Judges from Microsoft, Adobe, ElevenLabs and Amazon Join the Tech Impact Awards for AI

The Tech Impact Awards for AI 2026 recognize people and companies building AI products, infrastructure, and AI-native ways of working with real-world impact.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, September 15, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Top Voices a global media platform covering early-stage startups and technology, announced the fifth edition of the Tech Impact Awards, this year focused entirely on AI. The global, fully remote and free initiative recognizes the people and companies building the AI stack, from models and infrastructure to AI-native workflows and products reaching real users.

AI is moving from experimentation into everyday products, business functions, and infrastructure. Engineers are building the technical foundations, professionals are redesigning how they work, and companies are bringing AI products and services to market. The Tech Impact Awards for AI recognize this work based on what has actually been built, adopted, and used.

Three Award Tracks

Builders
For founders, engineers, researchers, and makers building AI products, models, infrastructure, and tools.

AI Natives
For professionals using AI to transform their function and deliver measurable results, including product managers, marketers, designers, communications leads, transformation leaders, and educators.

Business
For companies and teams delivering AI products and services at scale, including AI product companies, infrastructure and developer tooling providers, consultancies, agencies, and implementation partners.

Who Can Apply

The Tech Impact Awards for AI are open globally, free to enter and fully remote. Individuals, teams, and companies can apply directly or nominate relevant work. Nominees must demonstrate public and verifiable work, while companies can apply at any stage as long as they have a live AI product, infrastructure, tooling, or implementation work with real users or customers.

Applications can include AI products or models with meaningful adoption, technical work behind AI platforms, AI-native workflows with measurable outcomes, AI adoption within organizations, infrastructure or developer tools, and original frameworks or approaches adopted by others.

Key Dates and Applications

Applications are open until 21 September 2026, followed by judging from 22 to 28 September. Winners will be announced on 29 September 2026.

For full eligibility details and applications, visit Tech Impact Awards for AI 2026.

Industry Jury and Nominee Recognition

The judging panel brings together AI, engineering, product, and innovation leaders from global technology companies. The current jury includes Jun Qian, Vice President of Generative AI Services at Oracle; Mario Truss, AI Creative Technologist at Adobe Firefly Foundry; Julia Diament, Principal AI Architect in the Office of the CTO at Microsoft; Maarten Voorneveld, Sales Director for Digital Transformation & AI Partnerships at Microsoft; Arkalyk Akash, Full Stack Engineer at ElevenLabs; Divya Mahajan, Software Engineer at Amazon; Alan Ross, President of the International Association of AI-agent Developers and World AI Academies Association; and Patrick Lanners, Innovation and AI Lead at BMW Group.

Selected nominees will be featured on The Top Voices and receive verifiable recognition of their contribution that can be shared on a website, CV, LinkedIn profile, or pitch deck.

Anna Lebedeva, Co-founder of The Top Voices, said, “AI is becoming part of how products get built and how teams work every day. But a lot of the most interesting work is happening outside the biggest companies and the usual headlines. With this edition, we want to recognize the people building the technology, the professionals finding smarter ways to use it, and the companies turning AI into products and tools that people actually use.”

About The Top Voices

The Top Voices is a community-driven international media platform dedicated to giving a voice to early-stage startups, founders, and tech talent. Backed by over 3,000 entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts worldwide, The Top Voices values practical expertise and highlights the stories of people making a real impact.

For more information and to apply, visit: thetopvoices.com

Lana Glygalo
The Top Voices
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