With Auckland and Waikato under tight Covid-19 restrictions, the iSANZ Board has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2021 iSANZ gala awards dinner to February next year. There will also be a short delay announcing this year’s Award finalists.

The 2021 awards dinner had originally been set down for Sunday 14 November at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. However, iSANZ Board chair Kendra Ross says a large number of people in the cyber security community from Auckland and Waikato are currently unable to leave their region. It’s uncertain when restrictions may ease for them.

“Postponing until next February has been a tough call, but we want our entire cyber security community to be able to attend a physical event when it’s safe to do so - to celebrate the very best in New Zealand information and cyber security.

“While there are no restrictions on the number of people that can attend an event at a Wellington venue under Alert Level 2, a one metre distance must be maintained. Going ahead in this way, or with a virtual online event, is not practical for a celebratory networking function like iSANZ,” she says.

“We’re hoping that regional travel restrictions and restrictions on event and hospitality gatherings will have eased by early 2022 once the Government has implemented its life after lockdown approach and achieved its vaccination targets.”

The decision to postpone the 2021 awards dinner until next year has been made with the agreement and support of the 2021 iSANZ Awards sponsors - Datacom, Quantum Security, McAfee, Spark NZ, Kordia, SailPoint, Check Point, NEXTGEN Group and CyberCX.

On the bright side, judging in this year’s awards is well underway. Kendra says the iSANZ Board received a record number of entries this year - the highest in the seven years that iSANZ has been running.

The Board soon expects to be in a position to announce finalists in the six award categories - Best Security Project / Awareness Initiative, Best Security Service / Product, Best Start-Up or New Business, Best Security Company, Best Security Professional and Up-and-Coming Cybersecurity Star.

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