Over the years, Mountain Forum has received recognition for its work from several organisations, institutions and individuals. In some cases, this recognition has taken the form of awards, and in others, references have been made to our work in magazines, articles, projects and so on. Details of some of these are given below.

Stockholm Challenge Award 2006
Prix Ars Electronica 2006
i4d Magazine October 2005
i4d Magazine August 2005

Stockholm Challenge Award 2006

The Mountain Forum Secretariat (MFS) and Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN) collaborated with Radio Sagarmatha (RS), the oldest community FM radio station in South Asia, in a pilot project to bring the voices of the mountain and hill people residing in the Nepal Himalaya to Mountain Forum and the world at large. The idea behind the project was to facilitate a two-way communication between Mountain Forum and rural mountain communities of the Nepal Himalaya through a mix of radio and Internet technologies. This cross-network project was tried on a pilot basis to see if such a model of information flows can work on a larger scale.

This project was not funded by anyone. The three partners - MFS, APMN, and RS - got together one fine day, brainstormed for a week, and decided to pool their limited resources (mainly already extended staff time) to implement the idea!

This project was shortlisted as a finalist for the The Stockholm Challenge Award 2006 under the Public Administration category. This award is a well-established global networking program for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) entrepreneurs for over ten years. It continues to be a leader in demonstrating how information technology can improve living conditions and increase economic growth in all parts of the world. One of the main features of the Stockholm Challenge is the ICT prize, the Stockholm Challenge Award, which has attracted over 3000 projects over the years.

A total of 1155 projects registered in the six categories that were available in the 2006 award. 151 teams from 53 countries were short listed as finalists, representing some of the best ICT projects from across the world.

The process to upscale this pilot project is now underway and we hope to develop and integrate the use of radio in our work in the months to come.

To read more about the project, please visit http://www.mtnforum.org/apmn/radio_index.htm.

Prix Ars Electronica 2006

The Prix Ars Electronica is conceived as a showcase of excellence in a wide array of media art disciplines at the interface of art, technology and society. This worldwide competition is as unique as it is successful, providing a setting for a high-level discourse with an international flair. Since its inception in 1987, artists from around the world have submitted 31,188 projects for Prix Ars Electronica judging and thus have continuously played a role in determining the competition's ongoing development.

The 2006 competition, hosted by the City of Linz in Austria, featured the following categories:

* Computer Animation/Visual Effects
* Digital Musics
* Interactive Art
* Net Vision
* Digital Communities
* u19 - freestyle computing
* [the next idea] Art and Technology Grant

Mountain Forum received an Honorary Mention in the Digital Communities category for the year 2006.

More details are available at: http://www.aec.at/en/prix/index.asp

i4d Magazine October 2005

In October 2005, a feature article which focused on Mountain Forum's experience in developing partnerships for development (within the context of MDG 8) was published in the magazine i4d which specialises on issues related to ICTs in development.

The article can be viewed here: http://www.i4donline.net/articles/current-article.asp?articleid=427&typ=Features

i4d Magazine August 2005

In August 2005, a feature article describing the conceptual framework of a network of networks using the Mountain Forum as a case study was published in the magazine i4d which specialises on issues related to ICTs in development.

The article can be viewed here: http://www.i4donline.net/aug05/mountain.asp