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2015 Multistakeholder Ethos Award Goes to Two Members of the Global Internet Community

25 June 2015

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Buenos Aires, Argentina… ICANN is pleased to announce the winners of this year's 2015 Multistakeholder Ethos award: Africa Internet pioneer Nii Quaynor and community leader Cheryl Langdon Orr. The Award honors and recognizes members from the global Internet community who have demonstrated an incredible dedication to the multistakeholder model of Internet Governance. The two received their award during the opening ceremony of ICANN53 in Buenos Aires.

Nii Quaynor was recognized for his historical and current role in ICANN and the global Internet community. He was instrumental in establishing AFRINIC and AFNOG in Africa, and has been referred to as the father of the Internet in Africa for his unwavering commitment over the past two decades in pioneering Internet development and expansion on the continent.

"To me, this is a testimony that ICANN in its own way is international and open. Someone from the developing world can contribute and be recognized by his peers in ICANN," said Quaynor.

Cheryl Langdon Orr, based out of Australia, has served in numerous GNSO, CCNSO and ALAC Cross community working groups over the years.

"As I receive this – and I humbly receive this with great appreciation, I take this as a huge honor – I'd like each and every one of you volunteer people to look to your left, look to your right. Take this as your award as well because without this collaboration, without building consensus in a bottom-up way, we don't function in a multistakeholder model," said Orr.

Nii Quaynor and Cheryl Langdon Orr both met the criteria in such distinctive ways that this year two Awards were given to recognize their outstanding work and commitment to the global Internet community.

Selected from amongst 16 nominees, the Community Evaluation Panel felt that they both demonstrated the spirit of collaboration with other community members on consensus building while proving their dedication to the ICANN multistakeholder model throughout the years.

The ICANN Multistakeholder Ethos award program was created in 2014 to recognize ICANN participants who have deeply invested in consensus-based solutions and the importance of ICANN's multistakeholder model to Internet Governance.

Media Contacts

Luna Madi
Communications Director, EMEA
London, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 7780947574
Email: luna.madi@icann.org



James Cole
Global Media Coordinator
Washington, D.C.
Tel: +1 202 733 7598
Email: james.cole@icann.org



About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to ensure a stable, secure and unified global Internet. To reach another person on the Internet you have to type an address into your computer - a name or a number. That address has to be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN coordinates these unique identifiers across the world. Without that coordination we wouldn't have one global Internet. ICANN was formed in 1998. It is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN doesn't control content on the Internet. It cannot stop spam and it doesn't deal with access to the Internet. But through its coordination role of the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the expansion and evolution of the Internet. For more information please visit: www.icann.org.