Today, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Board announced that Margarita Valdés Cortés is the recipient of the 2023 Dr. Tarek Kamel Award for Capacity Building.
Tripti Sinha, ICANN Board Chair, announced the Board's selection during the ICANN78 Welcome Ceremony. The ICANN Board recognized Valdés's significant efforts in capacity building on a local, regional, and global scale. Particularly notable is Valdés's key role in fostering collaborations between the government of Chile and University of Chile (NIC Chile), which earned the ICANN Board's deep appreciation.
Valdés participated in the award ceremony and thanked the ICANN Board for the recognition. A video of the award ceremony will be published later.
Margarita Valdés Cortés is the legal and business director at NIC Chile. She is in charge of designing NIC Chile's administrative and commercial policies as well as coordinating the administration of the local domain name dispute resolution system. As one of the authors of the Online Arbitration System at NIC Chile, Valdés is often invited by other universities in the region to conduct graduate courses.
Margarita Valdés Cortés is a long-time member of the ICANN community, and has held various roles in ICANN community groups and structures including:
- Country Code Names Supporting Organization Council
- ICANN Nominating Committee
- ICANN Fellowship Selection Committee
- ICANN Meetings Strategy Working Group
- ICANN Community Excellence Award Selection Panel
The Dr. Tarek Kamel Award for Capacity Building was established in honor of the late Dr. Tarek Kamel, an Internet pioneer known for his contributions to global Internet governance. The award recognizes members of the ICANN community who have made significant contributions to national, regional, or global capacity-development programs related to ICANN's mission.