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Insider Yorkshire Digital Awards 2008 |
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Innovation in the digital age
A Yorkshire-based training website that is about to open up in Iraq was one of the winners at the expanded Yorkshire Digital Awards last night. Www.gapfillers.co.uk, a website that encourages people to spend just ten minutes each day learning a new language, won the new award for best e-learning initiative. Elsewhere Limelight Software won twice on the night – for new best game and best mobile technology. And IOKO, one of last year’s winners, made it onto the podium again for best entertainment site. The awards, which aim to celebrate the best in Yorkshire’s digital industry, were moved from the Royal Armouries to the bigger Savile’s Hall because they proved so popular. They were judged by a group of experts from across the industry and supported by Yorkshire Forward.
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Best web design company
Winner Sense Internet
A previous winner of these awards, Leeds-based Sense impressed the judges with the flexibility of design and concept.
Shortlist Swamp, Coolpink, Numiko, The North Space
Sponsor Yorkshire Forward
Best IT consultancy
Winner Network Integration Technologies
A new award for this year and this first winner’s successes have included saving one client 70 per cent in IT costs while improving its IT reliability by 60 per cent. Partner Simon Richardson said the award recognises what is a crucial year for the company. “It is our third year of trading and we have nearly quadrupled our turnover this year, tripled our customers and increased our headcount by a factor of six,” he said.
Shortlist Laratech, Oriium Services, C Ways, Corporate Document Services
Sponsor Sheffield Digital Campus
Best business-to-business website
Winner www.bradfordkickstart.com
A site designed by Webmotion to encourage more young people in Bradford to start up new businesses impressed judges for succeeding in engaging its audience and offering a wide variety of easily navigable services, including free email account hosting and live chat. Ragbir Singh, managing director of Webmotion, said he believed the site deserved to win. “We felt the website had a great deal of functionality behind it,” he said. “The client had a certain vision and focus and we made sure all their expectations were met. We didn’t once have to negotiate on anything."
Shortlist www.pipeten.com, www.screenyorkshire.co.uk, www.uniforms-direct.co.uk, www.lsswaste.co.uk
Sponsor NYNet
Best business-to-consumer website
Winner www.seabrookcrisps.com
Designed by Propaganda, Seabrook Crisps’ consumer site entertained judges with its variety of interactive games and podcasts, and it looks stunning.
Shortlist www.virginholidays.co.uk, www.interactive.firstdirect.com, www.channnel4.com/4od, www.endclub.com
Sponsor Invest in Bradford
Best application of internet technology
Winner Liquid Accounts
Liquid Accounts impressed judges with how easy its online accounting software was to use. Lisa Kendrick, director of marketing and communications for Liquid Accounts, said the award helps them celebrate a rollercoaster year, which also saw them get their first six-figure job for a major plc. “Our profile seems to be increasing at a rapid rate,” she said. “It has been completely up and down - one month everything’s fantastic and the next month you might need to pick yourself up and dust yourself off, but you just keep going. It is so exciting. Every day is different.”
e@SY Connects also won an honourable mention for it ability to work across multiple platforms.
Shortlist e@SY Connects, Pharmacy2U, 7Global, Yorkshire Building Society
Sponsor Yorkshire Forward
Best digital start-up
Winner Purenet
Purenet achieved £306,000 in sales in its first year and already has eight staff. Winning the award was a double whammy for the York-based agency, as it found out it had won the contract to design Birmingham City Football Club’s website and e-commerce system earlier in the day. Managing director Paul Gibson said: “We’re a small company from York and we set up 18 months ago so it is great to compete on such a level.”
Shortlist Liquid Accounts, Isotoma
Sponsor Barnsley Digital Media
Best game
Winner Marble Worlds by Limelight Software
Limelight Software had to accept this new award by video as news of its skills has already caused the team to cross the world to do business in New Zealand. Judges felt its mobile game was easy to use, fun and fair.
Sponsor Screen Yorkshire
Best entertainment site
Winner www.channel4.com/4od
A winner last year, IOKO’s Channel 4 On Demand site again impressed judges with its range of exclusive content. But chief financial officer Allan Dunn remained focused on the job while celebrating the recognition. “We’re a management team of five and we’re not into self-publicisation but servicing clients. We do what they want and make sure clients get what they want,” he said.
Shortlist www.whattogive.com, www.numu.org.uk, www.thepuppinisisters.com, www.freebingo.co.uk
Sponsor Inspiral
Best e-learning initiative
Winner www.gapfillers.co.uk
The winner of this new award, a site aimed at encouraging people to spend spare moments of the day learning a new language, is about to expand it operations to teach English to people in Iraq. But it nearly never got off the ground because banks had initially proved reluctant to fund it. Founder Bernadette Wall was happy the company had been recognised after surviving these problems. “It’s about digging your heels in and knowing you have got a good idea,” she said.
Shortlist www.moderngovernor.com, www.curriculart.co.uk, www.thehiddengems.co.uk, www.foundationskills.net
Sponsor BT
Best mobile technology
Winner Limelight Software
A winner for the second time on the night, Limelight won this time for its Pocket RT A Pro product, a highly portable spectrum analyser for sound engineers. Judges felt this was another clever way to use mobile technology to save time and expense.
Shortlist MAVCast, e@SY Connects
Sponsor Leeds College of Art & Design
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