A night to celebrate the cream of digital

Mar 26 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A SUPERHERO with a collection of sky rockets, the dusty outback of Northern Australia and a series of podcasts from North East historians all played their part in helping the region’s top new media firms win recognition for their digital excellence last night.

Leading lights from the region’s digital sector gathered at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle for the North East Digital Awards 2008.

Categories were separated into Digital Users, Suppliers and Innovators while titles included Best not-for-profit website, Best use of online film and Best example of game development.

And the far-reaching and large-scale nature of the projects which were recognised left no doubt in the minds of the few hundred people who attended, that the North East’s digital sector has the talent and expertise to compete on an international stage.

Sunderland-based Leighton Group won the Best online learning award for work on its contract with Tourism Australia’s Northern Territories arm.

In its entry to the award, it cited the smooth collaboration between Leighton’s in-house team and Tourism Australia’s staff – both at opposite ends of the earth – as a key factor to its success.