Welcome to the International Cartographic Association
Welcome to the website of the International Cartographic AssociationGet to know the new ICA Executive Committee for the term 2023-2027Get to know the ICA Commissions for the term 2023-2027
Welcome to the website of the International Cartographic Association
Get to know the new ICA Executive Committee for the term 2023-2027
Get to know the ICA Commissions for the term 2023-2027

President’s Blog: A gathering of the ICA people – the ICA Retreat in Vienna

Many persons are involved in our organization. They have different roles, different background and different ideas. In order to learn to know each other better, to synchronize our understanding of “our” ICA and to allow for taking on board all those rich ideas, perspectives and thoughts all Executive Committee Members, Commission Chairs and Co-Chairs, Working Group Chairs and further ICA officers met at the Technische Universität Wien in Vienna, Austria from 22.3.2024 to 24.3.2024 for an intense working meeting.

The agenda included several information presentations on issues of mutual concern, several group-works and workshops and simply time to meet, discuss and be part of ICA.

In the unique venue of the “Kuppelsaal” of the Technical University of Vienna we found enough space and inspiration to gather and work together.

At the ICA retreat at TU Wien Kuppelsaal, Vienna, Austria 2024

At the ICA retreat at TU Wien Kuppelsaal, Vienna, Austria 2024

The meeting started with an introduction from President Georg Gartner on the nature, aims and scope and mission of the International Cartographic Association. It is really the global voice for Cartography and GIScience and the motto “We love maps” is a common nominator for all of us.

In order to learn to know each other better we performed a group work, where we paired in two to be able to introduce always the other person accordingly.

We then collected ideas about the questions:

  • What would you like to give to the ICA community?
  • What would you like to get from ICA?

which resulted in a long and rich list of relevant items.

Dusan Petrovic, Pyry Kettunen and Francis Harvey working hard and having fun at the retreat at TU Wien Kuppelsaal, Vienna, Austria 2024

Dusan Petrovic, Pyry Kettunen and Francis Harvey working hard and having fun at the retreat at TU Wien Kuppelsaal, Vienna, Austria 2024

Having set the tone for the meeting with this we then dived into several existing structures, instruments and elements of ICA, such as the ICA Webservices (presented by Webmaster Manuela Schmidt), the International Journal of Cartography (presented online from the Editors Anne Ruas and William Cartwright), the ICA Publication Regime (presented online from Publication Committee Chair Menno-Jan Kraak), the ICA Executive Committee (presented by President Georg Gartner and Secretary-General Thomas Schulz), the ICA Commissions and their Administration (presented by Secretary-General Thomas Schulz), the ICA Conferences (presented by Vice-President Serena Coetzee), the ICA memberships, MoUs and relations to other organisations (presented by Past-President Tim Trainor), the ICA Research Agenda (presented by Vice-President Haosheng Huang), the ICA Body of Knowledge (presented by Working Group Chair Terje Mitbo).

Inbetween further group interventions took place, refering to the idea of synchronizing our understanding of the core concept of our organization (What is a map?), identifying and presenting commission and working group plans and synergies (led by Vice-President Dusan Petrovic), a SWOT (Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threads) – Analysis of ICA (led by Vice-President Alex Kent), a open mic session on ideas and visions (led by Vice-Presidents Amy Griffin, Jiping Liu and Dariusz Dukaczewski).

The ICA “people” in front of the Karlskirche during the ICA retreat, Vienna 2024

The ICA “people” in front of the Karlskirche during the ICA retreat, Vienna 2024

Socializing opportunities despite the amical, fruitful and constructive working atmosphere have been taken on a joined short “CartoWalk” around Karlsplatz and joined meals.

Participants of the ICA retreat in front of the Technische Universität Wien, Vienna 2024

Participants of the ICA retreat in front of the Technische Universität Wien, Vienna 2024

The event proofs my feeling right again, that ICA is really more like a family – it is such a privilege to be able to cooperate with so many bright, motivated, enthusiastic, fantastic scholars and persons!

