The Bermuda Football Association’s mobile application was named Innovation of the Year at the Celebration of Entrepreneurship and Innovation awards.

The event on Thursday was part of Global Entrepreneurship Week which is put on each year by the Bermuda Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) and the Department of E-Commerce.

Director of E-Commerce Marisa Stones stated: “The competition for the Innovation of the Year was very strong with five excellent new technologies in the running causing the judges to deliberate long and hard.”

According to a press release, the BFA app is the response to the demand within the Bermudian football community for up-to-date information on a myriad of critical operational data including player authorisations, schedules and standings, plus scores, news, rosters, photos and more for all teams.

Custom-created by Larry Mussenden and David Sabir in collaboration with Sport-Ngin, it is described as a first-of-its-kind comprehensive mobile application aimed at managing a sports league’s activity and is said to have captured FIFA’s attention as a viable tool which could be used in other jurisdictions.

Top honours in the Most Innovative Youth Programme went to Code 441 Academy whose founder Jahde Eve’s mission of empowering the youth of Bermuda through technology captured the judges’ attention.

Second place finisher was 14-year-old Ethan Humphrey with the Saltus Student App which tracks schedules, assignments and projects. Third place went to the Ministry of Education’s Gaming Academy with programme instructor Neville Zuill accepting the certificate.

Top prize winner in the Most Innovative Mobile Application of the Year was Hitch — Bermuda’s own completely mobile taxi reservation app allowing the user to hail a taxi from anywhere on the Island. Calvin Minors, Coy Millett and programmer David Burt were on hand to accept the TechAward.

Ivan Outerbridge’s Bermuda’s Very Own Events App took second place with Ptix’s release of a mobile app for purchasing and displaying electronic tickets coming in third followed by the team at Nova who turned Chris Wellman’s summer internship project into the Crown & Anchor Royale mobile game.

Minister of Economic Development Grant Gibbons said: “I cannot help but be proud of — and tremendously impressed with — the wide variety and quality of ideas that we’ve seen.”