This award highly commends the practical application of preservation tools to protect at-risk digital objects. The prize in this category consists of a trophy to be retained by the recipient, certificates for participating individuals, and a cash prize of £1000 payable to the lead nominee’s organization.
Meet the finalists:
Data Rescue Project
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Nominee: Lynda Kellam, Halle Burns, Mikala Narlock, Lena Bohman, Kathleen Burlingame, Sebastian Majstorovic, Tess Grynoch, and Amy Nurnberger In early 2025, the new US presidential administration began removing or altering federal datasets at unprecedented speed and scale. In response, representatives from leading research data organizations launched the Data Rescue Project, a volunteer-led, community-driven effort to capture and preserve at-risk public data. In fourteen months, the DRP rescued nearly 3,000 datasets from 97 federal agencies, mobilized more than 500 volunteers, and ensured preserved data remains discoverable and accessible to researchers, journalists, and the public. Now developing a replicable playbook for future data rescue efforts worldwide, the DRP has demonstrated that protecting public data is both a technical and a human endeavor. |
The Tutankhamun Spatial Archive
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Nominee: Daniela Rosenow, Lara Bampfield, Francisco Bosch-Puche, Elizabeth Fleming, Jennifer Turner The Tutankhamun Spatial Archive transforms one of the world’s most important archaeological archives into a sustainable and accessible digital resource. Based on 20,000 excavation records from the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, the project replaces an outdated legacy website with a modern, fully searchable database that connects documents, objects, people, and their original locations within the tomb. By preserving fragile documentation and enabling new ways to explore and understand the material, the archive supports research, teaching, and public engagement. It safeguards a unique cultural resource while establishing a new model for presenting complex archival collections in the digital age. |
Archive of Personal Testimonies: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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Nominee: Anna Eliseeva Archive of Personal Testimonies: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine is a public digital archive that preserves personal accounts of eyewitnesses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, documenting life under occupation, bombardment, captivity, displacement, and loss. The collection is based on interviews recorded by The Helpdesk between 2022 and 2024 and originally published in fragmented form on social media. |
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