It’s becoming clearer with every AIMIA awards that ‘geek’ is the new ‘cool’.
Sure, they may have the coordination of an engineering undergrad in O-week and the optical capabilities of Arthur Dent after three Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, but that didn’t stop Australia’s web glitterati (or is that ‘clickerati’?) from donning their best converse sneakers, their thickest horn rimmed glasses and their favourite irony-fuelled Threadless tees to party hard at the Peninsula Function Centre in Melbourne’s Docklands last Friday night.
Cliches and not-so-subtle mockery aside, I personally felt right at home among this year’s ‘IT’ crowd (step aside Lindsay Lohen), bumping into more than a few Anthillians, including past winners of Anthill’s 30under30 and Cool Company Awards, such as Chris Kettle, Antony McGregor-Dey and Ian Gardner, to name a few.
The ever-shrinking Mikey Robbins, of Good News Week fame, was suitably entertaining and controversial as the evening’s MC, forcing the Hon. Stephen Conroy MP to accept the award of one absentee from government circles.
Impressively, the Minister accepted the award with good grace and humour, a considerable accomplishment as possibly the most maligned person in the room. It would be hard to find a group of greater critics of his internet filtering laws than the Australian web community.
Fortunately for the Minister, web developers are largely a polite lot (when they step out from behind their avatars).
To watch a groovy slideshow of the night, click here.
And without further ado, the winners are…
Best Advertising or Marketing :: Winner
Entry Name: Ask Richard
Company Credits: Naked Communications – Australia; Frank PR -Australia
Creative Developers:
Adam Ferrier – Founding Partner, Naked Communications
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Paul Swann – Ideas Director
Nic Sommer – Design
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital
Techinical Developers:
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Best Advertising or Marketing :: Highly Commended
Entry Name: 26000 Vodka
Company Credits: Resn
Creative Developers: Resn
Techinical Developers: Resn
Best Children’s :: Winner
Entry Name: Budd:e E-security Education Package
Company Credits: Roar Film and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Best Classifieds, News, Media or Reference :: Winner
Entry Name: Black Saturday
Company Credits: ABC Innovation
Creative Developers:
Producer – Priscilla Davies
Video Producer – Drew Ambrose
Designers – Bec Smith & Sarah Fawcett
Principal Stills Photographer – Richard Kendall
Researcher & Writer – Aimee Lipscombe
Techinical Developers:
Flash Development – Shane Korin and Michael Archbold (Distriqt)
Best Classifieds, News, Media or Reference :: Highly Commended
Entry Name: BresicWhitney Estate Agents Website
Company Credits: Moon Communications Group
Best Cross-Platform :: Winner
Entry Name: Tourism Queensland – Best Job in the World
Company Credits: Tourism Queensland & Sapient Nitro
Creative Developers: Sapient Nitro – Merrin McCormick, Cristian Staal, Ralph Barnett
Techinical Developers: Sapient Nitro – Horia Traian, Glen Peterson
Best Cultural or Lyfestyle :: Winner
Entry Name: Gallipoli: The First Day
Company Credits: ABC Innovation
Creative Developers: Harvey Broadbent (Consultant Historian, Macquarie University) Roberto Salvatore (Sound design and composition)
Techinical Developers: Plastic Wax Party Ltd (3D character modelling)
Best Enterprise :: Winner
Entry Name: Viocast
Company Credits: Viocorp
Techinical Developers: In House team led by Andrew Walls
Best Entertainment :: Winner
Entry Name: We Are Hunted
Company Credits: Wotnews
Creative Developers: Native Digita
Best Export Achievement :: Winner
Entry Name: AURA Interactive
Company Credits: AURA Interactive
Best Export Achievement :: Highly Commended
Entry Name: Traction – MassMedia Studios
Company Credits: MassMedia Studios
Best Financial Service :: Winner
Entry Name: Macquarie Edge: The new way of online trading
Company Credits: Macquarie Bank
Best Integration with an Offline Campaign :: Winner
Entry Name: Ask Richard
Company Credits: Naked Communications – Australia; Frank PR -Australia
Creative Developers:
Adam Ferrier – Founding Partner, Naked Communications
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Paul Swann – Ideas Director
Nic Sommer – Design
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Techinical Developers:
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Best Learning & Education :: Winner
Entry Name: Change2
Company Credits: Change2 & 2and2
Best Mobile Advertising or Marketing :: Winner
Entry Name: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Company Credits: AURA Interactive & Mediaedge: cia
Creative Developers: AURA Interactive
Techinical Developers: AURA Interactive
Best Mobile Product or Service :: Winner
Entry Name: 3 mobile content portal – iPhone & Android
Company Credits: Vodafone Hutchison Australia & Front Foot Media Solutions
Creative Developers:
Rod Farmer – VHA, 3 Mobile
Eric Scheid – VHA, 3 Mobile
Paul Drummond – VHA, 3 Mobile
Andrew Palmer – VHA, 3 Mobile
Techinical Developers:
Rod Farmer – VHA, 3 Mobile
Julian Guica – Front Foot
Damien Le Berrigaud – Front Foot
Best Non-profit or Government :: Winner
Entry Name: Ask Richard
Company Credits: Naked Communications & Frank PR
Creative Developers:
Adam Ferrier – Founding Partner, Naked Communications
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Paul Swann – Ideas Director
Nic Sommer – Design
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Technical Developers:
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Best Retail :: Winner
Entry Name: Holden.com.au
Company Credits: Visual Jazz
Best Science, Health or Environment :: Winner
Entry Name: Greenpeace Action-Pact
Company Credits: Circul8; MeTTro; The Inspire Agency; Greenpeace International
Creative Developers: Circul8
Technical Developers: MeTTro
Best Sport :: Winner
Entry Name: Carlton Natural Blonde – Match Centre2009
Company Credits: Telstra Media & WeAreDigital.
