The wait is over… today, we can reveal all the talented finalists for the Prolific North Tech Awards 2026.
The live awards ceremony returns to Manchester Hall on 15 October 2026, celebrating the ambitious businesses, standout innovations, ecosystem leaders and individuals shaping the growth of the tech sectors across the North of England and Scotland.
Early bird tickets are now on sale here for the high-profile event until 24 September, where hundreds of tech leaders will come together to celebrate and, most importantly, find out who’s taking away those coveted trophies on the night.
An independent panel of judges has whittled down the finalists through a rigorous two-step process. A big thank you to all of our judges this year – you can find out more about them and the judging process here.
But that’s not all, as several categories are still to be decided, including: Prolific Tech Leader of the Year; Prolific Tech Rising Star; Tech Founder of the Year; Tech Female Entrepreneur; and Ecosystem Champion.
A combination of judges’ scores and public votes will decide the winners in these categories. Scroll to the end of the shortlist to find out who has been nominated and make sure to cast your votes by 5pm on 29 September!
And a big thanks also goes to our sponsors this year, who continue to help make award shows like this a reality: GM Business Growth Hub, Better Placed, Bruntwood SciTech and Beyond Echo PR.
Check out the full shortlist below…
Prolific North Tech Awards 2026: The Shortlist
Recognising companies and teams
Tech Start-up of the Year – Less than 5 employees
Sponsored by Bruntwood SciTech
- CerebraPatch
- ExpoBooth.ai
- GoodShip*
- Greenwood Online
- Keeve
- Novidian
- Origin Matters
- Silvia Health
Tech Start-up of the Year – 5+ employees
Sponsored by Bruntwood SciTech
- audioadpro
- Candid Hospitality
- Ctrl AI
- Greenhouse OS
- Harker
Scale-up of the Year – Less than 30 employees
- Buymedia
- Candid Hospitality
- Lionheart Marketing
- The Curve Consulting Services
Scale-up of the Year – More than 30 employees
- Boxphish
- Enablis
- Flowd
- HyperFinity
- iAM Compliant
- Panintelligence
- SwiftCloud by Adventoris
High-Growth Tech Company of the Year
- Apex Computing Services Ltd
- Buymedia
- Parallax
- Steel City Interactive
- Voicescape
Northern Tech Powerhouse
- ANS
- Buymedia
- Car Finance 247
- ConnexAI
- HammerTech
Tech Investor of the Year
- EHE Venture Studio
- Fhunded
- GC Angels
Tech Hub of the Year
- Bruntwood SciTech Female Founders North Incubator
- Royal Academy of Engineering’s Enterprise Hub – Regional Talent Engines (RTE)
Digital Agency of the Year
Best Culture Award
- Apex Computing Services Ltd
- Comms Installations
- POWWR
- Steel City Interactive
- TalkTalk Business
Recognising products & projects
App of the year
- Fuudle
- talat
Tech for Good Award – Digital Accessibility
- AUDITSU – Accessibility Compliance Platform
- Bnode Ltd
- Recite Me – Lived experience then, lived experience now
- The Curve – Good Things Foundation
Tech for Good Award – Health & Wellbeing
- AUDITSU – Accessibility Compliance Platform
- Bnode Ltd
- Recite Me – Lived experience then, lived experience now
- The Curve – Good Things Foundation
Tech for Good Award – Safeguarding & Public Safety
- CDS & Single Online Home – Modernising Policing’s Digital Front Door
- Check My Child
- Quinly
- Story UK & The Home Office – Enough: End Violence Against Women and Girls
Tech for Good Award – Skills & Employment
- Candid Hospitality – Removing subconscious bias from hospitality hiring:
- Fuudle
- fuwment
- GoodShip* – AI Activator
- Localito
- Nimble Approach & Community Shop Turning Member Experiences into Measurable Social Impact
- Skills Co-op
Tech innovation of the Year
Sponsored by GM Business Growth Hub
- ConnexAI
- Optalysys – Photonic Compute-in-Transit
- Parallax – Remote Automation
- Salesfire – AI Connect
- Tribepad & Horton Housing – Moving from reactive recruitment to strategic, sustainable talent acquisition
AI Innovation of the year
- ConnexAI
- Godel
- Jaywing & Bensons for Beds – No More Losing Sleep Over Brand Search Spend
- mEthos / moneyappi – Specialised Intelligence for Financial Wellbeing
- Quinly Ltd
- Resulting IT – S4SensAI
- Salesfire – AI Connect
Best SaaS Platform
- CustomerSure
- HammerTech
- Summize
Tech Collaboration of the Year
- Agile & West Midlands Fire Service – Building a Data Driven Future for West Midlands Fire Service
- CustomerSure & Gentoo Housing – Closing the Loop
- Enigma Interactive & National Grid – Storm Season
- HyperFinity & JD Sports – Personalisation at Scale
- Mogl & Invested Agency
- Sum Vivas Ltd & Liverpool City Region Combined Authority – Jimmy, the AI Visitor Concierge
Digital Transformation Award
- ANS Group – Becoming our own Customer Zero to drive responsible AI adoption
- Carecircle & Wales Digital Rare Care Centre
- CDS & Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland – LEO, a Platform Built for Scotland’s Most Vulnerable
- Cognexo & Zenith: Building a Continuous Employee Experience from Day One
- Harrison Carloss & The Mum Club – A system to connect a global franchise of women
Recognising talented individuals
Ecosystem Champion
- Damien Murphy – Rebel Meet-ups
- Dr. Ralph MacKinnon – Out-There HealthTech
- Gavin Sherratt – GoodShip*
- Tom Salmon – Agency by Agency
The winner of this category will be decided by a combination of public votes and judges’ scores. The public vote is now OPEN! Cast your vote here by 5pm on 29 September!
Tech Female Entrepreneur
- Amy Wild – Silvia Health
- Helen Ward – The Hair & Beauty Directory
- Kate Heath – Gaia Learning
- Ruth Sparkes – Quinly Ltd
- Sabreen Isaq – CerebraPatch
The winner of this category will be decided by a combination of public votes and judges’ scores. The public vote is now OPEN! Cast your vote here by 5pm on 29 September!
Tech Founder of the Year
- Adam Roney – Kalisa
- Ash Habib – Steel City Interactive
- Daniel Shone – Apex Computing
- Helen Ward – The Hair and Beauty Directory
- James Barber – Harker
- Jason Crispin – AUDITSU
- Paul Ridgeway – The Curve
- Ross Linnett – Recite Me
- Sam Brown & Nick Holroyd-Doveton – Candid Hospitality
- Tom Dunlop – Summize
The winner of this category will be decided by a combination of public votes and judges’ scores. The public vote is now OPEN! Cast your vote here by 5pm on 29 September!
Prolific Tech Rising Star
- Adedeji Awolesi – Civica
- Bethany Prior – Candid Hospitality
- Faye Boswell – Sensified Spaces
- Isabelle Lewis – audioadpro
- Ivanna Pliva – BNY
- Jake Ashcroft – CDS
- Katie Fearon – Resulting IT
- Sabreen Isaq – CerebraPatch
The winner of this category will be decided by a combination of public votes and judges’ scores. The public vote is now OPEN! Cast your vote here by 5pm on 29 September!
Prolific Tech Leader of the Year
- Ash Habib – Steel City Interactive
- Charlotte Bailey – Panintelligence
- Chris Gorman – Apex Computing
- Joe Wolski – Godel
- Ruth Kennedy – TalkTalk Business
The winner of this category will be decided by a combination of public votes and judges’ scores. The public vote is now OPEN! Cast your vote here by 5pm on 29 September!
Sponsors
