The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) is a

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. An industry tra ...

dedicated to the entertainment, consumer and

business software Business software (or a business application) is any software or set of computer programs used by business users to perform various business functions. These business applications are used to increase productivity, measure productivity, and perf ...

industries. Established in 1984 as the Software Publishers Association (SPA), the SIIA took its new name when it merged with the related Information Industry Association on January 1, 1999. The joint enterprise was headed by Software Publishers Association founder Ken Wasch and operated out of the SPA's existing offices. The SPA was active in lobbying, industry research and

anti-piracy Anti-piracy may refer to: * Anti-piracy, protection against copying of computer software. * Piracy#Anti-piracy measures anti-piracy measures, measures to counter maritime pirates. See also * Pirate (disambiguation) A pirate is a person who com ...

efforts. Its head of research, Ann Stephens, went on to found

PC Data PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, th ...

in 1991. By 1995, the SPA had over 1,100 software companies in its membership and according to ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'' was among "the most powerful computer-related trade groups" before its merger with the Information Industry Association. While

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

became a member of the SPA in 1986, it split with the SIIA in 2000 after the group sided against Microsoft in '' United States v. Microsoft Corp.'' The ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' described Microsoft as the SIIA's "largest member" before the departure. Until 1999, the Software Publishers Association hosted the SPA Annual Conference for software companies. It was renamed the InfoSoft Essentials conference in 1999.

Divisions

Public Policy ~ legal and public policy
IP Protection ~ protecting software content
Connectiv ~ business information
ETIN ~ Education Technology
FISD ~ Financial & Information
SIPA ~ Specialized Information Publishers
SSD ~ Software & Services

Advocacy

SIIA filed briefs in

Allen v. Cooper The Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (CRCA) is a United States copyright law that attempted to abrogate sovereign immunity of states for copyright infringement. The CRCA amended 17 USC 511(a): Unconstitutionality The CRCA has been struck ...

, which was decided in 2020: the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

abrogated the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act as unconstitutional, SIIA had argued the opposite view.

CODiE Awards

Beginning in 1986, the Software Publishers Association hosted the "Excellence in Software Awards" ceremony, an annual

black-tie Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...

event that ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' and ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' compared to the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. The Excellence in Software Awards were later renamed the "CODiE Awards", and are now presented by the Software and Information Industry Association. The CODiE are awards to two broad categories: business technology and education technology. There are awards in more than 75 categories, advertised with the statement, "With a grand total of more than 75 different categories, you're sure to find several to meet your marketing/PR objectives!". Notable past winners include companies such as

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

, BrainPOP,

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Knewton Knewton is an adaptive learning company that has developed a platform to personalize educational content as well as has developed courseware for higher education concentrated in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The ...

McGraw-Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

Jigsaw Jigsaw may refer to: * Jigsaw (tool), a tool used for cutting arbitrary curves * Jigsaw puzzle, a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of interlocking pieces Arts and media Comics * Jigsaw (Marvel Comics), a supervillain and arch-enemy of ...

, Netsuite,

Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...

Rosetta Stone The Rosetta Stone is a stele composed of granodiorite inscribed with three versions of a Rosetta Stone decree, decree issued in Memphis, Egypt, in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V Epiphanes. The top and middle te ...

Salesforce.com Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, an ...

Digimind Digimind is a global social media monitoring and competitive intelligence company that provides information on businesses' competitive standing in the market. Digimind was founded in 1998 and has been profitable ever since. As of 2019, the company ...

, Scribe Software, Vocus,

WSJ.com ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

codemantra
IXL Learning,

itslearning itslearning is a digital learning management system developed by the Norwegian company itslearning AS. It is designed for both K12 and higher education. The LMS allows teachers to deliver materials to students, including assessments, Office 36 ...

, and more.

Jesse H. Neal Awards

The Jesse H. Neal Awards were created in 1955 for editorial excellence in business Media and named after Jesse H. Neal, Connectiv's first managing director.

Nations Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967, that covers the foodservice industry, including restaurants, restaurant chains, operations, marketing, and events. It was owned by Penton Media (acquired by ...

says winning the Neal Award is like winning the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

for

Business-to-business Business-to-business (B2B or, in some countries, BtoB) is a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction with another. This typically occurs when: * A business is sourcing materials for their production process for output (e.g., a ...

(B2B) platforms. Entries are judged in three areas ~ editorial craftsmanship, extent of service to the field and journalistic enterprise. Out of the 21 categories one winner will be selected for The Grand Neal Award. As of 2018 there have been 23 winners of The Grand Neal Award. In 2019 John Heltman, Business and Finance

Reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

with

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a Manhattan-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, with an online edition continuing to be updated. The first issue of ...

and

SourceMedia Arizent, formerly known as SourceMedia, is a mid-sized diversified business-to-business digital media company owned by Observer Capital, which acquired the company from Investcorp in August 2014. Formerly the Thomson Media division of The Thomso ...

won with Nobody's Home

References

External links

* *{{cite web , url=https://www.siia.net/codie/About-the-Awards/Past-Winners , title=Past Winners , work=SIIA CODiE Awards , access-date=January 13, 2017 , archive-date=August 16, 2019 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816124600/http://www.siia.net/codie/About-the-Awards/Past-Winners , url-status=dead Technology trade associations Computer-related awards