Now in its eight year, the GPA Global Privacy and Data Protection Awards celebrate the achievements of the GPA community and shine a light on good practice.

GPA Global and Privacy Awards 2023 Winners

The winners of GPA Global and Privacy Awards 2023 are:

  • Education and AwarenessThe Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, BfDI and State of Mexico Transparency, Public Information Access and Personal Data Protection Institute of Estado de México and municipalities, INFOEM
  • InnovationEuropean Data Protection Supervisor, EDPS
  • AccountabilityNational Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Personal Data Protection, INAI
  • Dispute Resolution and EnforcementSpanish Data Protection Agency, AEPD
  • People’s Choice Award: Hellenic Data Protection Authority- Hellenic DPA

Global Awards FAQs

Who can apply?

Any GPA member authority can apply.

How can I apply?

Please complete the award entry form and email it to secretariat@globalprivacyassembly.org no later than Friday 9 June 2023.

The entry form solicits a description of the initiative with links or pictures as appropriate and an explanation as to why it deserves to be recognised with an award. The form should also include information to be used for administrating the awards, or to verify eligibility, such as contact details. It is important that you complete all fields of the form.

Please note that Rule 6.2. of the GPA Rules and Procedures regarding Assembly document translations apply. [1]

What are the award categories that I can apply for?

This 2023 award categories to which GPA members can apply include the following:

  • Education and public awareness
  • Accountability
  • Dispute resolution and enforcement
  • Innovation
  • People’s Choice

Entries can relate to any initiative taken by the member authority since January 2022, until the closing date. Initiatives may include anything at all, such as any guidance resource, investigation, tool, publication, video, conference, website, partnership, poster, speech, policy, app, intervention, etc.

Category descriptions:

Education and public awareness

This category is largely influenced, albeit not exclusively by the valuable work in the GPA Digital Education Working Group (DEWG). The DEWG has created tools for authorities to make their efforts in digital education available to peers and helped instil a culture of sharing experience in that space. Other public awareness initiatives will also be considered, including those that are not in the digital space.

Accountability

Even when not explicit in the law, accountability of organisations processing personal data/information is implicit in most privacy and data protection laws. What are member authorities doing to promote this concept of accountability and ensure that it makes the successful transition from law to practice?

Dispute resolution and enforcement

This category builds upon the focus that the Conference has placed on enforcement cooperation in several resolutions in recent years.

This triple category reflects the multi-faceted roles that Data Protection and Privacy Authorities perform which always covers at least one of the following roles and often encompass all three:

  • Dispute resolution: mediating or investigating and resolving issues where it appears to an individual that the law has been breached.
  • Enforcement: taking many forms, enforcement involves taking formal action in relation to non-compliance with the law.

Innovation

Entries will set out how an initiative/project undertaken primarily by a conference member is working effectively to support innovation and address disruptive business models. The award will help illustrate how conference members are using innovation to deliver their own work more effectively.

People’s Choice Award

The People’s Choice Award will again feature in this year’s award line-up!

The People’s Choice Award will be subject to an open vote among GPA members from amongst the shortlisted candidates of each of the other awards’ categories.

What is the award entry submission deadline?

Deadline for entries is 9 June 2023.

Will my entry be made public?

Yes. Please be sure to fill in the award entry form with this fact in mind.

We will need to copy-paste your award entry description onto the GPA website, so please edit this accordingly before submitting. The GPA Secretariat will upload all submitted entries to the GPA website after the award entry deadline to inform the GPA community on the wide range of great work that authorities do and provide your project with that bit of extra publicity.

How will the Awards be decided?

The Awards will be assessed for shortlisting by the Executive Committee, then submitted to a vote on the shortlist by the GPA membership.

The Executive Committee will act in their role as elected representatives from the various global regions of the GPA membership. A volunteer member of the Executive Committee leads the discussions and decision-making on all award categories and follows the usual process set out in the GPA Rules and Procedures, Rule 3.2 (Consensus or failing this, majority of the votes cast). Those entries shortlisted will have been determined by the Executive Committee award jury as providing an outstanding example of good practice in that category.

The Executive Committee will announce the shortlisted candidates by the end of June. Thereafter, the GPA Secretariat will launch an online vote, so that each GPA member can cast its vote and designate the award winner from amongst the projects shortlisted in each category.

In addition, all shortlisted entries will compete in the ‘People’s Choice’ category, for which all member authorities’ staff will be invited to vote.

Voting will close by 21 July 2023.

What if I am shortlisted?

Then congratulations are in order! The Secretariat will contact you with the outcome of the Executive Committee’s decision and to inform you about next steps.

What if I am not shortlisted?

Your project will still receive publicity because it will be shared with the global data protection and privacy community featured on the GPA website, in the awards section.

When will the Award Winners be announced?

The winning entries will be announced during the Global Privacy Assembly 2023 (45th Annual Meeting) Closed Session.