Was the process of identifying the Winner at the WMO Weatherapps awards2020 free and fair?
''I can Say as chair of the Jury that the evaluation scoring was very transparent and completely independent of any influence from WMO secretariat.......'' Gerald Fleming, during the WMO International Weather Apps Awards 2020.
Considering the admission by the WMO secretariat that the number of weather apps applicants in 2020 was high, having representations in developing countries also, the process of identifying the winner is therefore of very utmost importance.
The choice of Juries across different contents, with vast experience and technical abilities in the area of weather forecasting was laudable, as this give confidence that the parameters being tested are well understood and conceptualized by respective juries.
The actual scoring, where the juries outcomes are also tested to before arriving at final scores was excellent.
In view therefore, future awards should use this as a baseline, upon which to develop water tight winner identification, thus allowing end users have a test of the best weather apps developed.
However, there should be advocacy for developing countries to actively participate in apps development as they form biggest percentage of weather data consumption demand.