Congrats to Our Quilt Members as 2013 Computerworld Honors Program Laureates and Award-Winning Merit Network

The Quilt wishes to congratulate its members who were recognized last night at IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program award ceremony in Washington D.C. Among the award laureates were: North Carolina’s MCNC, for philanthropy; Ohio’s OARnet and the University of Kentucky in the emerging technology category; and Merit Network and Indiana University in the mobile access category.

A special congratulations to Merit Network which won the 21st Century Achievement Award from IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program in the mobile access category.

The annual award program, which honors visionary IT applications that advance businesses and benefit society, chose 267 laureates from over 700 nominees for 2013 who were all commemorated in a gala ceremony Monday evening. The Computerworld honors program, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, recognizes individuals and organizations that create and use IT to promote social, economic and educational change.

In a press release, Merit president and CEO Don Welch said it was “truly an honor and a privilege to accept this award. The awardees I have met are all inspiring. The work they are doing to improve society is truly impressive. We are so honored to be counted among them.”

Merit was honored by a panel of judges as one of the top five 21st Century Honors Laureates in the mobile access category. It then went on to win the 21st Century Achievement Award, granting it the honor of being the very best among its peers in the category. Merit won the awards in recognition of its REACH-3MC project, a fiber-optic infrastructure build-out through rural and underserved areas of Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

We’re very proud of the work of our Quilt member organizations as they effect real change in pursuit of their missions to support educational and research institutions.