List of Participants

Executive Committee

  • President: Georg Gartner
  • Past President: Timothy Trainor
  • Secretary-General and Treasurer: Thomas Schulz
  • Vice President: Serena Coetzee
  • Vice President: Dariusz Dukaczewski
  • Vice President: Amy Griffin
  • Vice President: Dusan Petrovic
  • Vice President: Haosheng Huang
  • Vice President: Alexander Kent
  • Vice President: Jiping Liu

Commission Chairs and Co-Chairs

  • Art and Cartography: Taien Ng-Chan
  • Atlases: Vitek Vozenilek, Eric Losang
  • Cartographic Heritage into the Digital: Matyas Gede
  • Cartography and Children: Silvia Marinova
  • Cartography and Sustainable Development: Britta Ricker
  • Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Mgmt: Christophe Lienert, Jie Shen
  • Cognitive Issues: Tumasch Reichenbacher, Pyry Kettunen, Petr Kubicek
  • Digital Transformation of Mapping Agencies: Bin Jiang
  • Education and Training: Tao Wang
  • Ethics in Cartography: Aileen Buckley
  • GeoAI: Samantha Arundel
  • Geospatial Analysis and Modelling: Xintao Liu
  • Geospatial Semantics and Ontology: Francis Harvey
  • Geovisualization: Florian Ledermann, Arzu Cöltekin
  • High-Definition Maps: Qingyun Du
  • Integrated Geospatial Information: Anja Hopfstock, Kathryn Arnold
  • Location Based Services: Jukka Krisp
  • Map Design: Ian Muehlenhaus
  • Map Projections: Krisztian Kerkovits
  • Maps and the Internet: Otakar Cerba
  • Marine Cartography: Ron Furness, Lysandros Tsoulos
  • Mountain Cartography: Patrick Kennelly
  • Multi-scale Cartography: Guillaume Touya, Izabela Karsznia
  • Topographic Mapping: David Forrest, Lukas Halik
  • Toponomy: Matjaz Gersic
  • Ubiquitious Mapping: Toru Ishikawa, Angela Schwering, Armand Kapaj
  • User Experiences: Robert Roth

Working Group Chairs and Co-Chairs

  • Next Generation Cartographers: Katarzyna Slomska-Przech, Chelsea Nestel
  • Inclusive Cartography: Jakub Wabinski, Vincent van Altena
  • Body of Knowledge: Terje Mitbo

Invitation to Pre-ICC2023 Workshop Other Cartographies

The ICA Commission on Art and Cartography invites to a workshop prior to ICC2023 in Cape Town, South Africa, on August 11, 2023. 

Background

The ICC2023’s theme is SMART CARTOGRAPHY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. How can this theme be interpreted through Art? The Commission on Art & Cartography’s Terms of Reference include the directive to “advance the field of artistic and experimental cartographies, including but not limited to such subfields as narrative cartography, cinematic cartography, sensory and phenomenological approaches to mapping, locative media, performative and performance-based cartographies, and media archaeological and other research-creation or practice-led processes.” What might “sustainability” mean in terms of these and other such subfields? However the theme is interpreted, one thing is clear: other ways are needed, other points of view, other methodologies, visions, practices. What other cartographies can challenge the status quo?

The goal of this workshop is to provide an intellectual and creative space to share different ideas around artistic methodologies of mapping and engaging with space and place, particularly those that challenge the status quo of capitalism, colonialism, extractive resource development (etc., the list is long). The format of the workshop will be as follows: a morning of lightning presentations from all of the participants, to introduce each other; an afternoon of 3-4 mini-workshops that explore different methodologies or practices related to our theme of Other Cartographies.

The workshop will be hosted by the National Geospatial Information in Cape Town, South Africa on Friday, August 11th from 10am-5pm. A catered lunch is included!

Please submit either a 100-150 word proposal if you are interested in leading a mini-workshop of about 45-60 minutes, or a short bio if interested in attending as a participant.

Submission Process & Registration

The workshop is open to everyone with an interest in alternative and sustainable mapping art practices and experimental cartographies. Registration is required and is free of charge. Please note that it is not necessary to be registered for the main ICC conference (which requires fees) to be able to attend the workshop. For more information or to register, please contact Workshop Coordinator Sharron Mirsky (see contact details on the workshop website).

