A number of B.C.-based companies and individuals were among the 21 winners at Wednesday night’s Canadian New Media Awards in Toronto.
Vancouver-based HootSuite Media Inc.’s hugely popular HootSuite dashboard for managing Twitter accounts was acknowledged as digital media technology of the year.
The award is given to the piece of technology that will most radically change the media landscape. HootSuite announced last week it had reached the million-user mark.
Vancouver’s Xomo Digital Inc. received the best mobile application award for its official Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic mobile spectator guide, which Xomo created for official Olympic broadcasters.
The award is given to an application that demonstrates excellent functionality, innovation, audience reach and frequency, as well as excellence in the use of the capabilities of the mobile medium.
“The Weak Shop,” a website created for the BC Dairy Foundation by DDB Canada and Tribal Vancouver, was acknowledged as the best-branded entertainment in 2010.
The tongue-in cheek website features a fictitious suite of retail products that help people contend with weaknesses caused from a lack of milk. For example, consumers can purchase a wallet walker to assist them in the exhausting practice of carrying a wallet.
Alon Marcovici, CTV Inc.’s vice-president of digital media, was named executive of the year for his work during the Olympics with CTV and Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium. The award acknowledged Marcovici’s handling of the multi-media delivery of the Olympics to Canadians.
Nelson, B.C.’s Kris McLaughlin was named individual developer of the year for his work as founder of The Vacuum Design Inc. The firm’s recent work includes a ten-minute interactive online trailer for the movie The Watchmen.
Myron Campbell of Vancouver’s Switch United was named individual interactive designer of the year. Switch has done a broad range of work, including bike branding for Mountain Equipment Co-op and multi-touch digital art installations.
In their tenth year, the Canadian New Media Awards are held during the nextMEDIA digital convergence forum in Toronto.