utilized for a variety of cellular, WiFi and Bluetooth applications today.