Timeline

  • May 20, 2023 – Call for participants and workshop leaders
  • June 15, 2023 – Deadline for submitting abstracts and proposals (max. 150 words)
  • June 22, 2023 – Successful Applicants notified;
  • July 1, 2023 – Final program released;
  • August 11, 2023 – Workshop prior to the ICC 2023

Please find more information on the workshop website.

Series of Conversations around Maps and Stories

Sensibility Mapping of Rwandan Life Stories by Élise Olmed

The Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling (COHDS) in collaboration with the Geomedia lab at Concordia University is organizing a series of conversations around maps and stories. These conversations will involve students, researchers, mapmakers, artists, and activists working at the intersection between maps and stories, and will aim to address two broad questions: What are the most pressing methodological, theoretical, technological, ethical and design challenges raised by the relationships between maps and stories? What might be the impacts of these relationships within the social, cultural and political spheres? This series of conversations will take place online and will be freely accessible.

List of conversations

Feb. 3, 2021 (12:00 to 13:30 Eastern) – Reflections on cartographic languages when collectively mapping possible worlds

  • Séverin Halder – Activist, geographer & co-editor of “This Is Not an Atlas”
  • Paul Schweizer – Geographer, popular educator & co-editor of “This Is Not an Atlas”
  • Pablo Mansilla Quiñones – Associate Professor, Institute of Geography. Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso.

Registration: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvcOuvpzMiG9GqsMlDlxEq_50w_qi20MVn?fbclid=IwAR0OkpwQTbOrT4q904C_5-qgBuavD-qZbrUN4upD1nALojbP4tLjd99KSqk

Feb. 25, 2021 (12:00 to 13:30 Eastern) – Listening

  • Anne Knowles – Historical geographer & professor of history at University of Maine
  • Margaret Pearce – Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal member and cartographer

Registration: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkceCqpjgrHtB3rSdJ5TmXnPYef_NjPGTt?fbclid=IwAR0qMhXJplcAaI4znvDdHn6KI3R5Kb7C-ht9_gpjrH1i24cCgVgkFcTmzts

March 23, 2021 (14:30-16:00 Eastern) Weaving stories threads: An Indigenous Cartographic Engagement

  • Annita Lucchesi – Cheyenne & PhD student at the University of Arizona
  • Pualani Louis – Kanaka ʻŌiwi & Associate Researcher with UC Davis Native American Studies

Registration: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUudOisrTgoEt0YDodiAdFuhqNf69gkwhQs?fbclid=IwAR3q-31EaaPzVaVTEfBvzmU_sN6UXuHEZzaYLicnZC9oL-NKsLTfbaO85Fk

April 8, 2021 (12:00 to 13:30 Eastern) – Mapping the Skin and the Guts of Exile’s Stories

  • Élise Olmedo – Banting Postdoctoral fellow at Concordia University
  • Sébastien Caquard – Associate Professor of Geography & co-director of the Center for Oral History and Digital storytelling (COHDS) at Concordia University

Registration: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtf-uhrTkpEtMbdfOcgBpXuAVF_QClEa2d?fbclid=IwAR3HnsR5XNGnmNg0-evexVyLoWVcm_hrd_N2OgQy6ZMlO9fSqMWqeiOap4Q

June 3, 2021 (12:00 to 13:30 Eastern) – Speaking (with) maps: A threefold map-talk on cartographic objects, narratives and migrancies

  • Tania Rossetto – Associate Professor of Cultural Geography & Co-convenor of the Mobility & Humanities Centre, University of Padua
  • Laura Lo Presti – Postdoc Researcher, University of Padua & ICOG Visiting Research Fellow, University of Groeningen
  • Giada Peterle – Lecturer in Literary Geography, University of Padua

Registration: https://concordia-ca.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItfu2oqzksGdw9Pkjyz9NTp-3wlPOwdYZ-?fbclid=IwAR2CNO_5dzzXUNilSsesq1EBS4CPWDWTjH4mzcz7LqBvQMpWluiJf-yJWqQ

Call for Participation for the Pre-ICC Workshop Reclaiming Through Mapping: The Olympic Sites of Tokyo

