Ada Scotland Festival wins European award for gender equality
The Scottish charity, which runs computing events for schools, colleges and universities, has won the 2026 Minerva Informatics Equality Award and €5,000. Its 2026 festival runs until 5 November.
The Ada Scotland Festival has won the 2026 Minerva Informatics Equality Award, Informatics Europe said on 23 October 2026.
Informatics is the word many European countries use for computer science. The announcement said the festival brings schools, colleges, universities and employers together to improve gender equality in computing. The festival receives a prize of €5,000.
The festival began in 2020 and is now a registered charity, the announcement said. In 2025 it ran 24 events across Scotland, from the Borders to the Highlands. They reached more than 2,000 people. Nearly half came from Scotland's most deprived communities.
Informatics Europe also noted that the first Ada London Festival launched in 2026. Festival director Matthew Barr said: "The prize money will help us grow still further".
The festival's website says the 2026 festival runs from 18 September to 5 November. It lists online and in-person events for teachers, learners of all ages and parents, including a teachers' evening forum and a hackathon in Dundee. Teachers can be nominated for its Inspiring Educator Award 2026. The site says girls made up 19% of entrants for Higher Computing Science and 22% for National 5 in Scotland in 2023.
The award committee, chaired by Professor Ana Belén Gil González of the University of Salamanca, judged nominations on impact and reach, sustainability, how easily others could copy them and originality. This is the 11th year of the award. SAP is its new sponsor.
The announcement does not say when the prize will be presented or how many nominations were received.
Sources
- Informatics Europe Ada Scotland Festival Wins IE's 2026 Minerva Informatics Equality Award
- Ada Scotland Festival Welcome to the Ada Scotland Festival