Apparo Presents: Charlotte's Prestigious Blue Diamond Awards
The Charlotte Area Technology Collaborative has transfered this prestigious award program to Apparo.
Applications and nominations are now open for three awards in our series. Winner will be celebrated in person in early 2024 at Apparo's CXO Tech Insights forums (detailed schedule below). Apply and nominate today!
The Blue Diamond Awards have been a prestigious part of Charlotte's technology community tradition for decades. After many transitions in program leadership, we are proud to make Apparo their final home. The Blue Diamond Awards recognize organizations that have developed innovative technologies to better realize their mission and achieve their business goals. As such, they provide a highly regarded way to celebrate and support Charlotte’s thriving technology community, critical as our city grows in its technological prominence.
Under Apparo’s leadership, we have extended the Blue Diamond Awards. No longer one event, but rather a year-long celebration, the program now provides the technology community with six opportunities for leaders and practitioners to gather together in person to applaud recent accomplishments and share ideas and best practices. The wide variety of finalists and award recipients is one of the highlights of the Blue Diamond Awards. All organizations, regardless of company size, structure, or industry, are invited to apply.
Our panel of judges include C-Suite technology leaders from Ally Financial, Honeywell, TIAA, Wells Fargo and more.
Questions? Please contact [email protected].

The Blue Diamond Awards are now a yearlong series of events.
We will present seven awards in total, at six events, beginning in December 2023, as follows:
AWARD | EVENT DATE |
1. TechExec Community Impact - For a local technology leader with a proven track record of donating their time, talents and treasure to support area nonprofits in need | November 30, 2023 – at Apparo 20th anniversary celebration |
2. Cool Innovation - For the individual or team from a corporate, nonprofit or government organization that demonstrates the best example of creativity, execution and applied innovation, which delivers a new approach to a problem that will make lasting and meaningful impact and change | November 30, 2023 – at Apparo 20th anniversary celebration |
3. Business Impact SMB - For the company/organization of up to 750 employees, or an individual or team from that company/organization, that achieves the greatest business value via the deployment and use of an information technology solution | January 24, 2024 – at Apparo CXO Tech Insights forum* |
4. Business Impact Analytics, AI and Big Data - For the company/organization, individual or team that achieves the greatest business value through the use of an analytics, artificial intelligence and/or big data based technology solution | March 20, 2024 – at Apparo CXO Tech Insights forum* |
5. Community Solutions - For the company/organization that demonstrates the greatest social impact through a community service program that leverages technology and/or addresses a technology related need | May 22, 2024 – at Apparo CXO Tech Insights forum* |
6. Business Impact Corporation - For the individual or team from a company/organization of >500 employees that achieves the greatest business value via the deployment and use of nominated information technology solutions | September 2024 – at Apparo CXO Tech Insights forum* |
7. IT Entrepreneur - For the individual entrepreneur who has turned a creative vision into a profitable and enduring business through the direct application of information technology | November 2024 –at Apparo CXO Tech Insights forum* |
*Learn more about Apparo’s CXO Tech Insights series here.