The ICA Commission on Art & Cartography invites you to participate in their Pre-Conference Workshop “Reclaiming through Mapping: Olympic Sites of Tokyo.” Some of these spaces, including the main conference venue, are on reclaimed land or artificial islands in Tokyo Bay built out of waste landfill. This workshop investigates the question of how place is constructed and mapped, using an experimental methodology developed by the artist-research collective Hamilton Perambulatory Unit, who will lead a participatory mapping walk in Tokyo that looks to uncover the layers of urban development history of the 2 Tokyo Olympics and the high-growth (1964) and post-growth (2020) periods they represent. This interdisciplinary workshop uses hybrid spatial and sensory ethnography and intermedial approaches to map a site and distinguish the layers of time, history, materiality, and digital city-image. Participants will be asked to contribute to the final multi-media strata-map of Tokyo’s Olympic sites.

To begin this two-day workshop, we will meet at the Tokyo Metropolitan University for short presentations to contextualize our experimental and sensory mapping methodologies, before continuing the discussion on the trains while heading towards the Toyosu fish market for lunch (45min from Akihabara). We will then visit the nearby construction site of the Athlete’s Village on Harumi Island while we give some background on the area, and spend some time mapping the site. On the second day, we will meet at one of the 1964 Olympic sites to further explore mapping methodologies before heading back to Tokyo Metropolitan University to share results. The data collected will help answer the following research questions: How does the official Olympic narrative affect the sites? How do experimental cartographies work to investigate how place is constructed?

Registration

The workshop is open to everyone with an interest in sensory mapping art practices and experimental cartographies. Registration is required and is free of charge. Please note that it is not necessary to be registered for the main ICC conference (which requires fees) to be able to attend the workshop.

For more information or to register, please contact Taien Ng-Chan taien [at] yorku.ca or Sharon Hayashi hayashi [at] yorku.ca. Please include a short bio and indicate your interest in the workshop.

Announcement of the Pre-ICC Workshop Reclaiming Through Mapping: The Olympic Sites of Tokyo

The ICA Commission on Art & Cartography invites you to participate in their Pre-Conference Workshop “Reclaiming through Mapping: Olympic Sites of Tokyo.” Some of these spaces, including the conference venue, are on reclaimed land or artificial islands in Tokyo Bay built out of waste landfill. This workshop investigates the question of how place is constructed, using an experimental, performative and site-specific methodology developed by the art-research collective Hamilton Perambulatory Unit, who will lead a participatory mapping walk in Tokyo that looks to uncover the layers of urban development history of the 2 Tokyo Olympics and the high-growth (1964) and post-growth (2020) periods they represent.

This will be a two-day workshop. On the first day, organizers will provide a short morning tour to the1964 Olympic Village site which repurposed US occupation military housing from 1946; the afternoon will be spent on presentations from the participants and on experimental mapping methodologies. On the second day, to complete their own maps, participants will visit a 2020 Olympic site near the conference venue, and return in the afternoon to share results. The data collected will help answer the following research questions: Are there traces of this rich history in the material environment? How does the official Olympic narrative affect the sites? How do experimental cartographies work to investigate how place is constructed? This interdisciplinary workshop uses hybrid spatial and sensory ethnography and intermedial approaches to map a site and distinguish the layers of time, history, materiality, and digital city-image. Participants will be asked to contribute to the final multi-media strata-map of Tokyo’s Olympic sites.

Registration

The workshop is open to everyone with an interest in sensory mapping art practices and experimental cartographies. Registration is required and is free of charge. Please note that it is not necessary to be registered for the main ICC conference (which requires fees) to be able to attend the workshop.

You can register for the workshop by email: taien [at] yorku.ca

Please include a short bio and indicate your interest in the workshop.

For more information, please contact Taien Ng-Chan taien [at] yorku.ca or Sharon Hayashi hayashi [at] yorku.ca

Call for Papers, AAG Session on Mapping Difficult Stories

The ICA Commission on Art and Cartography invites papers to be included in the session Mapping Difficult Stories at the 2019 Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., from April 3–7 April, 2019. 

In this session we are interested in exploring new forms of spatial expression designed to visualize stories that are difficult to tell: stories of individual and mass violence, stories of containment and forced displacements, stories of painful memories and tragedies. Mapping such stories can serve different purposes. It can contribute to a better understanding of personal and collective experiences, of the socio-political forces that have shaped them and of the relationships that individuals and communities have developed with places throughout these difficult moments. Mapping difficult stories can also make these experiences more tangible and accessible to a broader audience.

