A host of the hottest North West digital companies took the plaudits at the Big Chip Awards 2009, the North West’s annual awards for digital excellence.
Winners were announced at a glittering awards ceremony at The Palace Hotel in Manchester, hosted for the second time by broadcaster Terry Christian.
The ceremony was rounded off in style by comedian, actor and musician Bill Bailey, who took to the stage for a 15-minute ‘mini-gig’ following his tour at the Palace Theatre.
Organised by Manchester Digital, the trade association for the region’s digital sector, and backed by media partners Insider and New Media Age, the awards attracted a record number of entries with 226 in total from 134 companies - and a shortlist of 55 entries.
The big winners of the night were Manchester’s LOVE and Liverpool’s New Concept Gaming Limited who swept the boards with three awards each. LOVE won Best Digital Marketing Campaign for Doctor Martens, Best Use of Visual Design for its LOVE website and the Big Chip New Media Agency Award.
New Concept Gaming’s jOG - an in-game motion-sensing controller - won Best Application of Technology, Big Chip International Award for Innovation and the overall Grand Prix Prize.
Lightbox Education from Cheadle, Cheshire took two awards for Best E-Learning Project for Licence to Cook as well as Best Public Sector Project and AHD MI took the Best Use of Animation for their ahd 168 animated robot film.
Liverpool’s Mando Group scooped best Public Sector Project for Liverpool Biennial 2008 and a commendation went to stardotstar for hearmanchester.com. The company was also commended for the same project in the Best Use of Visual Design.
The Game of the North Award was snapped up by Runcorn’s Evolution Studios for ‘Motorstorm: Pacific Rift’, and a commendation went to Connect2Media for ‘Guitar Hero Backstage Pass.’
Flashtemple’s Matt Booth was crowned Best Freelancer/Micro Enterprise in the North West for the second year running.
And the newest award - The Tasty Website Award, which was being voted for by the public, right up until the award ceremony began was won by CodeComputerlove for the Original Source website.
As a special tribute to the late Tony Wilson, a former much-loved compere of the awards, Sue Woodward, of the Sharp Project, and former ITV Granada boss was invited to judge a special award in his name and presented the Anthony Wilson Original Modern Award to AHD MI for their ahd168 animated robot film.
The panel of nine judges, chaired by Michael Nutley, editor of New Media Age magazine, and including Alasdair Rawsthorne of Manchester University, Alasdair Scott of The Bright Place and Matt Locke commissioning editor at Channel 4, had the tough job of selecting the winners.
Sponsors of this year’s event were Arts Council England, Business Link Northwest, Creative Manchester, Manchester Digital, Marketing Manchester, Melbourne, MIDAS, Montpelier, NWDA, and Orchard.
Chairman of Manchester Digital, Shaun Fensom, said: “This year once again we had a record number of entries, and the judges were particularly impressed with the standard of the entries, higher this year than ever before. Big Chip is a fantastic showcase for the immense talent that we have within the digital sector in the North and North West.”
Mark Hughes, Executive Director of Economic Development at the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) said: “These are exciting times for the region’s digital and creative sector. Despite the current economic conditions the winners here are testimony to the ‘can do’ attitude of Northwest companies, who continue to produce an innovative range of products and services.
“By recognising and rewarding excellence, England’s Northwest is continuing to raise the bar, demonstrating its position as a global leader for the digital industry.”
Kath Martin, operations director at Montpelier Chartered Accountants, sponsors of the ‘Best Animation’ award, commented: “The Big Chip Awards play an important role in helping to identify and applaud companies that have excelled within the sector. The North West is a leader in fostering the development and growth of the creative and digital industries, and we are confident that exciting times lie ahead.”
For more information on the event or on the winners and their winning projects and to read the judges’ comments visit www.bigchipawards.com
The winners of this year’s Big Chip Awards are:
Best E-Business Project
Winner: TBWA\Manchester
Best Public Sector Project
Winner: Lightbox Education
Best Not For Profit Project
Winner: Mando Group
Best Digital Marketing Campaign
Winner: LOVE
Best E-Learning Project
Winner: Lightbox Education
Best Use of Visual Design
Winner: LOVE
Best Application of Technology
Winner: New Concept Gaming Limited
Best Use of Animation
Winner: AHD MI
Best Use of Search
Winner: Manchester SEO Company, PushON
Big Green Chip Award
Winner: Melbourne
Best Established Freelancer/ Micro Enterprise
Winner: Flashtemple
Best On-line Brand Development
Winner: Code Computerlove
Best Newcomer (enterprise)
Winner: AdInsight Limited
Big Chip New Media Agency Award
Winner: LOVE
Game of the North
Winner: Evolution Studios
Big Chip International Award for Innovation
Winner: New Concept Gaming Limited
Tasty Website Award
Winner: Code Computerlove
Grand Prix
New Concept Gaming Limited
Anthony Wilson Original Modern Award
AHD MI
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For further media information and images please contact Caty Cartwright, Andrew Spinoza or Richard Bond at SKV Communications on (0161) 838 7770 or email caty.cartwright@skvcommunications.co.uk
Note to Editors:
For more information on the Big Chip Awards visit www.bigchipawards.com
Big Chip Awards Entry Criteria
