iSchool Showcase Event 2026 Award Winners

The Bridge-Builder Award for Equity

The Bridge-Builder Award for Equity was awarded to those projects that members of the community feel explores and engages themes of equity and inclusion as they solve an information problem.

• Cataloging Confinement & Contagion: Washington Prison Histories in COVID-19 (MLIS) **
• Descriptive Metadata for Prison Photographs (MLIS)
• Haven: A Centralized Resource Platform for Foster Caregivers (INFO)
• Highlighting Jewish Washington: The WSJHS Mapping Project (MLIS) ***
• iMentorship (INFO)
• MLOps - Lab In The Box (MSIM)
• Oral Histories and Entity Recognition: Computational Approaches to Metadata, Validation, and Description, in the AIP Oral Histories Collection (MLIS)
• Rooted Futures: Indigenous Youth Career Pathways in Natural Resource Management (INFO)
• Tether Health (INFO)
• Tillage (INFO)
• Traveler Information WSDOT App Redesign (INFO) ***
• Using Community Oral Histories to Preserve Culture and Reduce Bias in Speech Technologies (INFO)
• Washington Wealth Inequities: A data-visualization teaching tool w/ WaCEFE (INFO)

The Spark Award for Creativity

The Spark Award for Creativity was awarded to those projects that members of the community feel creatively address an information problem by demonstrating original solutions.

• Automating Contract Lifecycle Management for The Talbot Group (MSIM)
• GenTag-Enhanced Deal-Breaker: Hard Constraint Filtering for Venue Discovery (MSIM)
• Highlighting Jewish Washington: The WSJHS Mapping Project (MLIS) ***
• Husky Jump (INFO)
• Marketing IQ: A Unified Marketing Analytics Platform (MSIM) **
• PeerLink (INFO) **
• SPARK Research Study (MSIM)
• Traveler Information WSDOT App Redesign (INFO) ***
• UW Youth Advisory Board (UW-YAB) (PhD) **

The Visionary Lens Award for Insightfulness

The Visionary Lens Award for Insightfulness was awarded to those projects that members of the community feel demonstrate a very clear and deep understanding of an information problem.

• Cataloging Confinement & Contagion: Washington Prison Histories in COVID-19 (MLIS) **
• Google Pixel - changing the way you use your camera (MSIM)
• Guiding the Archives at the Bloedel Reserve (MLIS)
• Highlighting Jewish Washington: The WSJHS Mapping Project (MLIS) ***
• Lease Lens - AI Powered Lease Review Platform (INFO)
• Mapping WA State GLAM's Vulnerability to Climate Change (MLIS)
• Marketing IQ: A Unified Marketing Analytics Platform (MSIM) **
• PeerLink (INFO) **
• Project RADAR - Microsoft-Sponsored Capstone (INFO)
• Talent Nudging System (MSIM)
• Traveler Information WSDOT App Redesign (INFO) ***
• UW Youth Advisory Board (UW-YAB) (PhD) **
• VoCare (INFO)

** Won two awards

*** Won three awards