Mapping difficult stories requires us to revisit and expand our cartographic language. Stories in general do not land particularly well on maps. While stories are spatial, they are also fluid; their geographies fluctuate, change shape and scale, as can their context and the individual who bears them. Whether expressed in interviews, memoirs, diaries, or letters, the elusive geographies of stories don’t easily mesh with the rigid Euclidean structure of the conventional map, and the transformation of difficult memories into abstract cartographic symbols generates ethical and methodological issues that mapmakers must engage. Building on the growing interest in mapping experience among scholars, artists and cartographers in across the arts and humanities, this session aims to bring together a broad range of individuals interested in sharing their efforts to find spatial forms of expression for difficult stories.

If you are interested in joining this session please send an abstract (no more than 250 words) to Anne Knowles (anne.knowles@maine.edu), and Sébastien Caquard (sebastien.caquard@concordia.ca) by October 25, 2018.

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Winners of the Barbara Petchenik Competition 2017

The Barbara Petchenik Competition is a biennial map drawing competition for children. The competition is first organized on a national level. The national winners can then compete in the international round, which takes place during the International Cartographic Conferences. This year at ICC2017, 193 drawings from 34 countries were exhibited. An international jury selected 12 winners in 4 categories. There was also a public vote and two creativity awards. Please find the wonderful results below.

Winners <6 years

Crafting Our Dreams on the Land of Indonesia by Kenya Kesuma Dewi (5)

1st: Crafting Our Dreams on the Land of Indonesia by Kenya Kesuma Dewi (5)

Map of Life by Taja Koša (5)

2nd: Map of Life by Taja Koša (5)

My Happy World by Alicia Fleming (5)

3rd: My Happy World by Alicia Fleming (5)

 

Winners 6–8 years

Map, Communicate with the world by Oh Eun Ju (8)

1st: Map, Communicate with the world by Oh Eun Ju (8)

The World is in our hands by Preslava Ivanova (8)

2nd: The World is in our hands by Preslava Ivanova (8)

Drawing Maps by Beatrice Leoutsakou (8)

3rd: Drawing Maps by Beatrice Leoutsakou (8)

 

Winners 9–12 years

Oronce Fine through our eyes by Noemi Sanchez Avramova & Alba Serrano Suarez (12)

1st: Oronce Fine through our eyes by Noemi Sanchez Avramova & Alba Serrano Suarez (12)

Happy Earth by Okubo Kasumi (9)

2nd: Happy Earth by Okubo Kasumi (9)

We love maps by Klara Zagórska (11)

3rd: We love maps by Klara Zagórska (11)

 

Winners >12 years

We Love Maps by Ioana Larisa Guriţǎ (13)

1st: We Love Maps by Ioana Larisa Guriţǎ (13)

Through a Child's Eyes by Rebecca Kneale & Akira McTavish-Huriwai (15)

2nd: Through a Child’s Eyes by Rebecca Kneale & Akira McTavish-Huriwai (15)

World Map by Micaela Mendoz (15)

3rd: World Map by Micaela Mendoz (15)

 

Winner of the public vote

Maps – Our Path for Exploration by Champ Turner (15)

Public vote: Maps – Our Path for Exploration by Champ Turner (15)

 

Creativity Award

The Creativity Award was presented for the first time this year by the ICA Commission on Art and Cartography.

Trumps World by Phoebe McClean

Creativity Award: Trumps World by Phoebe McClean

Friends by Urtėja Kardašiūtė

Creativity Award: Friends by Urtėja Kardašiūtė

Jury

The jury members were

Members of the jury

  • Pilar Sánchez-Ortiz Rodríguez, Spain – Chair
  • Ana María Garra, Argentina
  • Paulo Menezes, Brazil
  • Temenoujka Bandrova, Bulgaria
  • Dariusz Dukaczewski, Poland
  • Necla Ulugtekin, Turkey
  • Naeema Al Hosani, United Arab Emirates
  • Rob Edsall, USA
  • Carla Sena, Brazil and Jesus Reyes, Hungary – Substitute Members
  • Peter van der Krogt, The Netherlands – International Coordinator

 

Congratulations to all winners! Also a huge thank you to all participating children, their parents, teachers and national organizers.