Best Student Project :: Winner
Entry Name: dboard
Credits: Institute for Interactive Media and Learning, MIMM at University of Technology Sydney
Creative Developers:
Michael Connerty – Project Manager, IA, content production & usability / user experience testing.
Gary Chan : Creative Director – Secondary Role : Research & IA User research, Training manual
Technical Developers:
Victor Mok – Web Manager
Joomla Manager – Website Development, Programing and Coding
Karee Fu – Flash Developer, Technical Arch System Arch design, Touchscreen Development, Technical Testing
Best Student Project :: Highly Commended
Entry Name: SoapBox Project
Credits: University of Technology Sydney & Institute for Interactive Media and Learning
Creative Developers: Natalie Lorentzen
Technical Developers:
Diana Runkle
Victor Mancilla
Doreen Ee
Natalie Lorentzen
Best Tourism or Travel :: Winner
Entry Name: Tourism Queensland – Best Job in the World
Company Credits: Tourism Queensland & Sapient Nitro
Creative Developers: Sapient Nitro – Merrin McCormick, Cristian Staal, Ralph Barnett
Technical Developers: Sapient Nitro – Horia Traian, Glen Peterson
Best Use of Social Media, Word-of-Mouth or Viral :: Winner
Entry Name: The Sims 3 Ultimate Aussie Fan Competition
Company Credits: Profero
Creative Developers: Profero
Technical Developers: Profero
Best Online Video :: Winner
Entry Name: Black Saturday
Company Credits: ABC Innovation
Creative Developers:
Producer: Priscilla Davies
Video Producer: Drew Ambrose
Designers: Bec Smith & Sarah Fawcett
Principal Stills Photographer: Richard Kendall Researcher & Writer: Aimee Lipscombe
Technical Developers:
Flash Development: Shane Korin and Michael Archbold (Distriqt)
Effectiveness Award :: Winner
Entry Name: Samboy is Back
Company Credits: Pusher
Creative Developers: The Pusher Crew
Technical Developers: The Pusher Crew
Best of the Best :: Winner
Entry Name: Tourism Queensland – Best Job in the World
Company Credits: Tourism Queensland & Sapient Nitro
Creative Developers: Sapient Nitro – Merrin McCormick, Cristian Staal, Ralph Barnett
Technical Developers: Sapient Nitro – Horia Traian, Glen Peterson
People’s Choice Award :: Winner
Entry Name: Ask Richard
Company Credits: Naked Communications – Australia; Frank PR -Australia
Creative Developers:
Adam Ferrier – Founding Partner, Naked Communications
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Paul Swann – Ideas Director
Nic Sommer – Design
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital
Techinical Developers:
Glen Cassidy – Communications Strategist
Julia Thomas – FBI Digital support team
Outstanding Contribution Award :: Winner
Sally Mills, CEO, LaVolta
“Love them or hate them, recruiters have an integral role to play in industry. But what other industry has a Sally Mills? She has been with us from almost the very beginning in the mid 1990’s, giving many of us our first breaks in a very young and vibrant industry that wasn’t supposed to catch on, let alone thrive.
She stayed with us through the dark days of the dot com bust when many left the digital industry. And she is still with us, an unstoppable contributor to the growth of the digital industry in Australia.
Sally Mills is no ordinary headhunter. Her Fourth Estate Domain nights are legendary networking experiences and a mandatory first stop for anyone wanting to understand the Australian digital industry.
Her Digital Bullets video series has highlighted the triumphs, wisdom and follies of the digital senior service for newcomers to the industry and helped promote digital to the broader business community.
And her unswerving support for AIMIA, as both a long-standing member of the AIMIA NSW committee and as the longest-serving sponsor of the AIMIA Awards, has done much to help drive the growth and effectiveness of the industry body. All of which takes a lot of hard work and dedication to a cause of only tangential benefit to her own company, Lavolta, not counting the countless opportunities for a drink that her efforts have created.
Sally is an outstanding contributor in the industry, whose efforts are worthy of the Outstanding Contribution Award. Sally, we look forward to your continued contribution to our industry, but tonight, for your contribution to the digital industry in Australia to date, we salute you.”
