Genie Botha selected as jury chair of the Builders Panel at the IAB Bookmark Awards 2023

The IAB South Africa Bookmark Awards 2023 has announced this year’s jury chairs, with MakeReign’s head of product design, Genie Botha selected as the jury chair for the Builders Panel — leading the judging across the Platform, UX and UI categories.

Botha is a heavyweight UX/UI designer with over 16 years of interactive design experience, adapting to the ever evolving industry, embracing new methodologies, tools, and technologies along the way.

As head of product design at MakeReign, Botha plays a role in overseeing digital product design related work across platforms, e-commerce and applications that are delivered by the team’s product squad. This includes work for Santam, Mweb, Finchoice, Flash Group and Cape Union Mart.

Now in its 15th year, the IAB SA Bookmark Awards continues to set the benchmark for tech, digital and leading-edge innovation in South Africa.

Botha will offer her insight, expert knowledge and leadership during the judging process, with the help of a diverse panel of jurors nominated by their industry peers. The full panel will be announced at the end of March.

Speaking on how she feels about chairing the panel this year, Botha says, “I aspire to serve as a custodian for our industry, ensuring that exceptional work is acknowledged and applauded. I consider it a great privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of judging the Bookmarks.”

She added on what she’s looking for in the Platform and UX categories, “As the cornerstone of exceptional digital projects, I anticipate a stronger emphasis on UX research in the entries. I also expect a lot of digital innovation, with technologies being utilised and manipulated in unexpected and imaginative ways.”

Remote judging for the Bookmarks runs from 2–13 June 2023, with onsite judging on 29–30 June 2023. The awards will be hosted on Thursday, 27 July 2023.