Honorary Fellowship for William Cartwright

William Cartwright receiving the ICA Honorary FellowshipWilliam Cartwright receiving the ICA Honorary FellowshipDuring ICC 2017, William Cartwright received the ICA Honorary Fellowship. Below you can read Georg Gartner‘s laudation:

It is with great pleasure that I write in recognition of Professor Cartwright’s international status in the world of cartography and beyond.

Professor Cartwright has achieved an undoubted exceptional international reputation for his work with cartography and is highly regarded as a world leading expert on the field of cartography and GIScience in general. As a president and past-president of the International Cartographic Association he has significantly contributed to the self-understanding and the respected position of modern cartography. The definition of sustainable subject cores in relation to quickly changing innovations needs internationally recognized and accepted experts, being able to give orientation in this respect, of which Professor Cartwright is one of the leading ones.

As we have been both members of the international expert group in the “Cybercartography and the new economy” project, the Editorial Team of the Book Series “Lecture Notes on Geoinformation and Cartography”, the Scientific Adivsory Board of various Conferences and Symposia I had the opportunity to get into close contact with the expertise of Professor Cartwright in many respects, which lead also to Guest Professorships at Vienna, joined projects and joined scientific publications. It was not only remarkable to see, how Professor Cartwright’s guides scientific developments to international visible and significant outcomes but also to witness Professor Cartwright’s devotion to his work and discipline. I was impressed especially by the general understanding of science and research of Professor Cartwright. He literally “lives” interdisciplinarity and cross-subject knowledge finding, which makes Professor Cartwright an outstanding person and researcher.

As Vice-President (2003–2007), President (2007–2011) and Past-President (2011–2015) Professor Cartwright has steered the International Cartographic Association into a modern international organisation. He has established a number of innovative instruments and changes which prove to be a benefit for the international community. His exceptional acceptance by the scientific community helped essentially to reach out to neighbouring disciplines, where through the work of Professor Cartwright the respect and acceptance of cartography and ICA has been lifted. As chair of the Joined Board of Geospatial Information Sciences (2011–2013) he was actively involved in the United Nations Initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management and has been adopted to the UN Committee of Experts.

In summary, I have deep respect for the scientist, the cartographer and the person Professor Cartwright. He is an exceptional researcher and scientist, he is an extraordinary ambassador of Australia in a unique and positive way and he has contributed to the International Cartographic Association in a most relevant way.

It is a great pleasure for me to hand over the ICA Honory Fellowship in person to Professor Dr William Cartwright.

ICA Awards Ceremony at ICC2017

In the ICA Awards Ceremony at ICC2017, the following awards were presented in recognition of contributions to the ICA:

ICA Awardees 2017

From left to right: Igor Drecki, Cynthia Brewer, Timothy Trainor, Menno-Jan Kraak, Anne Ruas, William Cartwright, Matthew Rice, Aileen Buckley

ICA Honorary Fellowship

The ICA Honorary Fellowship is for cartographers of international reputation who have made special contribution to the ICA. It includes a bronze medal.

  • William Cartwright, Australia
  • Anne Ruas, France
    • Co-chair of the Commission on Generalization and Multiple Representation (2003–2007)
    • Vice-President (2007–2015)
    • President of ICC 2011, Paris
    • Editor of the International Journal of Cartography (2015–)
  • Timothy Trainor, USA
    • Chair or Co-chair of the Commission on National and Regional Atlases (1995–2007)
    • Chair of Census Cartography Working Group (2007–2011)
    • Vice-President (2007–2015)

Diplomas for outstanding services to ICA

The Diplomas for outstanding services to ICA are for colleagues who have made special contribution to the ICA as commission officers or conference organizers.

  • Igor Drecki, New Zealand
  • Aileen R. Buckley, USA
    • ICC2017 Organizing Committee member
  • Cynthia A. Brewer, USA
    • ICC2017 Organizing Committee member
  • Matthew Rice, USA
    • ICC2017 Organizing Committee member

 
Overview of ICA Awards presented at ICC2015

Congratulations to all awardees!

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