Nine annual programs. One transparent methodology. An independent jury of 92 across nine countries. No pay-to-win, no sponsored placements, no editorial involvement from partners.
Thirty-five tech founders under thirty-five whose work in the past 18 months meaningfully reshaped a market, a community or a category across Asia-Pacific.
Frontier models, agents, evaluation tools and infrastructure built or shipped by Asia-based teams during the year.
One company, three runners-up. Judged on capital-efficient growth, durable moat, and category impact across Asia-Pacific.
Best language, framework, IDE, observability tool, and database of the year — voted by 11,400 verified working engineers across Asia.
Software, hardware, and industrial product design that materially raised the bar for usability, accessibility or aesthetic clarity in 2026.
Recognises maintainers, communities, and individual projects originated or led from Asia that shipped meaningful releases in the past year.
Companies and labs across grid, mobility, materials, food and carbon removal whose 2026 work has measurable abatement potential at scale.
Fifty women across founder, operator, researcher, investor and policy tracks whose 2025 work shaped the region's tech direction.
Semiconductor, quantum, biotech, space and robotics achievements with a working artefact — not a press release. Patent or paper required.
Every juror is external. DTW reporters cover the awards but do not vote, score, or sit on selection panels. Jurors' names, employers and conflict declarations are published.
Each program has a public scoring rubric, weighting, and tie-break rule — finalised and notarised before any submission is read. We do not change it mid-cycle.
Sponsorship is firewalled from editorial. No sponsor may submit, nominate, sit on a jury, or be told the result before it is public. Annual conflict report is on the record.
Zero entry fee for every program. We will never charge for nomination, "consideration", "shortlist placement", a trophy, or to attend the gala as an honoree.
No. Every DTW Awards program is free to nominate and free to enter, in every edition, for every category. We will never charge for "consideration", a "shortlist seat", a trophy, or to attend the gala as a winner.
Yes — third-party nominations carry the same weight as self-nominations. You'll need basic contact details so we can request permission and a few materials from the nominee before judging.
Eligibility differs per program; the methodology page lists country and team-composition criteria. Broadly: every program is open to founders, teams, projects or products based in or substantially operating in Asia-Pacific.
Editors cover the awards as a beat, but never know who has nominated whom before the public reveal. Coverage of an entry is independent of judging — getting written about doesn't help your chances.
Every juror signs a published declaration; any direct, indirect or recent investment ties to an entry mean automatic recusal from that round. The audit committee reviews compliance every quarter.
Brand association, on-stage moments at the gala, the cohort book, and recruiting access to honorees (opt-in). They do not get to vote, see results early, or influence the jury. See the sponsor page for tiers.
The Founders 35 nomination form is genuinely short — three sections, free to enter, no marketing copy required. The jury reads every one.
The shortlist is the most useful signal of where Asian tech is heading in the next 24 months. We hire from it.Tan Hooi Ling · Co-founder, Grab · 2026 jury